You dread going to work every day. You wonder how to pass the time and keep looking at the clock. When you have little to nothing to do, the days are long. You are bored and run the risk of getting a bore-out. What can you do to change this situation?
Bored at work
There may be people in your area who are repeatedly rejected on their job applications. Or people who are afraid of losing their jobs. You then feel like you should be happy that you have a job. However, if you are bored every day and wonder how to fill the time, a bore-out is lurking. You can literally get sick if you’re bored at work.
Characteristics of boredom at work
According to various studies, between ten and twenty-five percent of employees are bored at work. Some are bored occasionally, others are bored for a large part of their working time. In their book Bore-out, when boredom becomes your job, Philippe Rothlin and Peter R. Werder have drawn up a checklist. With this checklist you can check whether you are underloaded at work:
- Do you conduct private business at work?
- Do you feel like you have little to do?
- Do you sometimes pretend to be working when in reality you have nothing to do?
- Are you tired and exhausted in the evening even though you haven’t had a busy day?
- Do you find your work pointless?
- Could you complete your work in less time than it takes now?
- Would you like to have another job?
- Do you send private emails to colleagues during your work?
- Does the work interest you little or not at all?
If you answer yes to four or more of the above questions, it is clear that you are seriously bored at work and are well on the way to a bore-out or even already have one.
Shame about boredom
Employees who are bored at work often suffer from feelings of shame. They try to hide their boredom from colleagues. To fill their working day, employees are concerned with arranging private matters, surfing the internet, taking as long as possible to complete certain jobs, staring at their screen for hours, taking many smoke breaks (even if they don’t smoke) which are constantly increasing. and down to the coffee machine or spend a lot of time on the toilet. After all, being bored at work is not done. You are ashamed that you are being paid for doing nothing, while your colleagues are working. Bored employees also fear that being bored is their own fault: Perhaps they should be more initiative and active. They start to doubt themselves and feel more and more worthless. However, this shame can cause you to perpetuate the situation. If you are ashamed and not open about your lack of work, it is unlikely that anything will change the situation.
It can help to realize that people with complaints about boredom are generally not lazy people: They are actually people who prefer to get more out of their working day and like to be useful.
Consequences of being bored at work
If you are bored at work for a long time, this can lead to both psychological and physical complaints. It can lead to you becoming increasingly unable to perform the tasks you do have. Because you are bored, you become more lethargic and have less energy. When you have to complete a job, you can hardly bring yourself to start it. You no longer know where to get the motivation from, and as a result you produce shoddy work.
Sick of boredom
Over time, you can literally become sick from boredom. You may suffer from the following complaints:
- Fatigue
- Depression
- Bad sleeping
- Irritability
- Changed appetite
- Lethargy
- Concentration problems
- Headache
- High bloodpressure
- Pain in the shoulders and neck
- Declining self-confidence
People even end up on sick leave because they are bored at work. Not all doctors recognize illness as a result of boredom at work. It is therefore important to take action when bored and try to do something about the situation.
Why are you bored at work?
It is wise to consider why you are bored at work. Is it simply because you have too few tasks? Or is there something else going on? Ask yourself if the tasks you have are not too easy for you. When you perform work below your level, you may become bored because you complete the work too quickly.
What can you do if you are bored at work?
Feeling useless all day long is very unpleasant. To change your situation you can do the following things:
- Discuss your boredom with your manager. Indicate that you have too little work and would like to perform additional tasks.
- Ask colleagues if you can help them with their work. Who knows, the work may be disproportionately divided between you and your colleagues and you can help them enormously by taking over some of their work.
- If you are bored because of work below your level, you can discuss whether you can be given more challenging tasks.
If it is not possible (for the time being) to perform extra or more difficult work, continue to spend your time usefully so that you do not feel useless:
- Discuss whether it is possible to take a course or training. Both the company and you benefit from this.
- Explore the possibilities of working in another department. Who knows, the workload within another team may be extremely high and they will welcome you there with open arms and put you to work.
- Do the tasks you do have with great concentration and accuracy. In any case, you will have a good feeling about the work you have done. Moreover, this proves that you are a good employee who is not reluctant.
If you are still unable to fill your days and you cannot reach an agreement with your employer, it might be a good idea to look for another job. Who knows, the company you work for may be able to support you in your search.
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