Are Your Employees Suffering From “Boreout Syndrome?”

With hustle culture, side gigs, and overemployment being so prevalent, the idea of “boreout syndrome,” also known as “boredom burnout,” where a worker suffers from significant mental and physical symptoms due to being underutilized, seems alien. 

Boreout, paradoxically, has the same symptoms as burnout. German psychologist Wolfgang Merkle was the first to use the term, and he claimed that the stress that comes from boreout could lead to sleep disorders, depression, psychosomatic illnesses and more. 

Experts claim that with the prevalence of remote and hybrid work, boreout has increased. When you work in social isolation, do repeated tasks for long periods, and don’t feel like you are contributing meaningful work, all of that can lead to boreout. It isn’t so much about not doing enough, but falling into a rut and not being appreciated for your efforts.

What Employees are Most Susceptible to Boreout?

Burnout happens when work is heaped on star performers. Boreout occurs differently, where low-to-average performers are not given enough or meaningful work. Gladys, for example, has been with the company for eight years. In that time, she consistently delivered results that may not have been desired but were close enough to keep her in her position. 

Since she’s not a star performer, she hasn’t been selected for more prestigious projects, and there are probably a few conferences or other events that she hasn’t been invited to attend either. She’s treated as a part of the team, but not someone who deserves extra perks. 

Over time, Gladys will be less motivated to try. She will perform to the lowered expectations of her managers, delivering precisely what is needed and not much more. She isn’t discouraged per se, but feels like she’s part of the company furniture. Gladys is a candidate for boreout. 

Essentially, if you give all your meaningful, rewarding work to those you think deserve it most, you run the risk of the rest of your employees suffering from boreout.

Boreout Will Lead to Employee Disengagement

Boreout syndrome affects a worker’s productivity. When average to lower-level performers experience boreout, they will likely exhibit a consistent dip in productivity. They may call out sick more often, take more mental health days, and take other actions traditionally associated with burnout. Eventually, they will leave the company. 

The harsh question managers may have is: Who cares? If they are low-to-average level performers, why not let them decide to leave on their own? The answer is that despite their performance, they still have an enormous storehouse of company knowledge; they have been trained on your tools and know all of your processes. 

The cost to replace even an average employee far outweighs the cost to keep them. Addressing their needs is more valuable than losing them and wasting valuable capital on recruiting and training. It can be as simple as holding more company networking events that everyone is invited to and nobody is excluded from, giving your low-to-average performers some basic perks to lift their spirits, and ensuring everyone is included on essential projects.

Addressing Boreout Through Role Alignment: Internal Mobility and Training

If your boreout candidate’s job doesn’t fit your needs, they may benefit from extra training to fit their role or another job entirely. If, for example, your marketing coordinator seems to be doing the bare minimum, break down with them exactly what they need to perform to a higher level. It may be a new tool, learning AI skills, or part-time post-secondary education courses. 

If they still don’t seem happy after all of that, it is likely because they weren’t a great fit in the first place. Your marketing coordinator may have come to you as a digital marketing specialist, but took the role because it was what was available and does not enjoy doing any tasks that don’t fall within their specialty. They may thrive if you keep them on as a digital marketing consultant instead. 

Employees can also bloom by moving laterally to a different department. You may need more people in your accounting division than your marketing department, so offering lower-performing marketers retraining in accounting may excite them about a new role while continuing to provide job security. 

Productivity Tracking and Regular One-On-Ones are Your Secret Weapon

Don’t underestimate the power of forming a relationship with your people. If you’re just the person who delivers projects and a paycheck, your employees won’t be inclined to tell you if there’s a problem. Short weekly meetings can establish a baseline of trust and allow you to catch up with a distant team member. Employee productivity tracking solutions like Prodoscore can tell you precisely what your team’s output levels are and how they achieve them. The data helps create transparency and openness in one-on-one conversations, so employees are more likely to share what’s going on, too.

In some cases, productivity data may tell you that a high-charisma employee is a lower performer than you thought, and someone you thought was average is a low-key rock star. Objective data empowers managers better to serve the needs of their employees and teams. 

Managers are humans, and we’re all influenced by personality. Objective data will tell exactly who is doing great and who may need help. Prodoscore will also show you if employees are overloaded so that you can avoid both burnout and boreout.