Boredom Is the Enemy of Productivity

Keep Them Busy: Employers may be worried about the wrong things when it comes to keep employee productivity high. Although being overworked may lead to employee burnout, boredom due to poor job design or other factors actually may have more serious consequences, according to research by Sirota Survey Intelligence. The Purchase, New York-based company surveyed more than 1 million employees regarding their attitudes toward employers. The results were somewhat surprising. Employees who express boredom because of too little work reported “far lower levels of job satisfaction, sense of accomplishment and pride” in their companies when compared with other groups of workers. The boredom has nothing to do with employees not having enough work. Rather, it stems mostly from two causes: employees occupying jobs for which they are not suited or trained, or jobs that are poorly designed, according to Sirota.

In another Sirota survey, employees who experience a reasonable work/life balance are more likely to recommend their company to others and have higher levels of engagement. Of those who have a positive view, nearly 90 percent have a favorable view of their employers, compared with 58 percent who are negative about their work/life balance, according to Sirota’s survey of more than 300,000 employees.