We are all familiar with the phenomenon of burnout. Last year, 1 in 6 Dutch people struggled with burnout symptoms such as chronic stress, persistent fatigue and even depression1. The most common trigger for burnout is a structurally excessive workload. Yet there are also employees who do not experience a high workload at all and are even bored, but still recognise themselves in the above symptoms. How can that be?
Definition bore-out
The answer lies in the lesser-known counterpart of burnout: boreout. In science, boreout is described as "a negative mental state brought about by insufficient work-related stimuli"2. Employees with boreout - unlike people with burnout - are structurally under-challenged in their work and therefore experience boredom3. This may be because they are overqualified, do a lot of repetitive work, for example, or simply because they have too few tasks to bite into. In addition, bore-out can also occur when an employee does not feel enough concerned feels at his job or the organisation and does not find satisfaction in his work.
A bore-out can result in:
- Reduced performance
- Declining productivity
- Rising absenteeism
- Less involvement
- Early departure
Consequences for the organisation
Although having a burnout or bore-out is above all very unpleasant for those affected by it, the organisation also suffers. Zilveren Kruis calculated that a burnout costs an organisation an average of €60,000, if you assume that the average employee with a burnout is sick 242 days a year that that costs an average of €250 per day4. It is therefore of great importance to minimise risk factors for burnout or bore-out and to identify any incipient symptoms early.
What can you do as an employer?
Although the symptoms of a burnout and boreout are the same, they have opposite causes. There are therefore completely different measures needed to prevent both. Step 1 is to identify an increased risk of either burnout or a boreout. However, this is easier said than done. There is still a taboo on discussing mental problems. Because the media is increasingly increasing attention to the causes and consequences of burnout, the stigma surrounding this problem is fortunately gradually changing. The bore-out, on the other hand, is a different story. Telling people you are dealing with chronic stress because of your high-demanding job and long working hours is up to that. Saying that you struggle with depression because you have little to do at work is not done. That's nice and quiet, isn't it? After all, you get the same paid.
Because it can be difficult for employees to talk about their burnout or bore-out, the run-up to it is hard to spot. Often, the problem only comes to light when it is too late to do anything about it. As an employer, it is therefore very important to check structurally and organisation-wide whether the workload is balanced. In this way, you can identify excessive work demands or boredom before it actually leads to burn-out or bore-out. Launching an anonymous employee survey can reveal pain points in this area. It is important here to understand that such research does not function as a diagnostic tool. It is purely about uncovering areas for improvement at departmental or team level so that they can be addressed.
Preventing burnout
If the survey shows that employees experience a high workload, it may indicate an increased risk of burnout. Lack of a healthy work-life balance, experiencing stress and having too little time to perform the work are indications of burnout. Of course, it is not true for every employee that the above factors will automatically lead to burnout. Some people are person is simply less sensitive to pressure than the other. Nevertheless a tipping point exists for everyone at which working conditions are no longer appropriate and will lead to reduced performance and ultimately reduced employability.
It is therefore important to find out why a high workload is experienced in a particular team. Is there understaffing causing too much work to fall on the shoulders of employees? Are there (long-term) stressful situations at play? Or does something is going wrong within the planning of projects, as a result of which the workload is not distributed properly? distributed?
An employee survey provides insight into employee sentiment on various topics. The next step is to explore this in more depth, through a meeting or one-to-one conversations, for example. This may reveal that there is a need for a new vacancy, that someone needs to be appointed to manage the schedules or that there are conflicts that need to be resolved. need to be resolved.
Preventing bore-out
Preventing a bore-out is a completely different story. The first step has already been taken: in fact, by reading this article, you know about the existence of bore-out. You also know what can cause it and what consequences it can have. The next step, as with burnout, is to investigate employee satisfaction. Points to look out for when identifying risk factors for boreout include:
- Is Is enough use being made of the employee's capabilities?
- Does the employee feels involved in his work and in the organisation?
- Does the employee enjoy their work in terms of content?
If in a particular department or particular team it appears that there is a lot of room for improvement in the above areas there is an increased risk of bore-out. In-depth follow-up research or during interviews, it is then possible to find out where this comes from origin. For example, is it possible to allow high-performing employees to advance to another position? Is there overstaffing, resulting in too little work for everyone? Or can there be more variety in working days by having different teams working together?
Individual approach
The approach described above is successful for identifying risk factors of burnout or bore-out within teams or departments. This allows large-scale assessment of whether changes in workload are needed. Of course, it could also be the case that within a department is fine on average, but that there are one or a few employees are taking on too much or too little. In that case, the described may not be the most effective approach. An individual approach is needed, with the key role in signalling lying with the manager. It is important to keep an eye on the well-being of employees. monitor. Only then can you spot incipient burnout or bore-out at the individual level. notice.
Conclusion
It is good to structurally evaluate the workload within different parts of the organisation. Too high or too low a workload can cost both employee and employer dearly. Of course, everyone is stressed sometimes and experiences boredom. The trick is to identify in time when stress or boredom become structural and affect the employee's well-being and performance. If this is signalled in time, there is enough time and space to ensure that it does not lead to burn-out or bore-out.
Sources
- TNO (2019). Occupational Health and Safety Review 2018: Psychological Workload and burnout complaints continue to rise www.TNO.nl
- Stock, R. M. (2016). Understanding the relationship between frontline employee boreout and customer orientation. Journal of Business Research, 69(10), 4259-4268.
- The Rider, Eveline (2016). A bore-out: boredom at work. Health Net.
- Wester, Jeroen (2017). NRC Checks: 'Cost of burnout amount to €60,000'. NRC.
