Why Boreout at Work is More Dangerous than Burnout

Picture this. Your worker is sitting adrift at the office or home desk. The task assignments are like sand in an hourglass, slipping by, grain by grain, each as meaningless as the last.

Is your staffer just being lazy? Or is it boreout, burnout, or brownout?

We’ll compare them a bit later. But mind: they are not mutually exclusive and can go as a tandem or trio, damaging employees’ well-being. In fact, 15% of employees feel constantly bored at work, and nearly half of workers (40–50%) experience boredom, exhaustion, or both.

So: Is your worker bored, burned, or browned out? Or is it all at once?

Let’s figure it out by comparing these terms. After that, we’ll help you adopt early interventions to avoid employee boreout in the workplace or kill it at the budding stage.

Boreout vs. Burnout vs. Brownout: Key Differences

Boreout

Coined from the word “boredom,” boreout at work is a state of chronic mental idleness, majorly due to monotonous work and non-challenging tasks.

Boreout symptoms:

• Emotional numbing or total apathy (employees are unenthusiastic and indifferent)
• Disengagement from the team
• Procrastination
• Quiet quitting (performing the bare minimum)
• Feeling worthless

The so-called boreout syndrome is a psychosocial risk that’s common among remote workers. But not only. Employees may frequently get bored while working from a physical location amid quiet hours when there are zero clients (take cashiers, taxi drivers, or restaurant workers).

Burnout

Burnout is a state of mental and physical “drainage,” typically caused by extra-high demands and pressure at work.

Burnout symptoms:

• Exhaustion (physical and emotional)
• The feeling of being overwhelmed with tasks
• Decline in productivity and performance
• Cynicism or negative feelings about work

In contrast to boreout driven by a lack of stimulation and under-working, burnout majorly happens because of overstimulation and overwork.

Brownout

Professional detachment from work, aka brownout, is a comparatively new term yet an old problem in the workplace. Its roots go deep into stagnation in the job role and loss of meaning.

Brownout symptoms:

• Zero motivation
• Impassioned attitude to work
• Indifference to career growth
• High absenteeism (more days off and sick leaves)
• Viewing tasks as purposeless

Compared with the other two, the employee is neither exhausted from overworking (burnout) nor bored (boreout). Brownout is more about an existential crisis or a crisis of purpose in a worker’s life. The following questions keep echoing in their head: “What do I do this for? Does my work bear any societal value?”

Why Boreout Strikes Employees the Hardest

For one thing, you can easily misperceive it as employee laziness or even overlook it altogether.

For another, it drives long-lasting psychological changes that are tougher to recover from:

• Emotional deterioration
• Low self-esteem
• Deep-seated job dissatisfaction
• Social isolation and disconnection from colleagues
• Or even depressive thoughts

On the physical level, it can weaken the immune system and cause severe sleep disorders and migraines.

If burnout symptoms may subside after a decent rest (vacation or time off), and brownout goes away with more meaningful projects and tasks, boreout is a much “heavier lift.” It is a more complex problem that doesn’t get solved in one or two weeks. Therefore, it would be better to avert than treat it.

See how.

How to Prevent Employee Boreout at Work

Let’s examine several preventive measures against the boreout syndrome in employees.

Stimulate different role try-ons.

Why not let your workers take on roles besides the ones mentioned in their job descriptions?

If your employee likes to do something and has extra time to do it—say, the sales rep is helping marketers organize events—permit them to try it, enjoy the experience, and shoo work boreout away.

This philosophy originates from Holacracy, a management framework where team members gain more freedom and flexibility than in a traditional hierarchical system. In Holacracy, employees can take on as many roles as they want, as long as they have the knowledge and expertise needed. For instance, they can take 80% of responsibilities linked to their job role directly and fill up the remaining 20% with other things they prefer.

If you try this approach, consider implementing a tool like Talkspirit in order to clarify everyone’s roles and responsibilities.

Encourage office- and people-friendly pranks.

There’s still an ongoing argument among employers about the appropriateness of pranking people in the workplace. But before you throw tomatoes at the author of this article for supporting pranks (only friendly ones!), read the following:

“Friendly in-office pranks or practical jokes are indicators of organizational health. But, of course, they are acceptable if they go in line with the moral and ethical standards set in the company and the society,” notes Brooke Webber, Head of Marketing at Ninja Patches.

“Although controversial, this idea is super-powerful in fighting boreout at work. I like how it brings elements of fun and entertainment rather unexpectedly and wakes our teammates up from the workday’s monotony.”

For example:

Once, the Ninja Team pranked the co-worker in a hilarious manner that made their day. They printed out DTF (Direct to Film) transfers and UV PermaStickers with the teammate’s face and placed them on T-shirts, cups, and all over the office to see how long it would take him to notice (he actually hadn’t spotted a thing until the team demonstrated it explicitly).

Participate in offline networking events (or create yours!).

Rodger Desai, CEO of Prove, shares, “Networking at physical places is a great opportunity for our team to get out of the office or home and change the scenery, breaking the tiresome flow of routine tasks. Besides, it’s also about meeting new people, which isn’t boring per se, as new faces automatically drive fresh experiences through two-way communication.”

Here’s a list of networking events you can attend with your team members:

• Industry conferences
• Skill-specific workshops
• Product expos
• Sports leagues or tournaments
• Alumni meet-ups, etc.

Pro tip: Rodger Desai advises employers to “coin” a new, branded event. “It would also be great to engage employees in event preparation and management,” he says.

For example:

The Prove Identity team hosts an annual branded event, Improve Connect: The AI, Fraud, and Digital Identity Summit, with thought leaders in the industry to network with.

Organize interest-driven team-building activities.

Have you tried gathering your team around a specific interest or hobby for a team-building activity?

This strategy helps Max Tang, CMO at GEEKOM, and his team members to overcome the boreout syndrome. He says, “Even though our hobbies and interests are diverse, we aren’t afraid to leave our comfort zones and try something new that stimulates creativity, rekindles engagement, and strengthens bonds among our team of solicitors. We just say ‘yes’ to a new hobby-testing experience, which is an automatic ‘no’ to boredom in the workplace. It’s that straightforward.”

It can be anything related to your workers’ interests or hobbies:

• Cook-off challenge
• Volunteering
• Book club discussion
• Interest-based ice-breakers (“What’s on your playlist?” or “Name your dream travel destination”)
• Photography contest
• DIY craft workshop

For example:

Take a glimpse of the evening of pottery organized by the Osbornes Law solicitors for building team cohesion and lessening boreout symptoms at the same time.

Cultivate the “will for discovery.”

What’s that, and how can it help you prevent boreout at work?

In the words of Albert Kim, VP of Talent at Checkr, “Will or willingness for discovery is an intrinsic motivational power that drives people to dig up something new and develop personally and professionally. It doesn’t leave room for boredom in the workplace because every new day is another dose of novelty on the continuous learning and development (L&D) path.”

Albert Kim recommends setting an L&D budget for employees’ professional growth to promote the will for discovery. Let your workers allocate their L&D budgets based on their skill sets, interests, and career needs: certifications, skill development workshops, or new languages.

Example:

The L&D budget at Springworks is up to $250 + an additional learning bonus of $120. The company also sets aside monthly work hours for employees to acquire new skills and knowledge.

Gamify work and training.

According to research, 61% of people who had non-gamified training experienced boredom. On the contrary, 83% of respondents who participated in gamified training scenarios felt motivated.

As you can understand, your employees’ boreout symptoms may fade away with workplace gamification.

But first, Jesse Hanson, Content Manager at Online Solitaire & World of Card Games, recommends developing a “slightly gamer-like mindset” in workers focused on achieving a specific goal. He explains why it is important from the psychological viewpoint in this case:

“Since gamification taps into the human need for achievement, such a mindset can boost internal motivation. While earning points or collecting badges, just like in a game, employees can see visible or even tangible markers of their progress and strive for higher results. They stop perceiving tasks as mundane and dull; they rather view them as challenging and rewarding.”

Organize tasks and train your team while using game elements and mechanics as follows:

• Points
• Progress bars
• Leaderboards
• Badges
• Awards
• Missions, quests, or challenges

At this point, grab the following tip from Sabas Lin, CTO at Knowee, who believes challenging employees is the best way to fight boreout at work. “Challenge your staffers every single day—yet do it in moderation so as not to exhaust them to burnout—and you’ll see boredom vaporizing. Daily challenges will encourage your employees to perform better and achieve more, daring to aim bigger and pushing past their boundaries across different levels: company-wide, team, and individual.”

For example:

The Lockton insurance managers challenged their teams with group presentation tasks on solving a business issue.

Add more vibrancy to your workspace (physical or virtual).

And one last, science-backed tip to combat boreout at work: rely on color psychology in your office design and encourage your employees to do the same in their home offices when working remotely.

As Jarret Austin, Lifei Chen, Founder at buysmart.ai, points out, “There exists a strong link between color and emotion (and later behavioral patterns). In fact, some colors (red, orange, green, yellow, or pink) contribute to brain stimulation and evoke more enthusiasm and positivity. If used for workspace designs, they eventually provoke more energetic behaviors in employees.”

Let’s enumerate these colors once again:

• Red
• Green
• Orange
• Pink
• Yellow

So, you might need to enliven your in-office workplace design with brighter colors to make it less dull and boring. Mind: monotones can depress employees.

The Importance of Communication and Collaboration Tools for Fighting Boreout

Communication and collaboration platforms can help you connect all your employees together (including those working remotely) and make collaborative work more efficient. They’re thus a great way to slip away from the boreout syndrome’s shadow.

For example, you can use  Talkspirit to share information with employees (through chat, publications or your home page), collaborate on documents in real time, create a company knowledge base, and even manage your projects.

Talkspirit is also an engaging digital spot to socialize and grow team bonds stronger than ever. Your employees will never get bored while working and chatting via a lively platform. Try the app for free here!

Last Note on Workplace Boreout

Boreout at work totally undermines employee success. Employees experience sharp drops in motivation, productivity, and overall job satisfaction. Worse, it pulls up other unpleasant consequences, such as higher turnover and quiet quitting—workers check out mentally without resigning formally.

You’ve seen what strategies can prevent or nip work-related boredom in the bud. Now, download our white paper on employee loyalty and quiet quitting to discover what else can help you re-engage your team and retain your top talent 👇

Access White Paper

In our white paper “How do you build employee loyalty and prevent quiet quitting?”, you’ll discover: the origins of the quiet quitting phenomenon, the main causes of disengagement at work, and the buttons to tweak to raise retention of top talent and stave off quiet quitting.