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I noticed in
my readings yesterday that productivity is down… Another sign
that a world dominated by corporate-driven consumerism is not sustainable? Or just that
organization must be redesigned to allow creative flow? Kwc Boredom Numbs the Work World By Amy Joyce,
Washington Post Staff Writer, Wednesday, August 10, 2005; D01 When Bruce Bartlett
was the deputy assistant secretary for economic policy at the U.S. Treasury
under George H.W. Bush, boredom occasionally drove him from his cushy
Washington office to seek relief at the movie theater. One afternoon, he ran
into a friend who was a senior official in another department. "It was kind of awkward," he
said. Bartlett had a
secretary, staff, an important-sounding job and the paycheck to go with it.
But, like many workers, he found himself underemployed and bored out of his
mind. "There is a
reason why prison is considered punishment," Bartlett said, comparing it to
his former job. "You may be in a gilded cage, but if you're just forced to
sit there for eight hours all day long, staring at the wall, it can be
excruciating." Be it at a desk at the
Treasury Department, a spot on the factory floor, or a drab blue cubicle,
boredom is a condition that can be more stressful and damaging than overwork,
according to those who have studied the issue. "We know that 55 percent of all U.S. employees are not
engaged at work.
They are basically in a holding pattern. They feel like their capabilities
aren't being tapped into and utilized and therefore, they really don't have a
psychological connection to the organization," said Curt W. Coffman,
global practice leader at the Gallup Organization, whose large polling group
measured employee engagement. Bartlett's problem was
that he was deputy assistant secretary for economic policy when the president
"just didn't care about economic policy, only foreign policy. . . .
Because the White House didn't want to do anything, there wasn't anything we
could do," he said. That problem -- a lack of autonomy and a job that has very
specific instructions
-- hits workers from the highest to lowest echelons of the working world. Many
spend their days surfing the Internet, writing e-mails or taking care of
personal business. Bartlett spent
his days writing for academic journals. Boredom has a permanent seat in many
workplaces, no matter the level of employee. And people are miserable. Kristina Henry started
her career as a government contractor in the early 1990s. Her job left her so
stressed, that she started grinding her teeth and was constantly looking for
new work. And that stress
came from the fact she had nothing to do. "It was
like Dilbert," she said. "I learned a lot about FAA regs and flight
rules. And I learned a lot of acronyms. . . . . A lot of times it was just
tedious, and I was thinking, I can't believe I'm here and being paid for
this." So how did she and her
co-workers cope? Occasionally, they too sneaked out to movies and to museums.
And she brought a copy of "War and Peace" to work. She finished it in
two weeks. Although workers may
dream of days surfing the Internet with nothing to do, the busiest employees
are the happiest, according to a survey by Sirota Consulting LLC. Of more than 800,000 employees at 61 organizations
worldwide, those with "too little work" gave an overall job
satisfaction rating of 49 out of 100, while those with "too much
work" had a rating of 57. "Those who are saying their workload is heavier
rather than lighter are more positive," said Jeffrey M. Saltzman, chief
executive of Sirota. "When you say you have too much work to do, other
things are happening in your head: 'I'm valued by the organization. They're giving me
responsibility.' That's better than being in the other place where you say I'm
not of value in this place." Boredom is "one
of the biggest contributors to work-related stress," said Douglas LaBier,
a business psychologist who runs the Center for Adult Development in
Washington. The less someone works at work, the more pressure they feel. Jean Martin-Weinstein,
managing director of the Corporate Leadership Council, a division of the
Corporate Executive Board Co., cited findings from a survey of 50,000 workers
around the world who were asked questions such as: "Do you love your job?
Do you love your team? Are you excited by the work you do every day?" Thirteen percent came
out saying no, no, very much no.
"They are disaffected, because they are basically completely
checked out from the work they do," Martin-Weinstein said. Employers suffer when
employees are bored, as well.
"It casts a pall on the whole organization and can create a
demoralized atmosphere," LaBier said. "It blocks creativity, which can undermine any company, which can
keep it from staying abreast of the marketplace, competition. When you have
that boredom, that can produce a kind of pervasive cloud. It can build like a
critical mass that hurts the company's performance and market position." And in jobs where
safety is at stake, boredom can be dangerous. The Transportation Safety Administration, which is charged
with employing and training workers at airports, rotates its screeners every
half hour or so, which "allows them to stay sharp and keenly
focused," according to Yolanda Clark, TSA spokeswoman. "We want eagle
eyes at each of those posts." A worker may go from
an X-ray machine to a position checking boarding passes, and then change
environments completely, to the baggage screening area. Duty changes throughout
the day keep the employees intent on the job at hand. "We like to say
there's never a dull day at TSA," Clark said. But for many workers,
a shift change every 30 minutes is a mere dream. For them, the only remedy to
combat boredom may be to find new work.
Henry, for instance, left the federal aviation world to join alumni
affairs at Washington College. She now is a marketing and development
coordinator for a small museum near Annapolis. She also writes children's
books. And today, Bartlett is
busier than he ever has been as an economist with the National Center for
Policy Analysis. "I'm constantly working," he said. "The day
goes by so rapidly, it's absolutely amazing to me." http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/08/09/AR2005080901395.html |
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