Monday, August 15, 2005

On the job

Even at highest levels, boredom on the job takes toll on workers

Far from enjoying the cushy pace, employees who don't have much to do feel stress, experts say.

By Amy Joyce / Washington Post

Comment on this story Send this story to a friend Get Home Delivery

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 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, based in Purchase, N.Y. 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 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.