What are your thoughts on
“Bore-Out: How This New Trend Is Affecting Employee Engagement” ?
discuss below.
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I definitely need to be busy, challenged, and have my work be meaningful in order to be fully engaged and motivated. I agree that if staff feel like they serve no purpose, they will not personally invest in their work. Staying connected with staff and exploring their strengths and expectations will serve to help both staff and the organization. It is better to take the time to fully understand staff capabilities and fully utilize the staff you have, than have the potential of losing them and have to start all over again with new staff.
I agree Denise, I too need a good challenge and I like to know that I have another task in the wings.
Agreed! Thanks for your comments, Denise and Caitlin!
I run a bookkeeping company with a payroll department, so we all know from processing! Agreed completely about the risks of boredom. I do want to throw out a counter-argument, though. There’s a theatre saying, “there are no small parts, only small actors.” This can address a situation where an actor is cast in a part that they feel is small or somehow beneath them. This saying urges them to find the value and the interest in that role. The saying can also address a situation where you SEE a talented actor really add richness to a scene even though their part in it was small. Let’s translate that to bookkeeping (or payroll). Yup, there’s a lot of repetition, and, yup, your decision-making scope might be limited, often by the regulatory requirements of the job. Person A might say, I’m a bookkeeper and my life is incredibly dull. I’m looking for Person B, who says, I’m a bookkeeper and my employer’s ability to manage their business depends on the quality financial statements I produce. Same tasks, different attitude. NOW… I know that good attitude doesn’t solve the problem if the job is horribly designed! For sure there are jobs where bore-out might afflict the most positive person in the world. HOWEVER… There are also situations where Person A’s bad attitude could kill a job where Person B would add value and be happy. Thoughts on that angle??
I find that within my team there are cases of bore-out due to repetition. Prior to me leading this team duties were segregated to the point that one employee administered for example benefits, one administered pension etc. This lead to repetition, boredom and a lack of backup and redundancy. I have moved to a more rounded training approach and when I sense that bore-out is occurring I change things up.