Older workers in particular are more likely to suffer what is known as bore-out (getting sick from boredom) if employers do not spot the signs of this condition in time.
Swiss research previously found that 15 per cent of office workers are bored and pretend to be busy. Such behaviour can lead to serious stress symptoms such as depression. Bore-out is characterised by fatigue, irritability and listlessness, among other things. Often, these employees are unaware that they have a stress illness.
The two stress diseases boreout and burnout have a lot in common. Therefore, boreout is often initially mistaken for burnout and, in most cases, a psychologist is needed to make the correct diagnosis.
Getting sick from boredom is still a taboo in this society, especially in times when busyness and stress are almost status symbols and employees do not want to suggest they are cutting corners.
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Long-serving employees become listless when they are deprived of prospects.
Bore-out has been the subject of regular research in recent years. These show, among other things, that employees who are bore-out have come up with various tricks they use to disguise their boredom.
For example, employees with a bore-out put pressure on very simple projects or put unnecessary pressure on colleagues. They can also often be busy with many different computer screens and to-do lists to suggest busyness.
Applying such tricks makes it seem as if an employee is constantly busy when in reality he is bored and has far too little to do.
It also happens that these employees gossip excessively out of boredom, bully colleagues or look for a scapegoat to cover up their own boredom. The gossip often leads to conflicts resulting in absenteeism and possible referral to a psychologist.
