Workplace Wellbeing: What is boreout and what to do when boredom leads to burnout?

Rather than put up with a tedious job, you can seek out meaningful challenges to make work more interesting

Pic: iStock

IN 2020, a French perfume company had to pay €40,000 in damages to a former employee who claimed he’d been subjected to psychological harassment due to being so bored at work. The court ruled he was suffering from boreout — a phenomenon caused by being understimulated at work.

“We’ve all heard of burnout but because boreout isn’t as severe, it doesn’t attract quite as much attention,” says Christian van Nieuwerburgh, a coaching and positive psychology professor at RCSI.