4 Ways to Help Employees Battle Boredom
With all the corporate layoffs, downsizing, and belt-tightening going around, plenty of people are feeling the pressure of work overload. But there's a flip side to the economy slide: employees who feel disconnected, disengaged, and even downright bored.
Case in point: my friend John, who's the brainy systems administrator for a biotech company. The company recently slashed its workforce by almost 75 percent. John was one of the lucky few to keep his job, but the silver lining has a cloud.
"I am bored beyond belief," he laments. "Getting through a day is an exercise in torture. There's almost nothing for me to do." With just a skeleton staff to service, he's rarely called upon to fix problems, reconfigure networks, or even help someone figure out Outlook's spiffy features.
John is one of the brightest, smartest, savviest tech guys I know (and I know many). He's a superstar performer who, back in the company's heyday, thought nothing of working into the wee hours or on weekends to make sure everything was running smoothly. Now, he can't wait for the clock to hit 5.
Chances are, if things don't pick up for John, he's going to jump ship. He's not just bored; now, he's getting bitter. And that'd be a huge loss for his company.
What can you do if you have an employee who, through no fault of his own, is spending more time doing crossword puzzles than helping your bottom line? As a manager, it's up to you to help create more engagement. Here are four ways to get your bored employees excited about work again.
- Offer new challenges. It's the smartest workers who get bored most quickly, so make sure you're feeding their brains by providing new opportunities and projects for them. In John's case, his bosses could ask him to research new IT solutions, conduct assessments and analyses of their current IT infrastructure, and offer recommendations for improvement. It won't cost them a cent, and they'll have a great road map once the economy rights itself and they're ready to expand again.
- Allow for flex-time. One of the things that drives John crazy is the expectation that he has to be at his desk 9 to 5, Monday through Friday, although there's precious little for him to do. So he sits in his office and fumes. If you truly can't offer enough work to keep someone busy, but you need to keep them on staff regardless, consider letting them have a four-day workweek or telecommute at least part of the time. Yes, maybe he'll be sitting home watching bowling -- but at least he won't be bitter.
- Think outside the box. Does your employee have a skill set you're not using effectively? If so, why not leverage it? For example, John's a Microsoft-certified whiz at the Office suite of products. How about having him run some seminars for employees on how to get more out of Word, PowerPoint, or Excel? What about having him start a company blog? Or use his free time to get the company some marketing props by Twittering?
- Provide training. Maybe your bored employee has just outgrown his job. Find out what he's interested in doing now, and match it to on-the-job training. If your company doesn't offer in-house training, consider giving him time off during the workday to take classes or seminars.
Are you bored at work? Do you have bored employees? Share your ideas on how to make things better in the comments section.
(image by normalityrelief via Flickr, CC 2.0)