Knowledge workers bored at work

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If you are a knowledge worker and think your job is dull, you are far from the only one concludes the article “The bored self in knowledge work”, authored by researchers Jana Costas, European University Viadrina and Dan Kärreman, Copenhagen Business School.

By surveying a number of knowledge workers at two global consultancies, the researchers found that far from everyone thinks their job is stimulating. In fact so many people describe their work as tedious and uninspiring that even the researchers were surprised.

“We didn’t expect to encounter so many knowledge workers who thought their jobs were tiresome. We were of course aware that aspects of knowledge work are inflexible and rigid, but it was a revelation that so many directly indicated that their work was unexciting – that astonished us and made it interesting to discover why,” explains Kärreman.

Job ads oversells
So why is this the case? The analysis undertaken in the article shows that it is in fact not the actual content of the job that causes boredom among knowledge workers, but the balance in expectations gone awry. Knowledge workers have job aspirations that can never be fulfilled, thus creating dissatisfaction and aggravation – eventually leading to boredom.

According to Kärreman companies are so eager to sell their jobs that the content of the job is oversold in job ads.

“The job ads promise too much. They tell job applicants that as a knowledge worker they will have a high level of influence, close daily collaboration with the company management and, finally, a certain amount of status. That’s not what daily life looks like for very many people, however, which is why many are left feeling discouraged and annoyed,” clarifies Kärreman. 

Desirable identities
Kärreman stresses that most applicants are well aware that the job description and reality will not match one to one, but most people nevertheless buy into what the job ad says so when they subsequently discover that the daily work consists of monotonous tasks involving Excel sheets, they perceive it as highly routine.

“What happens is that company job ads sell identities to coming employees, which of course are identities employees desire. When employees discover that the company can’t deliver this identity, discontent grows because the employees continue to pursue that identity but when it does not materialise they are left with a feeling of stagnation and having unrealised ambitions,” explains Kärreman.

A way to sort employees?
But why do people apparently accept that company job ads are so far from reality that, in the end, they lead to unsatisfed and frustrated employees?

Kärreman believes this is a way of sorting employees. The ones that can tolerate and accept disappointment, as well as the schism between what the ad says and the job’s actual content, are the employees worth keeping.

He still believes, however, that the companies risk being viewed as lacking credibility.

“It may ultimately be viewed as cynicism and job applicants may become sceptical toward the companies that use the kind of ads that are obviously exaggerated,” asserts Kärreman.