Working up to a frenzy of boredom
By Jean Gray
BBC News Online |
Drumming your fingers at work? Wishing you were in that dream job you always knew was your destiny? You are not alone as, according to a survey, one in three workers are bored with their jobs and plan to find another this year.
The poll of 1,000 people, by consultancy DDI, also found half of those surveyed felt they could do their job "standing on their head".
In fact, they felt just like the long-suffering Tim, from the award-winning BBC comedy The Office. Tim, played by actor Martin Freeman, is a sales rep who is crushingly aware of the pointlessness of his work for paper firm Wernham Hogg.
As bored workers returned to their desks to face another Monday morning, BBC News Online set out discover whether so many people really were unhappy in their work.
| My job is like a comfortable old pair of slippers but there is no challenge or motivation any more
Office manager Jane, 32 |
Jane, 32, has worked for a small south London family business for seven years as office manager and "girl Friday".
She says: "My job is like a comfortable old pair of slippers but there is no challenge or motivation any more.
"It's like being in a boring relationship, where you start to believe you can't do anything else. My boss manipulates me like a bad boyfriend would.
"Now I am expecting a baby and I am so pleased because it gives me an excuse to leave, which is pathetic."
High turnover
Call centre work has the image of being demanding yet boring, stressful yet lacking stimulation.
Dai Davies of Europe's largest finance sector trade union Unifi says the element of repetition is certainly one reason why there is such a high turnover of staff, up to 35% a year.
"Another problem is that they are physically linked to the machine in front of them," he says. "People are timed on calls and everything is monitored. It's like being tagged."
Having company at work appears to help alleviate boredom with a little camaraderie going a long way.
Vincent, 58, a west London security guard, says: "Things can get a bit quiet at times but there are three of us so there's always someone to cheer you up. People on their own have the worst time, I think."
Roger, 52, who has been in his current security job since 1989 said he found his job trying at times.
| I think an awful lot of people are badly under-utilised - it's a crying shame really
Roger
Security guard |
He says: "I had to deny access to one person who turned out to be quite high in his field. He said, 'Do you know why you are here?' I said I did and he replied: 'Whatever reason you think it is, it's because you are too stupid to do anything else'.
"That sort of attitude is soul-destroying.
"I think an awful lot of people are badly under-utilised. It's a crying shame really.
"If you feel nobody gives a sausage you reach down and hit the switch-off button."
Night quieter
Tales of lonely night workers falling asleep on the job are rife but not everyone finds the wee small hours drag.
Jackson, 25, works day and night shifts at a petrol station and loves his job.
"I never get bored," he says. "During the day it's customer after customer, non-stop. At night it's quieter but it gives me a chance to re-stock shelves and clean up."
Another busy worker who told BBC News Online she was never bored was 55-year-old Lena.
She works with adults with learning difficulties and says: "I help with personal care, food preparation, escorting people on social visits and appointments. There's always something to do.
| I love my job - I suppose I need to be needed
Lena, 55, social worker |
"You give a lot and they give a lot back. I've been doing this job 30 years and I wouldn't change it. I love my job. I suppose I need to be needed."
Rashid, a retired computer technician, helps out as a cab controller. He says: "I couldn't imagine doing this kind of thing on a regular basis. I have to bring a magazine or a book in to stop myself going mad.
"But then I've read recently about so-called status anxiety where high-flyers are trying to keep up with the Joneses and are stressed and unhappy. So who knows who's better off."
What do you think about this story? Are you bored at work and looking to change jobs? How could your boss help to kindle your interest?
Send your comments to us on the form at the bottom of the story.
When I worked for an insurance company in an office, I was really, really bored. I used to tip the paperclips out of the box and count them as I put them back in! I quit the job, went back to college, trained to be a teacher and I am now teaching English in Japan. As it is a creative job and every lesson and student is different, I find it a very exciting job. Also, I am required to be constantly thinking on my feet to keep the lesson flowing. Moreover, there is a lot of satisfaction to see students progressing with the language. Therefore to kindle interest in a job may require - creativity, challenges and job satisfaction. I am lucky, I get all three!
Andy, Tokyo
The trouble is that someone somewhere has worked out that I enjoy the job, and so has deduced that I don't need to be paid a decent salary! I'll stay anyway, grumble a bit about how I could double my pay (very nearly true!) and be dumped on by government, senior university funders and students! sigh
Caroline, Long Buckby, Northamptonshire
I've been in a boring job for 7 years that I could do in my sleep. The highlight was when late last year the company told me most of the staff would be made redundant. That was great. I now had motivation to do something about moving on, something I should have done years ago. The last three months have flown by, and I now have a more challenging and higher paid job waiting for me in three weeks.
CJ, Guernsey
| Earning a high salary is not the be all and end all
Max, Ethiopia |
Having worked in Scotland and England, I now work for an aid agency in Africa. Although I earn next to no money, it is the most satisfying job I could dream of. Earning a high salary is not the be all and end all - yet it seems to be the only consideration of a majority of people.
Max, Ethiopia I don't know very many people who aren't in a bit of a rut with work, but it's difficult to change direction if you don't know what you want to do. There's also the inertia factor - the longer you're in a job, the harder it is to find the motivation to leave. Employers could probably keep their staff happier and get more out of them at the same time by simply taking more notice - in order to utilise somebody's strengths it's necessary to improve communication with employees.
Anon, S Wales
I don't think it's necessarily about the job itself. Many people who work for a company are going to get fed-up unless they are very fortunate purely because people are conforming to a system where ultimately they are working for someone else.
I think the more important factor is about lifestyle. If you live in an environment where the quality of life is fantastic, you only live 10 minutes from the office, it's always sunny and you are earning a good salary, I think that changes many people's perspectives on their working life. That's exactly why I moved to Dubai and set up a recruitment company to offer people more than just a job but a whole new outlook on life as well.
Stuart Walsh, Dubai, United Arab Emirates
I work in the city as a security officer. Not your normal security on gates etc, I work in the IT department controlling access to the company's server rooms. I started as a stopgap between jobs when the IT market collapsed just over 2 years ago. I'm still here. Can't say the job is exciting, but why get another job I don't really want when Im getting a wage that is better than most managerial jobs outside the city. I don't let quiet nights get boring, they let me hatch ideas for future business ventures and experiments
Tony, London
It's worst when you have all the qualification and yet you can't get the graduate jobs. You then go for the lower ones and you are told that you are overqualified. In the end, you truncate your cv just to get some money to pay the bills. How on earth can degree holder in engineering be happy working as a mail sorter?
Edward, London
| It just becomes so frustrating to know you could be doing something else if only you could afford to re-train
Chris M, Wakefield, England |
Over the past decade thousands, of workers have been made redundant. I am one of a number of coal miners who were made redundant during the nineties. Like most others we had to take the first job that came along so the we could pay our mortgages and feed our families, this led to us missing out on retraining for other industries or careers. The only jobs that we could get were mainly in the security industry, were the work is dull, boring and leads nowhere. Once you get into the security industry as a security officer you get stereotyped and it becomes increasingly difficult to get out. Due to working shifts you are not able to attend courses or night classes to re-train. It just becomes so frustrating to know you could be doing something else if only you could afford to re-train.
Chris M, Wakefield, England The people I work with are great - we get on and have a really good laugh, but the work is so very dull. It doesn't challenge me by any means. It's to the extent that my brain isn't really being used at all. Because of this, I have made the decision to quit my safe, well paid job and take a year out to go walking and taking photos in either South Wales or the Lake District. I'm going to work on a couple of books, calendars, etc. with the aim of doing this professionally. If it all goes well, I plan on not going back to software engineering. I'm saving hard and working overtime so I can afford to live for a year without an income - it's tough, but is going to be worth it. Come along April 2005!
DS, Guildford
I work as a computer operator in an investment bank. We do shifts and it is a quiet site and I agree with most of the points raised however the site I was at previously was busy day and night and no 2 days were ever the same so boredom was not a factor but my future is out of the UK, new challenge new country. Don't want brain turning to mush
Theo C, Edgware, England
I'm thrilled with my job teaching in HE. Not just because I enjoy the class room, but because I'm working more and more with people in their jobs, exploring new ways of doing them. Working with new ideas trying out new ways of thinking and challenging old, tired techniques of managing - that's exciting!
| People are typically responsible for the positions they find themselves in
John, UK |
Surely it's about choice, people are typically responsible for the positions they find themselves in. To blame your job is to avoid the inevitable look in the mirror. "The Peter Principle" states that in a hierarchy we all rise to our level of incompetence. If your bored of your job, find another!
John, UK
My job is not the same as the one I applied for years ago. It has changed beyond recognition by short sighted managers. The feeling of lack of worth and incompetence of senior staff is forcing me to take a pay cut to escape the stress of it all.
David, Cornwall, UK
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