Donata Mutesi quit her fairly paying job three months back as she couldn’t handle boredom at work anymore. The accountant by profession recalls how fun her workplace was when she had just joined, but that didn’t last. At the start, she narrates how she was given a number of training sessions to improve her skills-a thing that kept her excited and looking forward to learning something new. However, she notes that when the company stopped offering such trainings, among other things, she lost morale for her work and boredom kicked in. After a while, she called it quits and searched for a better company that would keep investing in her learning and at the same time, enabling her to apply the skills learned. Mutesi stresses that boredom doesn’t necessarily mean that an employee has nothing to do, but rather, a number of reasons such as having too many tasks to do, may trigger it. She carries on that any job that keeps piling you with tasks without space for breathing, leaves employees burned out thus losing morale in the job. Sometimes boredom occurs when the employers or managers fail to appreciate or celebrate hardworking employees. As they keep pushing on, waiting at some point to be rewarded or promoted to better positions, but in vain, they will eventually lose interest in the job. “Such people may halt giving the company their full energy and even resign to look for jobs that best fit their qualifications, skills, and so forth,” she states. Moses Mugabo, an IT employee says that some employees are just bored because their jobs are not challenging them to take on harder tasks or projects to enable them grow. Having the same kind of job especially if it’s easy, leaves some people interested in more exciting opportunities, he adds. “Attempting hard tasks assists you to know that you’re capable of performing much better results or goals and leaving your comfort zone. Whenever someone is in a place where they’re comfortable and don’t push themselves to learn something new, they lose out on the opportunity of learning new skills. This hinders growth opportunities, and shakes self-esteem,” he says. Mugabo carries on that it’s obvious for boredom to ensue when you lack creativity. Doing the same things in the same way often doesn’t yield better results. He adds that your efforts and energy can easily be noticed by your supervisors or boss if you are unique in what you do, otherwise, your workplace won’t be a happy place to be if you don’t search for creative measures, skills, methods, and ways to work better. The IT expert also notes that at times, when some employees feel like their views or ideas are not respected; they mute themselves from participating in meetings, or even finding solutions to problems happening in the company. He has no doubt that employees who are not respected are most likely to feel less important, a thing that can lead to boredom. “When you notice this kind of energy at your workplace, discuss with the people that are involved, probably they don’t know that they are actually hurting you.” Mugabo explains that some employees are placed in positions where they can’t handle some tasks because they lack the expertise, so when such tasks are hard for them and have to ask for help all the time, they of course end up feeling bored. He also notes that the lack of a good relationship with colleagues keeps employees bored and not interested in reporting to work. But also, bad leaders (are bad at communication and micromanage workers-a management style considered by excessive control and attention to detail to the works of subordinates or employees), could stir boredom as they demotivate workers.
