It’s so boring – or is it? Examining the role of mindfulness for work performance and attitudes in monotonous jobs

Published in: Journal of Occupational and Organizational Psychology - September 2021

Written by

Andreas Wihler, Ute Hülsheger, Jochen Reb and Jochen Menges

Summary

What we found: In monotonous jobs, mindful employees are not only more satisfied with their job and less likely to quit, but also think that their job is less boring than low mindful employees. Interestingly, mindfulness especially boosts the quality, but not the quantity of work performance.

Why it matters: For many organizations, ensuring a high-quality work output in repetitive work conditions is a great challenge. Mindfulness may help employees to experience a sense of mastery also in highly repetitive job conditions by buffering from the negative impact of boredom.

What next: If quality work is more important than quantity, organizations should recognize and support employee mindfulness. Incorporating mindfulness training into the workplace could be a promising way to increase work quality and lower turnover in monotonous jobs.