Why we're so bored at work

"The realities of modern work have grown much more tedious, more disconnected from the end product."

Today, we’re talking about Generation Drift, a book with a brilliant subtitle: ‘Why we're up career creek and how to paddle home'. It’s a really enjoyable read, written in Josh Robert’s dryly humorous tone. He is also the author of Anxious Man, endorsed by none other than Stephen Fry who said “I read it in one breathless sitting." Josh recently came on Ctrl Alt Delete podcast and you listen to our full conversation here.

Emma: Two of the big stats that I’d love to talk about are that 50% of us are more bored at work, and 300% of us are more likely to change jobs than our parents generation. Let’s start there.

Josh: Yeah, I’ve had moment sitting in a workplace meeting, thinking, if I didn't come in today, would anyone have noticed? Would the world be a worse place, or better place? Specialisation has got to the point where lots of jobs we do like single task jobs have no variety in them. There’s no difference in what we’re doing across the day. The realities of modern work have grown much more tedious, more disconnected from the end product as well. We are more bored and more directionless, but at the same time, our expectations of work have grown massively, which is a big problem because it’s really affecting people’s mental health.

Emma: You sum it up so well there, and you're so right, it is monotonous, and can often fail to tap into that very core human desire of wanting to feel like we're doing something worthwhile, because if you're spending all day sending emails for something you don't really care about, it does crush you a little bit. The book really made me reflect on my own career because I talk about being a multi hyphenate, but actually, when I get to the real core reason of why I've chosen this mismatch of jobs, it’s because I think I get bored quite easily.