Managing Workplace Boredom: Employee Coping Strategies, Supervisor Communication, and Job Satisfaction

Abstract

This survey study ( n = 297, 47% Caucasian, 52% female) examines U.S. employees’ experience of workplace boredom, their strategies for boredom coping, and their perceptions of managerial support of employee boredom mitigation. In regression analyses, employee job and supervisor satisfaction are predicted by perceived managerial effectiveness in reducing boring aspects of work, as well as perceived managerial support of employee coping mechanisms. Analysis of qualitative data provides a typology of worker coping mechanisms; a typology of managerial communicative responses to worker feedback surrounding the tasks performed; and a grounded theoretical framework for managerial communication with employees performing repetitive work routines.