Opinion: 4 things that happen when work becomes boring

by Abayomi Gbade-Bello

It would be classified as an understatement to assert that Nigeria has a high rate of unemployment/underemployment currently because this fact is an open secret and a major problem the younger population of the country have had to grapple with over the years. Most employers are aware of this reality, hence the hostile nature and harsh working conditions they mete out to employees.

According to the National Bureau of Statistics, the unemployment rate in Nigeria increased to 14.2 percent in the last quarter of 2016 from 10.4 percent a year earlier. It is the highest jobless rate since 2009, as the number of unemployed went from 3.5 million to 11.549 million while employment rose at a slower 680.8 thousand to 69.6 million. While this isn’t our focus here, it would form the needed foundation.

Job hunting in Nigeria is actually a job in its own right, no job seeker irrespective of the level of desperation displayed while job hunting can emphatically predict what to expect when offered a job. On more than one occasion, I have heard these two sayings, while I cannot put a specific name to them. They are relevant to help drive home the point.

“Treat your employees well, so they wouldn’t begin to source for an escape route within a short time of joining your establishment.”

“When your employees feel free at work, they would not use your internet access to seek for other jobs.”

When an employee begins to experience one or all of the following 4 feelings, then no further doubt is needed to reveal that job is becoming unattractive/tiring.

  • Inability to give your best
  • Frustration
  • Brooding
  • Intense Pressure

Inability to give your best: When self-encouragement or self-motivation is absent in an employee, then being unproductive would normally become inevitable. While it’s necessary for the work environment to have set rules and guidelines, the work space must not be too tensed or laced with pressure to ensure the effective delivery of employees.

Frustration: Frustration is a function of a series of unsettled emotions which isn’t good for any relationship, let alone the work environment. It is usually as a result of lack/reduced interest on the job by an employee which have been accumulated overtime.

Brooding: An unhappy employee is bound to keep thinking about the good, bad and ugly of the job altogether. Paramount in the heart of an employee who isn’t feeling good on the job would be to find a lee way from what seems to be a semi-prison in form of a job. Some employees are disinterested in the first day of the week (Monday), this is necessitated by not having something to look forward to at work, hence they work with little or no passion and get highly spirited when the week is over.

Intense pressure: Permit me to rephrase the popular saying “When you love what you do, work becomes play”, to when an employee works in a relaxed and not so tense environment, concentration and creativity are most likely achieved at an optimal level. While activities in the work environment are meant to be official, there is a need for discretion in some instances to help foster a good team bonding between employees.


Op–ed pieces and contributions are the opinions of the writers only and do not represent the opinions of Y!/YNaija

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