With burnout on the rise, you may think that's why you're feeling disinterested in work, or have a depleted social battery and increased irritability on the job. 

But another underrecognized culprit could be at play, says Wharton organizational psychologist and best-selling author Adam Grant. It's called "boreout," and it's essentially burnout flipped on its head. The phenomenon has become more prevalent in recent years, especially since the shift to remote and hybrid work models, he says.

"When you're burned out, you're overloaded, overstimulated and overwhelmed," says Grant, who's currently in a consulting role as Glassdoor's Chief Worklife Expert. "When you're bored out, you're underwhelmed."

Doing one thing for too long, not having room for career growth, being unclear about how your work is meaningful and, especially, a lack of social interaction can all contribute to professionals feeling bored and unfulfilled, Grant adds. 

The vast majority of U.S. workers, roughly 80%, prefer remote or hybrid work when possible, according to a 2024 Gallup poll, but the lack of social interaction is one of the most commonly-cited challenges of those arrangements, while 30% of respondents also said that virtual meetings are "less effective" than meeting in person.

In 2024, 27% of U.S. professionals worked in hybrid models and 11% worked remotely, compared with 26% and 7%, respectively, the year before, according to Owl Labs' 2024 State of Hybrid Work report, which surveyed 2,000 full-time workers. The number of digital jobs are expected to increase 25% by 2030, according to the World Economic Forum.

As in-person work interactions continue to decrease, we can expect more cases of boreout, says Grant.

"People are lethargic [in virtual meetings]," he says. "They're not showing burnout symptoms. They're just like, 'This is not giving me any energy. I have no interest in this conversation.' They're like zombies. So I think that's a big factor."

Turning ennui into engagement

There are actions both bosses and employees can take to improve morale when work starts to feel boring and underwhelming.

For starters, leaders can be more relaxed when it comes to virtual meeting expectations, Grant says. Mandating employees to have their cameras on or use a specific background, for example, can take the fun out of collaborating and increase employees' fatigue, research shows.

Instead, bosses can promote more organic collaboration every once in a while, letting employees contribute to conversations however they're most comfortable, including with cameras off or even by responding in the chat.

"What they don't realize is that they're draining people. You don't need to see people's faces at every meeting," Grant says. "Particularly if it's a smaller group of people who know each other well. Going cameras off is actually a great way to let people recharge, and then they show up more excited to connect when they do."

Also, a huge part of what makes work exciting is the connections people make with their colleagues. Employees these days switch roles a lot more frequently, meaning there are more surface-level friendships or transactional relationships as a result, according to Grant.

"Since we don't plan to stick around, we don't invest in the same way [socially]. We view coworkers as transitory ties, greeting them with arms-length civility while reserving real camaraderie for outside work," he said in a recent Glassdoor blog post.

Grant recommends that employees be intentional about making real connections at work, whether that's by setting up coffee chats with your colleagues or bonding over solving a problem together. 

"Think about the things that you want to share that you know that actually overlap with what other people care about in your workplace," Grant says. "Those might be some common values that led you to join the organization [or] rolling up your sleeves to tackle a problem you care about or a mission that matters to you."

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