Mindful employees less likely to quit, study finds

Employees who practise mindfulness are less likely to be bored at work and less likely to quit their jobs, a new study has found.

According to the team of researchers, including representatives from the University of Exeter Business School, Maastricht University, Singapore Management University, the University of Zurich and Cambridge Judge Business School, mindful employees in monotonous jobs have greater job satisfaction. As a result, they are less likely to find their jobs boring and less likely to seek alternative employment.

The study, entitled It’s so boring – or is it? Examining the role of mindfulness for work performance and attitudes in monotonous jobs, is published in the Journal of Occupational and Organizational Psychology.

For the study, the researchers assessed 174 blue-collar workers at a Mexican manufacturing plant along the Mexico-US border, whose job is to process discount coupons from US retailers – a highly repetitive task with no additional incentives for performing well.

The researchers measured the employees’ mindfulness using a six-point mindfulness attention awareness scale, before assessing their boredom levels and attitudes four weeks later. Then, after four months, they collected data about the number of coupons employees had processed and number of errors they had made.

The study team found that while practising mindfulness boosted the quality of the employees’ work, it had the opposite effect when it came to quantity. Indeed, the researchers discovered that mindful employees actually had a reduced quantity of work compared to their less mindful counterparts. The study described this phenomenon as a “double-edged sword” for task performance in monotonous jobs.

The study’s co-author Jochen Menges, who teaches at the University of Zürich and Cambridge Judge Business School, said: “Monotonous jobs are held by millions of people around the world and more research needs to be done about those jobs.

“Our research now seeks to redress the balance in favour of blue-collar workers. We find that more mindful employees perceive their monotonous job as less boring and have higher job satisfaction, and are thus less likely to leave.”

Looking for your next technology, science or engineering role? Maybe you’re just starting out in your career? Polytec is here to help you find the perfect position for you. Browse our current vacancies now >>> https://www.polytec.co.uk/jobs/

Image by ainthome from Pixabay