You Might Be Experiencing Rustout, Not Burnout, at Work

The useful part

Some forms of distress at work are easy to recognize because they interrupt someone's daily performance and the work of those around them: For example, a person on your team becomes visibly exhausted, they are irritable, or they're frequently absent. Other forms of distress are harder to see precisely because the work continues uninterrupted.

How it works

• It's common to talk about burnout at work and to recognize it in others and in ourselves.
• Smith examines a less visible and less understood form of disengagement at work: rustout.
• It can arise when people feel their work no longer offers enough meaning or challenge to keep them intellectually and creatively engaged.
• If you look around your workplace, you probably know many people who fit this bill.
• In our research, participants described experiences shaped by administrative overload, reduced autonomy, and a mi...

What to take from it

They are often the ones who are called upon because they are reliable and highly conscientious. Rustout, as we studied it, often involves being underutilized, intellectually stagnating, and feeling a deep-seated sense of unfulfillment. It is often the case that they care very much, and they meet expectations set before them.

Example or evidence

• burnout I've presented this research at numerous conferences, and each time I have been approached by professionals who say, "That's what I've been going through, but I never had a name for it until now."...