Mindfulness has seldom been more popular, with an estimated 2-500 million people practicing it globally. Research from the University of Exeter Business School highlights how beneficial it can be in the workplace, with those who do so typically less bored and less likely to quit their job.

What’s more, this was especially so for people who have the misfortune of working in monotonous jobs. Interestingly, the study also found that mindfulness tended to boost the quality of work, albeit it had minimal impact on the quantity.

“Monotonous jobs are held by millions of people around the world and more research needs to be done about those jobs,” the researchers explain. “Our research now seeks to redress the balance in favor 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.”

The findings emerged from an analysis of nearly 200 blue-collar workers in a Mexican manufacturing facility whose job was to process discount coupons from American retailers. The work was highly repetitive with no extra incentives for doing it well.

Measuring mindfulness

Mindfulness among employees was gauged according to a six-point attention awareness scale, with the boredom and attitude levels of participants then gauged four weeks later. The researchers then returned four months later to gather data on the number of coupons each participant had processed along with their error rate.

The results showed that when employees had higher levels of mindfulness, they were less likely to be bored by the monotonous and repetitive nature of their work, while also more likely to perform it to a high standard. This increase in quality seemed to coincide with a decline in the quantity of work, however.

Mindfulness also provided a boost to employees’ attitude towards their job, with those who practice it seemingly more satisfied, perhaps due to the reduction in their boredom levels. This corresponded with a reduced likelihood that they would quit.

The results are interesting because most research into mindfulness has been conducted in white-collar environments. This study shows that it can be equally beneficial in blue-collar settings. This is especially pertinent as blue-collar work environments are often typified by the kind of monotonous and repetitive tasks covered in the study.

“Mindfulness helps employees in monotonous jobs to be more satisfied,” the researchers explain. “But organizations would be ill-advised to rely on mindfulness for making boring work conditions bearable.”