Boreout: The Silent Career Killer Midlife Women Don’t Think About
Have you ever sat at your desk, staring blankly at the screen, feeling utterly unchallenged and completely disconnected from your work?
You worked your entire life to get to this point, and find yourself wondering: Is this all there is? Is this job really worth all those years of sleepless nights and stress filled days?
If these messages are resonating with you, you could be experiencing ‘boreout.’ While burnout typically gets the spotlight, its equally destructive counterpart—boreout—lurks in the shadows of our professional lives, particularly for women in midlife. After being asked to comment on “boreout” for a recent Business Insider piece, I fell down a rabbit hole, and here’s what I learned.
According to research published in the Journal of Organizational Behavior, approximately 55% of office workers report experiencing workplace boredom at least once per week. And for women navigating the complex terrain of midlife, this understimulation can become equally destructive as burnout. I can’t tell you how often I hear women telling me that during the menopausal transition they found themselves “wanting to blow up their whole lives.”
As someone who has oscillated between both ends of this workplace well-being spectrum, I've seen firsthand how the unique convergence of expectations, workplace dynamics, and life stage can create chronic disappointment and boreout for women in midlife. Turns out, I'm in great company, but chronically under-stimulated company.
What the Research Reveals
The numbers tell an alarming story. Research by Bruursema and colleagues (2014) found that bored employees were 2.8 times more likely to engage in counterproductive work behaviors. Meanwhile, a study published in Human Relations discovered that boreout reduced productivity by approximately 33% compared to engaged employees.
A five-year longitudinal study by van Hooff (2021) published in the Journal of Occupational Health Psychology found that employees experiencing chronic boreout took an average of 4.6 more sick days annually and were 2.3 times more likely to report physical health complaints. These aren't just statistics—they represent millions of professionals silently disengaging while trying to maintain careers, relationships, and our sanity. The phenomenon affects both men and women, but research suggests unique factors at play for women in midlife.
Why Midlife Women Experience the "Great Underwhelm"
1. The Expertise Trap
By midlife, many of us have developed significant expertise that makes formerly challenging tasks routine. Not to mention that as we rise in organizations, we often end up in leadership roles, where we spend more time administrating, delegating, and politicking than we do engaging in the actual work that drew us to roles in the first place. According to research by Bakker and colleagues (2022), this skill-challenge mismatch is a primary driver of boreout, especially in jobs that don't evolve with our growing capabilities.
To further our discontent, data from McKinsey (2023) shows that women are 1.4 times more likely than men to have their expertise underutilized in workplace settings. To be clear, these skills are underutilized without us talking about needing support during menopause. Add that to the mix, and some would seek to put us out to pasture entirely. Underutilization particularly painful pill to swallow during midlife, when decades of hard-earned wisdom aren't fully leveraged. All of this entrepreneurial mindset, resilience, and complex problem solving goes to waste when we walk out the door, but many midlife women tell me they haven’t had a development conversation in years.
2. The Biological Reality
Just as with burnout, hormonal fluctuations during perimenopause and menopause can amplify boreout symptoms. Research published in the Journal of Women & Aging (2020) found that cognitive changes during menopause can increase sensitivity to understimulation, making routine tasks feel exponentially more tedious. Loss of joy, a common symptom in perimenopause often extends to the workplace, making it hard to distinguish exactly what is causing our complacency.
Bonafide Health’s 2024 State of Menopause report reveals that 42% of women believe their symptoms have impacted their ambition. Temporary cognitive alterations, brought on by declining estrogen in the brain can be a huge confidence killer for midlife women. When brain fog meets boring work, the result is a particularly potent form of disengagement. I remember sitting in meetings, not just feeling hot flashes but experiencing a special kind of mental numbness that made me question whether I had anything valuable left to contribute or even wanted to be there anymore.
3. The Invisible Middle
As women reach midlife, we often become organizationally invisible. According to research by Feierabend and Merz (2022), workplace boreout correlates strongly with feelings of being undervalued. This invisibility creates a self-reinforcing cycle: women are given fewer stimulating opportunities, leading to decreased engagement, which further reduces visibility. To further complicate matters, the often debilitating symptoms of menopause left unchecked can leave us lacking the confidence to seek larger roles or opportunities for advancement.
A longitudinal study by Sonnentag and Fritz (2019) demonstrated that persistent boreout increased the risk of clinical depression diagnosis by 68% over two years. To make matters more confusing, The North American Menopause Society (NAMS) cites research showing that 26% of women between ages 45-55 report experiencing depressive symptoms severe enough to interfere with daily function.
The cruel irony? Just as midlife women gain the experience to contribute most meaningfully, they're often sidelined into roles that fail to challenge their capabilities. For women already navigating the "menopause penalty" in their careers, boreout adds another layer of financial disadvantage. Demerouti's (2021) research found that untreated boreout led to career plateauing in 73% of cases over a five-year period, while Bakker's (2022) study demonstrated it reduced career advancement by 47% compared to engaged counterparts over four years.
Three Evidence-Based Approaches That Work
New research points to specific strategies that address the unique challenges midlife women face with boreout. Here are evidence-based approaches that have been proven effective:
1. Strategic Job Crafting
Research by Tims and colleagues (2020) found that job crafting interventions reduced boreout symptoms by 41%. This isn't just about asking for more work—it's about strategically redesigning your role to align with your strengths and interests. For midlife women, this might mean identifying projects that leverage our unique expertise, negotiating for developmental assignments, or creating cross-functional initiatives that bring new challenges. Flexibility isn’t always about where we work, being able to choose our job tasks can go a long way to reducing boreout.
One of my contacts, a marketing executive who felt she'd been put "on the shelf," created a reverse mentoring program where she partnered with Gen Z employees. The result? Her engagement skyrocketed as she learned new digital skills while sharing her strategic wisdom—a win-win that her company hadn't even considered.
2. Harness Prosocial Impact Through Community
Research by Grant and Berg (2020) found that focusing on the prosocial impact of one's work reduced boreout symptoms by 44% over three months. To further support social well-being in the workplace, a study by Schaufeli and Bakker (2018) published in the Journal of Organizational Behavior found that employees who engaged in structured peer support activities showed a 31% increase in work engagement compared to control groups.
Meanwhile, research by Dutton and Ragins (2017) demonstrated that high-quality connections in the workplace reduced symptoms of disengagement by 28% even when job tasks remained unchanged. Research from BMC Women's Health (2021) found that peer support groups specifically for professional women in midlife reduced burnout symptoms by 48% over a 6-month period. While this study focused primarily on burnout, the researchers noted significant improvements in engagement measures as well, suggesting applicability to boreout conditions.
I've seen this transformation firsthand with clients who joined workplace groups focused on supporting women through midlife transitions. Something magical happens when women find other women to share in this life transition. The biggest comment I hear from women entering The Fuchsia Tent Community is that the feel less alone. Fostering connections with other midlife women in and out of the workplace can reinvigorate purpose and meaning.
3. Build Strategic Visibility
According to Berg's research, employees who documented skill underutilization with specific examples were 2.1 times more likely to receive role adjustments. For midlife women often facing the double invisibility of gender and age bias, strategic self-advocacy becomes essential. This isn't about bragging but about systematically ensuring your capabilities are visible. Besides, other people are so busy working to move their own lives forward, that they may completely miss your accomplishments.
In the restaurant business we called this practice “tip talk,” meaning reminding people what you are doing on their behalf as a means to create referent power (or increase your tips). Track your accomplishments, quantify your impact, and regularly share your capacity for additional challenges. When I felt underutilized at a previous company, I created a "skill inventory" document highlighting my untapped expertise and specific ways it could benefit upcoming initiatives. Within three months, I was reassigned to a project that reignited my enthusiasm and showcased my value.
The Bottom Line: Talent Activation, Not Just Retention
According to McKinsey's Women in the Workplace 2023 report, organizations are losing women leaders at the highest rate in decades. What's often overlooked is that many check out mentally long before they physically exit. Boreout doesn't just precede burnout—it's its stealthy accomplice.
Deloitte's research (2022) reveals that companies with inclusive cultures are six times more likely to be innovative and twice as likely to meet or exceed financial targets. Addressing boreout isn't just about making midlife women happier—it's about unlocking intellectual capital that's sitting dormant in plain sight.
If you're a midlife woman struggling through meetings wondering "Is this all there is?", you're experiencing something structural, not personal. Your boredom isn't ingratitude or lack of work ethic—it's a mismatch between your capabilities and your challenges. The research doesn't just validate your experience; it demands organizational response.
For leaders and organizations, the message is clear: boreout isn't a personal failing but a systemic waste. With global productivity growth at its lowest in decades and women's workforce participation still below pre-pandemic levels, we're facing an engagement crisis we can't afford. The untapped potential of midlife women isn't just a DEI issue—it's an economic imperative.
Think of boreout not as the opposite of burnout, but as its equally destructive twin. One depletes through overload, the other through underutilization. Both ultimately rob organizations of their most valuable resource: human potential fully expressed.