The terms ‘rust-out’ and ‘resenteeism’ have entered the lexicon and represent the mood of many at the moment. Sarah Lang looks into what’s going on.
At Capsule, we’ve written a lot of stories about women at work. We’ve noticed that many of these topics are very much intertwined: pushing back against hustle culture, why perpetual striving might not make us happier, working-mum guilt, letting go of perfectionism, battling burnout, juggling work with the mental load and SO many more.
Then we got to wondering about what working women really want. As in, what do we actually want – rather than what are we ‘meant’ to want. Also, are there things that we don’t yet know we want, but might realise we want if we find out more? And are there more things we could ask our employers for?
Welcome to our series What Working Women REALLY Want. If you have story ideas, or are keen to be interviewed about a topic, please email us at [email protected]!
After the summer break, it’s totally normal to take a while to get back into the swing of things at work. However, what if you really just don’t want to be there at all (whatever the time of year), or have even been dreading it?
Kelly*, 33, is reluctantly back at her desk. She’s worked in a government department in Wellington for four years. She’s over it. “I’m sick of doing work that’s time-consuming but not nearly challenging enough. I feel bored, irritable, and over-sensitive, and I feel like I’ve stalled.” Kelly is also wearied by trying to prevent her colleagues and manager noticing how she’s feeling.
Why not leave? “Well, the pay here is good, and I’m worried I wouldn’t get as good a job elsewhere.” Also, the situation has drained her energy and confidence. “So I’m actually too daunted to apply for another job.”
Career Trap #1: Rust Out
Kelly is experiencing something called ‘rust-out’: a term coined by psychotherapist Paula Coles, who described this as “work which is uninspiring and fails to stretch the person, so that they become disinterested, apathetic, and alienated”.
The term is sometimes used interchangeably with the word ‘bore-out’, but ‘rust-out’ seems to better capture what’s happening. Because this isn’t just about getting bored at work sometimes. It’s about being routinely under-stimulated at work – and one definition of the word ‘rust’ is “to deteriorate through inactivity”.
This is not the same thing as being lazy. Rust-out stems from an absence of enough (or any) meaningful or challenging tasks, rather than the presence of too many tasks. Think ‘mental underload’ as opposed to ‘mental overload’.
A WebMD article called ‘What Is Rust-Out and What Can You Do About It?’ says that “if burnout is the stressed and tired employee rushing from one task to the next, rust-out is their lethargic and unmotivated colleague… and while it may sound contradictory, doing too little can be just as emotionally exhausting as doing too much. Those suffering with rust-out can feel agitated, short-tempered or anxious, and may procrastinate to avoid work that doesn’t motivate them.”
“Rust-out can actually be a sign that you’ve outgrown your role or responsibilities. Perhaps you feel that your job is the same day in, day out, with no sign of change. Or that the work you do doesn’t align with your personal values. It could be that your skills aren’t being put to proper use.”
Symptoms of rust-out include feeling listless, apathetic, sad, irritable and frustrated, and this can even lead to insomnia, anxiety or depression. A contributing factor may be the fear that your manager, colleagues or boss will notice a decline in the amount or the quality of your work.
Career Trap #2: Resenteeism
‘Rust-out’ can sometimes lead to ‘resenteeism’ (which is a play on ‘presenteeism’, where you show up just to appear to be working). Recent Tech.co article ‘Resenteeism? Quiet Quitting’s Moody Successor’ describes resenteeism as “the practice of remaining in a job while being fundamentally unhappy, often due to low levels of satisfaction and job insecurity. Concerns around the cost of living, job security, or a lack of preferable alternatives [jobs] means that many people are choosing to stay where they are, but actively resenting it.”
This isn’t the same thing as ‘quiet quitting’ (putting no more effort into your job than absolutely necessary) because that approach might not appeal to you – and because you, willingly or unwillingly, are letting your frustrations or apathy show. This is sometimes called ‘loud quitting’: being actively disengaged from your work without trying to keeping it totally quiet.
A fortune.com story called ‘Resenteeism Is The Latest Trend Plaguing Workers, And It’s Even More Dangerous Than Quiet Quitting’ says that people experiencing resenteeism don’t just resent their job, but aren’t exactly hiding that.
Perhaps you’re so irritable that no one wants to ask for your advice – or maybe your attitude might infiltrate that of others.
Melanie*, a 39-year-old from Auckland, is experiencing resenteeism in her job for a graphic-design company where she’s worked for five years. “Every day, I resent being there. I’m expected to do work that feels less and less challenging, maybe because I’ve done the same thing for so long. I think it’s obvious to my colleagues how ‘over it’ I feel. For starters I’m not taking as much as an active role in meetings, or offering to help others with work.”
Why doesn’t she leave? “Because I don’t know if I’d get a job paying the same, what with the cost of living, and there probably aren’t many other suitable jobs. Also, I think many of us women are so tired by the double shift of paid and unpaid work, and the mental load, that we’re too tired or apathetic to even ask for changes or more challenges at work.”
Does she feel actively disengaged at work? “Yep.”
She’s not the only one. The Gallup State of the Global Workplace 2023 report revealed that 18% of workers are ‘loud quitting’ (actively disengaged by their work), 59% are ‘quiet quitting’ (not engaged by their work) while only 23% of people are thriving (actively engaged) at work. According to the report, over two-thirds (67%) of workers in Australia and New Zealand are not engaged by their work. Yikes.
The Wider Problem Of Career Traps
After 15 years in senior corporate leadership roles, Waiheke-based Jess Stuart changed careers, becoming an executive and leadership consultant, author, keynote speaker, and workshop facilitator. She wrote a 2023 ‘State of The Workplace Report’ that we covered last year.
Jess says the relatively new terms of rust-out and resenteeism have much in common with other terms including presenteeism and quiet quitting. However, discussing rust-out and resenteeism do help us understand a wider problem.
“We’ve heard a lot about one extreme of the spectrum, which is burnout from being too busy,” Jess says. “‘Rust-out’ or ‘bore-out’ is at the other extreme of the spectrum, but presents in a similar way: being demotivated, lack of engagement, and affecting our health. With rust-out, we can still get sick and suffer in a similar way [to burnout], but it’s not through the traditional ‘glorified busy’ – it’s the opposite. It’s being under-challenged, going through the motions, not feeling meaning and purpose.”
“People come to me because they’re burned out, but it’s not always about ‘busyness’. The acceptable kind of burnout is to tell your boss ‘I’m burned out because I’m too busy’. But to tell your boss ‘I’m burned out because I’m not busy’ – that’s a bit taboo.”
The Vicious Cycle of Rust-Out
Experiencing rust-out can actually make it harder to look for another job, because you’re stuck in a cycle of inactivity, lacking forward momentum. “If you’re being underutilised at work,” Jess says, “you don’t get the feeling of satisfaction and achievement, which has a huge impact on confidence. So if you do apply for other roles, and have to talk about the great things you’ve done in your current role, you’re not in the best position confidence-wise to do that.”
Many people also stay in jobs because of the cost of living, and/or a real or perceived lack of other jobs in their field, right? “Definitely,” Jess says. “Even when we know we should go [resign], there’s that fear of the unknown. As in ‘what if the job is worse or my manager is worse?’. So sometimes we rationalise it as ‘better the devil we know’.”
“Also, what I’ve seen in the five years since Covid began is that many organisations increased their benefits package in a bid to keep staff. So some staff are now underwhelmed in their jobs and wanting a new challenge, yet that benefits package makes it harder to leave even when you know you should, or it makes it harder to find a package that matches what you’re currently getting. And we have to pay the bills, so that tends to be what we lead with, regardless of whether we’re happy at work. Sometimes there’s also some kind of loyalty because of how the company looked after you over the Covid period.”
How To Escape A Career Trap
Being stuck in rust-out and/or resenteeism for a sustained period isn’t, well, sustainable. So, to steal the lyrics from a song, ‘should I stay or should I go now?’. Should you put up with the status quo, try to bring about change, or start looking for another job? The first of these three options ain’t great, because it risks your health and happiness.
A story called ‘Rust-Out and Burnout: Steps You Can Take to Overcome Them at Work Yourself’ has some suggestions for what you could try. These include brainstorming ways to add creativity to your work, looking to pick up new skills or knowledge (perhaps additional training), setting motivating goals, and seeing a counsellor if needed.
In New Zealand, many employers have employee assistance programmes, known as EAPs, to provide free, independent, confidential counselling and support to employees.
While individual efforts are good, Jess says it’s crucial to have a conversation with, and ask for support from, your manager or boss. “Say something like ‘I’m feeling underchallenged, I need more,’ and say what that might look like for you. Then it’s up to the organisation to come to the party.”
“But if you’ve been in a role for a particularly long time, like for over three years, you might have outgrown the role. They might not have any other roles for you, or you might have simply outgrown the organisation, which is particularly common in smaller organisations. Sometimes the organisation has reached a ceiling in how it can support and challenge you. So sometimes there comes a point where you do have to make that decision to leave.”
However, Laura*, 41, feels unable to quit. She’s been in the same role for 15 years, based in a different city to that of the company. She’s applied for three other jobs in the company, but because the company wouldn’t allow them to be done remotely, Laura couldn’t take them.
“I wanted a new role so I could be challenged and have more meaningful work,” Laura says. “We almost spend more time in our workplace than with our families. There should be some non-monetary reward for that: job satisfaction, some kind of fulfilment. Not the wasting of time, skills and value – things I could add. I feel trapped because I probably can’t find another job in the same field because I have no formal qualifications – and I need to pay the mortgage etc. Meaning that, in my 40s, I don’t have the luxury of starting a new career path.”
Laura is glad to hear for the first time about rust-out and resenteeism, because the terms fit what she’s experiencing. “If there’s a name for it, then I feel like I’m not alone, and that actually helps.”
And if we could talk about it more, especially with our employers, might that help too?
