Bored at work? This man is suing over it
Bored at work? It's probably better than being over-worked, unless you happen to be Frederic Desnard.
The Frenchman is suing his former employee over a "descent into hell" he claims was caused by sheer office boredom.
Desnard worked as a manager at a perfume company and is seeking more than a quarter of a million pounds in compensation after suffering "mise en placard", or "bore out".
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It may sound crazy, but bore out is the flip side of the burn out coin, according to management theory, and is the subject of a recent book by French researcher Christian Bourion. He believes that 30 per cent of the population could suffer from this extreme work boredom to the detriment of their health.
Meanwhile, Desnard claims to have been given menial tasks and little to no work to do between 2010 and 2014. He says the situation caused him stress and depression because he was ashamed that he had nothing to do and that it even led to epilepsy and an ulcer which resulted in him being off work for seven months.
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The former employer, Interparfums, which makes perfume for brands such as Jimmy Choo and Agent Provocateur, rejects the accusations.
And for anyone wondering if they may be suffering the effects of bore out, there is a solution, according to Bourion. In the same way reducing the work load can stop burn out, increasing it for the listless worker can have the equivalent effect.