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The issue isn’t necessarily an employee’s credentials. It’s their perception that certain tasks are beneath them.
Getting stuck with menial or even boring tasks is an inevitable part of many jobs. Some employees, however, respond more negatively to those tasks than others.
A new study published in ScienceDirect finds that employees who consider themselves to be “overqualified” are more likely to view the tasks assigned to them as inappropriate and are more likely to behave poorly at work.
Researchers from the Penn State School of Hospitality Management asked 109 participants from a range of industries to imagine themselves as hotel desk agents. The U.S. and U.K.-based participants were assigned one of two qualifications, either one year of experience and a high school diploma or six years of supervisory experience and a master’s degree.
Participants were then asked to evaluate whether certain tasks, such as manually transferring reports into a new system, were considered to be reasonable for someone with their background. Ultimately, participants who were assigned to the group with higher qualifications were more likely to rate such tasks as beneath them.
Although the study is set in the context of the hospitality industry, the study’s lead author, Yoko M. Negoro says that “these findings can extend to knowledge-based professions and other industries as well because perceived overqualification can develop in many different occupational contexts.”
Negoro says that the study was inspired by her tenure in the hotel industry where she observed patterns “related to how employees evaluate themselves and their work experiences” in real time.
“From an objective perspective, these [service] tasks were completely legitimate and necessary because they were essential parts of providing quality service,” she says, recalling observations from her 15 years of hotel experience. “However, I noticed that some employees did not accept these tasks in the same way as others.”
The employee’s perception of “overqualification” is an important distinction. The study focuses on employees’ subjective perception of themselves rather than objective qualifications, Negoro tells Inc.
Even if a manager doesn’t consider an employee to be overqualified, the employee may still consider themselves as such, resulting in a “perception [that] may negatively influence their work attitudes and behaviors,” Negoro says.
Although the findings aligned with the author’s expectations, Negoro says that one of the more interesting discoveries was how differently employees interpreted the same workplace tasks.
“We observed that individuals’ subjective experiences and self-evaluations significantly influence how they interpret workplace situations,” she says, adding that it “highlights how the same objective reality can create very different experiences depending on how individuals evaluate themselves and their work environment.”
To combat these negative feelings, Negoro advises managers ensure that employees feel recognized, are treated appropriately, and evaluated fairly.
“Providing idiosyncratic tasks that are tailored to employees’ abilities and strengths can help mitigate perceptions of overqualification and allow employees to utilize their capabilities more effectively,” she says.
In doing so, employees who perceive themselves as overqualified can respond more positively to their work environments and “become valuable assets rather than retention risks,” she adds.
This post originally appeared at inc.com.
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