Think your job is dull? This one's like watching paint dry

Attendants at the National Gallery of Ireland intend to strike for a day next month with the aim of replacing monotony with autonomy

WE’VE BECOME used to hearing about strikes over pay cuts, pensions or other financial issues. But the attendants at the National Gallery of Ireland, who have announced their intention to strike for 24 hours next month, aren’t looking for more money. They believe their job has been made too boring.

Once, the gallery’s entire security staff shared out the tasks: patrolling the rooms, staffing the entrance, guarding the pictures. Now they are divided into two teams, leaving some workers watching over one room all day, every day.

The standard shift is from 9.30am to 5.30pm, but on Thursdays, when the gallery stays open later, the attendants stay in their spots from 9.30am to 8.30pm. That’s a long time to be stuck in one room with nothing to do but walk up and down and watch visitors. Which is why the attendants are asking for more variety.

“There are some very quiet moments,” says one, who prefers to remain anonymous because of the sensitive nature of the situation. “It can be very busy and full of visitors one day and very quiet the next. But if you’re in one area and the boredom gets to you, you can’t ask to be transferred to break the monotony. You have to stay there. It’s draining the morale. A lot of staff agree that the flexibility to work in different parts of the gallery would make a big difference.”

The attendants stress that they take the job very seriously – “We’re very loyal to the gallery,” says one – but it’s clear that they sometimes find it gruelling. For obvious reasons they can’t read or listen to music while working, but they must make sure they don’t fall into a daydream. “You have to try and stay focused – that’s your job,” says another attendant.

The National Gallery declined to discuss the issue, stating: “It is the NGI’s policy not to comment on matters relating to the security of the Gallery. The Gallery is keen to resolve this issue in advance of strike action and will continue to elicit the assistance of the Labour Relations Commission in this matter.”

Although in theory working in a gallery should be visually stimulating – “There are certain paintings that jump out at you that you really take an interest in and that stick in your head over the years,” says one attendant – it’s hard to feel excited about works of art when you’re staring at the same ones for hours. But it can be worse when there’s very little artwork at all.

One particular area of the gallery is dreaded: the sparsely adorned and not particularly spacious Atrium. “The lads call it the polar-bear enclosure, because you’re stuck there like an animal in the zoo,” says an attendant. “You can only walk up and down so many times before you start bumping into the walls.”

Roberto Magliocco of the Noel recruitment agency isn’t surprised the attendants find their work frustrating. “The jobs with the highest turnover of staff are the monotonous ones,” he says. “It’s not difficult to find staff for any job at the moment, but when it comes to certain jobs people tend not to stay for long. Working in a production line, entering data or standing in the same place for a security job are all very monotonous.”

People are more likely to enjoy their jobs if they feel they have some autonomy over what they do and where they do it. “When we meet candidates, we ask what’s most important to them,” says Magliocco. “The top thing is usually to work in a challenging environment. And the second is some level of autonomy and responsibility. The third can be many different things – salary or work environment – but autonomy is always near the top. Unfortunately, when you’re working as a security guard or doing data entry you’re not empowered to make choices: you’re told this is what you’re doing all day, now go and do it.”

So it’s not surprising that people with more monotonous jobs find it hard to feel motivated. “It’s demoralising, because you feel that if you’re not there it won’t really make a difference,” says Magliocco. “They’d just put someone else in your place. When you’re autonomous you feel like someone of importance in the company. And if you’re not, well, it’s harder to commit to that role.”

So what do the striking gallery attendants believe would make their working lives better? It comes down to more autonomy and variety. They say they’re offering the one thing that employers supposedly crave: flexibility. “If you’re on the doors you have a bit of fresh air,” says one. “If you’re on patrol you get the variety of walking around the different sections of the building. The day would go faster and be more enjoyable. Morale would be better. And I think the public would notice too.”

Best and worst

Hairdressing is the second-most-satisfying profession – beaten only by chief executives in big companies – according to a 2007 study by Prof Michael Rose of the University of Bath. The combination of decent pay, positive feedback, variety, self-expression and social interaction is believed to explain why working in a salon is so satisfying. The study, which looked at 81 professions, found that the happiest workers are employed as managers, although those working in sports and fitness were eighth-happiest, while artists and writers were at number 10. And at the bottom? Those who work on factory assembly lines – closely followed by welders.