Organizations often find themselves with a mix of employees who possess a wide range of talents, experiences and expertise. Among them there are those who can be underemployment – individuals who believe they possess talents and skills that exceed what is needed or required in their job. The presence of such employees reflects a widespread phenomenon, with some RATINGS showing that nearly a third of the global workforce see themselves as overqualified. This trend is only likely to continue as factors such as educational attainment outpace market demands, ongoing shifts in skill requirements driven by technological advances, and increasingly selective. employment practices lead individuals to take on roles that do not make full use of their qualifications. We may, in fact, be heading towards a future of mass overskilling.

Such realities make understanding the potential consequences of employing overqualified workers critical for organizations, as their presence can make or break productivity. While intuition suggests that having overqualified employees can be PROBLEM, can also present unique opportunities for both employees and their organizations. Research on this issue, although extensive and deep, has sometimes yielded inconsistent findings, which has complicated our understanding and hindered the development of effective strategies to address the issue.

Interested in getting a clearer picture of the consequences of overskilling workers, my colleagues and I conducted a meta-analysis (a study of studies, if you will) to shed some light on the matter. We analyzed data from more than 200 studies involving over 85,000 employees. of STUDY was recently published in Journal of Management. Here's what our literature review suggests:

How they interpret their situation matters

What drives people to commit to performing their duties effectively, helping their colleagues when needed, and exercising self-restraint to prevent behaviors detrimental to the success of their organization? There are many explanations, though explorative suggests that they generally fall into one of three buckets: having compelling motives, feeling enthusiastic, and having confidence in one's abilities. In other words, people are likely to engage positively with their work when they have enough Reason to feel with energy to and they believe can do the work

This framework helps explain why, in our study, we found that overqualified employees can be either harmful or beneficial to the companies they work for.

On the one hand, our results suggest that some overqualified workers interpret their work situation negatively, focusing on the fact that their work is deficient or lacking in some way. Generally, people expect to get a job commensurate with their experience and education level. Failure to do so can understandably result in feelings of frustration and de-motivation. They may blame their organization for failing to provide enough opportunities that match their skills, lack of interest in their tasks, or feel resentful of those they see as better. These feelings can spill over into their work, affecting the way they view their work, perform their tasks, and interact with others. This explains why, in our study, we found that overqualified employees may be poor performers and may even engage in counterproductive work behavior.

On the other hand, our results also suggest that overqualified employees can be an asset, especially when they interpret their situation positively. That is, while seeing oneself as overqualified can sometimes be frustrating and even frustrating, it nevertheless signals that one is indeed capable of performing one's duties effectively and performing at a high level. When harnessed, such confidence can empower employees to develop effective coping strategies and adjust their behavior in productive ways. This explains why we also found that some overqualified employees perform at high levels, go the extra mile when necessary, and avoid behaviors that could harm their organization.

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This not only affects their productivity

How overqualified employees interpret their situation matters not only to the bottom line, but also to themselves psychological well-being. We found that those employees who view their redundant skills as an asset tend to enjoy better mental and physical health, as well as greater overall job satisfaction. This provides an important insight for employees: While feeling overqualified can be frustrating, how you interpret your circumstances plays a crucial role in your mental and physical well-being, which can enable more effective coping strategies that can put in a better position to eventually improve the situation.

As is often the case, culture is key

So how can you help your overqualified employees interpret their situation in more productive ways? One obvious way is to provide them with opportunities to apply their skills, either through challenging work tasks, leadership training or path to advancement.

In addition to these factors, our study found that culture matters. We looked specifically at national culture—and found that employees from more collectivistic and flexible cultures tend to interpret their situation more positively—but the insights can nevertheless be applied to organizational culture as well. Specifically, cultivating a sense of belonging and fostering a mindset focused on learning and growth can shift the focus of overqualified employees toward the positive aspects of their situation, leading to better work outcomes. Implementing such a culture takes time, but a good place to start is by opening vertical (up the hierarchy) and horizontal (across departments) communication channels, offering mentoring programs, and providing opportunities for continuous learning and development.