Research shows that boredom is the emotion that people experience at work more than in any context—with serious consequences for engagement and productivity for individuals and organizations. We reached out to Shimul Melwani, an associate professor of organizational behavior at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, to learn more about a recent paper she co-authored about the consequences of boredom in the workplace and what we can do to counteract it. Here's a transcript of our conversation, edited for length and clarity: