FoMO and Performance at Work: Do We Have to Know About Everything?

Nilay Yılmaz · Psychologist · From the author’s research

Reading a work message late, hearing about an important development afterwards, or missing an opportunity… At work, we sometimes try not only to fulfill our responsibilities, but also to make sure that nothing escapes our attention. How does this wish to remain connected relate to job performance?

In my research with publishing employees, I examined the relationship between fear of missing out and performance scores. The study involved 59 participants and found a moderate, positive, statistically significant correlation. The finding raises a question that cannot be reduced to “phones are distracting.” It does not, however, demonstrate that FoMO improves performance.

How can FoMO appear at work?

FoMO stands for “Fear of Missing Out.” The term concerns more than wanting new information: it also describes uneasiness about being disconnected or left out. At work, that uneasiness may center on missing an important exchange, being excluded from a decision, or not hearing about opportunities available to colleagues.

Keeping up with developments is a natural part of many jobs. An editor needs to know the publishing schedule; an employee needs information from the team; a new project requires preparation. None of this is inherently problematic. The useful distinction is between information needed for a task and the anxiety associated with being away from the connection itself.

Both experiences can occur in the same person, even during the same workday. Rather than defining an employee by how often they check messages, it helps to understand what the checking is meant to achieve.

Why study publishing employees?

Publishing a book involves interconnected stages. Communication with the author, editorial work, design, proofreading and scheduling require information to move between people. A change in one stage may affect another person’s task. Staying informed cannot therefore be separated from the structure of the work.

This makes publishing a meaningful setting for exploring the relationship between fear of missing out and performance. It also complicates a simple explanation. Frequent connection may relate to responsibility, workload, personal uneasiness, or the way a team shares information. A single correlation cannot distinguish these possibilities.

The study with 59 participants

Employees from one publishing company were reached through an online questionnaire. Demographic information was collected alongside questionnaire scores for fear of missing out and individual job performance. The study used the Üsküdar Fear of Missing Out Scale and a 23-item Individual Work Performance Questionnaire.

The central question was whether FoMO and performance scores varied together. The finding should therefore be read as an association between scores, rather than an improvement following an intervention. Performance here is assessed through a questionnaire; it does not directly represent production volume or an independent organizational productivity record.

These figures describe the sample. They do not establish differences in FoMO between women and men, age groups or education levels. Those comparisons would require separate analyses.

The main finding: A moderate positive relationship

Within this group, higher FoMO scores tended to accompany higher performance scores. The direction of the relationship is positive, and its strength can be described as moderate. This tendency does not mean that every participant followed the same pattern.

A correlation coefficient is not a percentage increase. Reading r = 0.477 as “FoMO increased performance by 47.7 percent” would be incorrect. Statistical significance also does not prove that the finding applies to every workplace or that anxiety benefits employees.

What questions does the positive relationship raise?

Several possible explanations are worth considering. An employee deeply involved in their work may also place greater importance on staying informed. Someone with more responsibilities might experience both higher performance expectations and more concern about missing information. The team’s communication arrangements could also relate to both scores.

These are not explanations demonstrated by this study. Testing the roles of workload, responsibility and communication would require research that measures those variables. Considering alternatives helps prevent a finding from being fitted too quickly into a single story.

Performance and well-being also need to be distinguished. A high performance score does not establish that a person feels rested, secure or satisfied. The positive correlation in this study does not allow conclusions about the effects of FoMO on mental health.

Questions for employees and organizations

The practical value of the finding lies in examining the need to remain connected more carefully, rather than turning anxiety into a motivational tool. If everyone in a team is expected to be available at all times, viewing repeated checking only as a personal habit may leave an important part of the context unexplored.

Organizations might consider making communication expectations more specific: where information is shared, how important decisions are recorded, and when messages outside working hours are expected to be answered. These suggestions were not tested as interventions in this study; they are questions for evaluating the working environment.

For an employee, “Do I need to check now?” can be accompanied by “What do I imagine will happen if I do not?” The first question explores the task; the second explores the personal meaning of checking. The aim is to distinguish responsibility from a demand for unlimited availability.

The personal meaning of being visible and falling behind

Missing a development means different things to different people. For one person, it may mean the possibility of an incomplete task; for another, it may evoke being overlooked or losing standing. Focusing only on reducing screen time may not explain the meaning attached to staying connected.

From a psychodynamic perspective, one might explore whether someone feels they must always be useful or available in order to feel valued. What does failing to meet an expectation evoke? What feelings arise when waiting for a reply or learning something later? These are questions about individual experience, not conclusions drawn about all 59 participants.

For a fuller discussion of certainty-seeking and repetitive thought, see the article on overthinking and tolerating uncertainty.

Remembering the limits of the findings

The study involved 59 people in one publishing company. This online-recruited group cannot be assumed to represent all publishing employees or every industry. Without an experimental intervention, the study cannot identify the cause of the relationship or how its direction develops over time.

The correlation also does not establish the prevalence of FoMO, which demographic group experiences more of it, or what the scores mean clinically. Scale scores should not be used to assign an addiction or another diagnosis. A fuller assessment would consider measurement, working conditions and personal experience together.

Future research could compare organizations, assess performance using different sources and follow participants over time. This could help clarify when the relationship changes, how it develops alongside well-being, and what role organizational communication plays.

Rethinking what connection means

The central finding is clear: in this sample, FoMO and performance scores were positively correlated. This does not justify increasing employees’ anxiety or treating uninterrupted availability as a measure of success. A more useful question concerns the working conditions and personal meanings within which the need to stay informed develops.

Caring about work, setting limits and spending some time disconnected can belong to the same life. If the need to keep checking interferes with rest, relationships or daily activities, its individual meaning can be explored. For information about the consultation process, visit the contact page.