“Some beach
Somewhere
There's a big umbrella casting shade over an empty chair
Palm trees are growin' and warm breezes blowin'
I picture myself right there
On some beach
Somewhere”
Some Beach by Blake Shelton (Click here for the song)
“Psychological detachment from work … implies mentally distancing oneself from one's work and to temporarily forget about work during leisure time. Meta-analyses showed that lack of psychological detachment from work is associated with unfavourable affective outcomes and impaired well-being."
Sabine Sonnentag, Monika Wiegelmann 2024
Regular readers understand that work demands energy and effort to complete necessary tasks. Both workplace conditions and task requirements can drain psychological resources. To maintain well-being, it is essential to regularly recover and replenish these resources. Recovery from work is essential for employees to remain energetic, engaged, and healthy, even under high job demands. It involves reducing or eliminating the physical and mental strain caused by work stress. Research shows that recovery during leisure time significantly impacts employee well-being and job performance.
Researchers have identified four main recovery experiences:
“psychological detachment, not thinking about work during nonwork time;
relaxation, having a low activation level;
mastery, facing a positive challenge to learn something new; and
control, having a feeling of control over nonwork time”
Bennett
A recent meta-analysis revealed that psychological detachment after work is more effective in reducing fatigue in comparison with other recovery techniques.
Psychological detachment—mentally disengaging from work and avoiding work-related activities during nonwork hours. Regular readers would know that psychological disengagement needs to be a daily practice, not just a holiday occurrence. Researchers continue to demonstrate that during stressful periods, it is essential for employees to mentally disconnect from work during their off-hours. Achieving this mental distance allows them to return to work the next day feeling refreshed and re-energized. Studies have highlighted various factors that can either support or hinder psychological detachment from work, such as engaging in specific leisure activities, managing job demands, and dealing with interpersonal job stressors.
What is the role of the leader?
“encourage employees to recover during nonwork time”
Bennett, A. A., Bakker, A. B., & Field, J. G. (2018).
Researchers have defined a leader's support for recovery as having three key aspects: empathy for recovery, respect for boundaries, and role modelling.
Empathy for recovery: An empathetic leader understands and can recognise the need for employees to have time and space for recovery. They are attentive to their employees' recovery needs, they communicate with them and demonstrate their understanding of their recovery needs.
Respect for boundaries: The most important instrumental support may not be the provision of any material resource but refraining from intruding into employees' free time, that is, respecting boundaries between work and non-work time. Leaders are an important source of these intrusions, as they set expectations about task accomplishment and establish norms about job-related communication during non-work hours. Leaders who respect boundaries refrain from assigning tasks that need to be completed literally “overnight” and do not contact their employees during after-work hours or on the weekend.
Role modelling: Regular readers would know that leaders need to ‘practice what they preach’ and set a positive example for recovery practices by communicating about their own recovery needs and activities. For instance, when role modelling recovery, leaders tell their followers about how they integrate recovery into their daily lives, how they manage to take time for recovery, and which recovery activities they enjoy.
Is there a critical element in recovery?
Recent research by Sabine Sonnentag and Monika Wiegelmann found that a high-quality leader-follower relationship plays a crucial role in promoting employee recovery. In strong supportive relationships, they found that employees are more likely to value and act on their leaders' attitudes and messages about recovery, leading to greater psychological detachment.
Conversely, in low-quality relationships, employees are less receptive to their leaders' support and communication, reducing the leader's influence on their recovery behaviours. The poorer the relationship, the less effective a leader's empathy for recovery becomes. When employees lack trust in their leaders, they may doubt whether prioritising recovery and fully detaching from work is genuinely in their best interest.
In poor leader-employee relationships, leaders set goals that make employees focus on meeting expectations and surviving at work. This can lead employees to overwork and struggle to recover after work, even if their managers encourage them to rest.
Respect for boundaries was a powerful predictor of psychological detachment, irrespective of the relationship between boss and employee. This finding implies that all employees benefit in terms of mentally detaching from work when their leader respects boundaries between work and non-work time and does not disturb their employees during non-work time.
Recent research found that although role-modelling work-life balance helps manage work-family conflict and work-home boundaries, role-modelling leisure and recovery activities did not improve psychological detachment, even with high leader-member relationships. While leaders may encourage employees to engage in leisure, it doesn’t necessarily help them mentally detach from work. Additionally, differences in leaders’ and employees’ life situations (e.g., financial resources or personal interests) may prevent employees from identifying with their leader on recovery processes, thus making role modelling less effective.
To support employees in disconnecting from work during their personal time, leaders should establish and maintain clear boundaries between work and non-work life. This includes avoiding evening or weekend communications, such as phone calls or instant messages, and assigning tasks and deadlines that do not require work beyond regular hours. In some organisations, fostering this respect for boundaries may necessitate a cultural shift rather than relying solely on individual leaders. Consequently, top management should advocate for boundary respect and ensure that leaders’ boundaries are also protected.
I am aware that many readers will think that the nature of their work does not allow for such lofty aspirations. My challenge to you is to take stock of your habits and work practices.
Before you ignore boundaries take a moment to consider the answers to the following questions:
Is the timeline set by my stakeholder subject to negotiation?
Am I asking for a task to be completed so I am more relaxed, not because it is actually necessary?
What should we be saying no to?
How are we building time of recovery and disconnection into our work systems and processes to minimise the likelihood of burnout?
Is my business model reinforcing this behaviour, and if so, what can be done to change it?
Final thoughts
“In an "always-on" culture encouraged by the Fourth Industrial Revolution, it is essential to find a balance between being effective at work and having optimal well-being. Recent reports highlight the "human energy crisis" many employees face today. Heavy workloads and long hours impede their capacity and energy renewal”.
Albulescu, P., Macsinga, I., Rusu, A., Sulea, C., Bodnaru, A. and Tulbure, B.T.
Regular readers are aware that while individuals have various opportunities to recover and replenish their resources—such as during evenings, weekends, holidays, or sabbaticals—it is equally crucial to recognise the significant role of micro-breaks.
Recent research has found that brief breaks of at least ten minutes can be vital for recovery from highly demanding tasks. Micro-breaks increase individuals’ vigour and decrease their fatigue levels, enhancing employee performance. The researchers also found that during work hours, recovery activities can be job-related (e.g., assisting a colleague, setting new work goals) or unrelated to work (e.g., meeting basic needs, socialising, relaxing, or enjoying nature). Physical activities like stretching or exercise boost positive emotions and reduce fatigue, while social activities, such as connecting with friends and family, enhance vitality.
As we approach the end of the year, take the time to consider how you will act upon the research contained in this blog. Drop me an email explaining how you will integrate recovery practices into your work and life on a daily and weekly basis.
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References:
Sonnentag, S. and Fritz, C. (2015). Recovery from job stress: The stressor-detachment model as an integrative framework. Journal of Organizational Behavior, [online] 36(S1), pp.S72–S103. doi:https://doi.org/10.1002/job.1924.
Sonnentag, S., Kark, R. and Venz, L. (2024). Leader support for recovery: A multi‐level approach to employee psychological detachment from work. Journal of Occupational and Organizational Psychology. doi:https://doi.org/10.1111/joop.12538.
Albulescu, P., Macsinga, I., Rusu, A., Sulea, C., Bodnaru, A. and Tulbure, B.T. (2022). ‘Give me a break!’ A systematic review and meta-analysis on the efficacy of micro-breaks for increasing well-being and performance. PLOS ONE, [online] 17(8). doi:https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0272460.
Sonnentag, S. and Wiegelmann, M. (2024). Not detaching from work during leisure time: A control‐theory perspective on job‐related cognitions. Journal of organizational behavior. doi:https://doi.org/10.1002/job.2792.
Bennett, A.A., Bakker, A.B. and Field, J.G. (2017). Recovery from work-related effort: A meta-analysis. Journal of Organizational Behavior, 39(3), pp.262–275. doi:https://doi.org/10.1002/job.2217.
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