While many employees read and respond to work-related e-mails in the evenings after work, the mechanisms through which after-hours e-mailing influences wellbeing remain poorly understood. In particular, there has been limited consideration of whether different characteristics of after-hours e-mails (frequency, duration, perceived tone) may trigger work-related rumination that influences employee wellbeing at bedtime (i.e., the end of the post-work period). To address this gap in the literature, data were collected from 59 employees during a 5-day daily survey period. We expected after-hours e-mail frequency, duration, and perceived tone to indirectly relate to employee vigour and fatigue at bedtime (two common well-being criteria) via affective rumination and problem-solving pondering (two major forms of work-related rumination). Our results indicated that a more negatively perceived after-hours e-mail tone influenced both vigour and fatigue via affective rumination.Further, our findings suggested diverging implications of after-hours e-mailing frequency and duration for problem-solving pondering, with longer duration and more frequent after-hours e-mailing co-varying with higher and lower levels of this form of rumination, respectively. These findings demonstrate the importance of considering various characteristics of after-hours e-mailing and corresponding implications of work-related rumination when studying employee well-being.

Employees must often perform work outside of the time and/or space requirements that typically define their job role (e.g., working after-hours, teleworking), especially during the COVID-19 pandemic. We introduce the concept of extra-normative work to capture this idea and draw on situational strength theory to test the seemingly paradoxical hypotheses that (1) the effects of extra-normative work are more harmful to employee strain when this work represents a stronger situation (i.e., one that unambiguously prescribes expected behavior), relative to when this work represents a weaker situation (i.e., one that allows for greater personal choice and behavioral latitude), but that (2) this strain is diminished when situational strength is achieved by maximizing the clarity and consistency of extra-normative work, while this strain is enhanced when situational strength is achieved by imposing greater constraints and consequences surrounding extra-normative work. These predictions were supported in an experimental vignette study, a survey focused on after-hours work experiences, and an investigation of telework in response to COVID-19. We discuss the theoretical implications of viewing extra-normative work through the lens of situational strength, while also outlining how our findings inform best practices surrounding how to communicate about and frame extra-normative work to employees.

Working sole mothers (i.e., nonpartnered women who work) may experience elevated family demands that impose barriers to pursuing health behaviors during their daily leisure time. We aimed to map the process

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