Micro‐break activities at work to recover from daily work demands

Abstract

SummaryRecovery literature has focused predominantly on recovery processes outside the workplace during nonwork times. Considering a lack of research on momentary recovery at work, we examined four categories of microbreak activities-relaxation, nutrition-intake, social, and cognitive activities-as possible recovery mechanisms in the workplace. Using effort recovery and conservation of resources theories, we hypothesized that micro-break activities attenuate the common stressor-strain relationship between work demands and negative affect. For 10 consecutive workdays, 86 South Korean office workers (842 data points) reported their specific daily work demands right after their lunch hour (Time 1) and then reported their engagement in micro-break activities during the afternoon and negative affective state at the end of the workday (Time 2). As expected, relaxation and social activities reduced the effects of work demands on end-of-workday negative affect. Nutrition intake of beverages and snacks did not have a significant moderating effect. Post hoc analyses, however, revealed that only caffeinated beverages reduced work demands effects on negative affect. Unexpectedly, cognitive activities aggravated the effects of work demands on negative affect. The findings indicate not only the importance of taking micro-breaks but also which types of break activities are beneficial for recovery. Implications, limitations, and future research directions are discussed.

On the subjective experience and correlates of downtime at work: A mixed‐method examination

“…Furthermore, Study 2 revealed that downtime relates to outcomes of personal importance, namely, The result showing that employees who engaged in a higher percentage of relaxation activities during longer downtime periods reported lower fatigue levels warrants additional attention. Interestingly, this result is similar to most findings in the work breaks literature that show relaxing or microbreak activities are most beneficial to employee well-being (Kim et al, 2017;Strongman & Burt, 2000). It also is consistent with one recent paper that suggests being able to engage in leisure activities during downtime mitigates the negative effect of anticipating downtime (Brodsky & Amabile, 2018).…”

“…As fatigue and vitality fluctuate across a day, time of day is a common control variable in many ESM studies (e.g.,Kim et al, 2017). Whether the employees had breaks or not may be another confounder with downtime, and we also want to see the different effects of these two periods.…”

The moderating role of job resources in the relationship between job demands and interleukin‐6 in an Italian healthcare organization

“…Additionally, interventions could be aimed to increase job crafting, in which employees are encouraged to proactively optimize their own work environment (bottom‐up approach; Tims, Bakker, & Derks, ). For example, employees could try to increase social resources (e.g., seeking social support from their supervisor) or structural job resources (e.g., taking a self‐initiated short break from work if possible, or engaging in activities promoting recovery when a break can be taken; Kim, Park, & Niu, ; Kühnel et al, ). Workers could seek more challenging job demands (e.g., devoting time and effort to take care of patients' needs, in addition to delivering high‐quality care), which are positively associated with work engagement.…”

Job control's strain‐buffering effects in not‐for‐profit human service agencies: A test of the nonlinear demand‐linear control model

“…Based on cross‐sectional survey data, Siltaloppi, Kinnunen, and Feldt () found that time demands possessed a positive and job control possessed a negative association with the need for resource recovery and job exhaustion, respectively. Kim, Park, and Niu's () longitudinal study indicated that relaxation breaks decreased work demands' negative impact on end‐of‐workday job strain. In another longitudinal study, Sianoja, Kinnunen, de Bloom, and Geurts () found that successful lunchtime recovery was negatively related to emotional exhaustion at work.…”