Not Able to Lead a Healthy Life When You Need It the Most: Dual Role of Lifestyle Behaviors in the Association of Blurred Work-Life Boundaries With Well-Being

Abstract

As there is a growing trend for people to work from home, precipitated by the COVID-19 pandemic, this research examines the impact of blurred work-life boundaries on lifestyle and subjective well-being. Our cross-sectional study in the Netherlands demonstrates that heightened levels of blurred work-life boundaries predict negative changes in happiness through enhanced emotional exhaustion. In addition, the findings point to a dual role of lifestyle in this process. On the one hand, we observed that healthy overall lifestyle patterns buffered employees against the detrimental effects of blurred work-life boundaries and emotional exhaustion on happiness. On the other hand, employees who experienced increases in blurring of work-life boundaries reported a deterioration in healthy lifestyle behaviors, which in turn was related to reduced happiness. Paradoxically, it seems that those who would benefit the most from a healthy lifestyle are less able to sustain health-promoting behaviors. A case for shared responsibility between employers and employees is built as we discuss the practical implications of the current research.

The mediating role of the work-family conflict in the relationship between technostress and psychological well-being in the COVID-19 pandemic context

“…In the family life domain, employees had to spend their personal psychological resources to adapt to the new conditions generated by telework and the intensive use of ICTs, while managing interferences between work and family (Carillo, Cachat-Rosset, Marsan, Saba, & Klarsfeld, 2020). Of course, all these radical changes have affected employees' psychological well-being (PWB), including the alteration of their mood, the increase of anxiety and concerns about their personal and family well-being, their own health and the health of the loved ones, and accentuated feeling of job insecurity and intense social isolation (Pluut & Wonders, 2020;Zacher & Rudolph, 2021).…”

Development and Validation of a Short Measure of Emotional, Physical, and Behavioral Markers of Eustress and Distress (MEDS)

“…A specific area of application of the short measure of eustress and distress is to better understand humans’ adaptation to the COVID-19 pandemic [ 21 , 22 , 40 ]. On the one hand, it is clear that the constant focus of the media and public discourse on the threats associated with the pandemic generate ruminative tendencies that predict self-handicapping tendencies and exhaustion [ 43 ], ultimately reducing wellbeing [ 40 , 44 , 45 ]. On the other hand, the use of humor in interpersonal communication in relation to the pandemic reduces anxiety and negative mood in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic [ 20 ].…”

COVID-19 Pandemic Implications for Corporate Sustainability and Society: A Literature Review

“…The increase in workload brought by the remote working model has also broken the balance between work and family [21][22][23][24]. The guidelines on managing work-related psychosocial risks during COVID-19 published by International Labor Organization (ILO) lists that fear and the way it relates to employees' perception concerning the likelihood of infection, unemployment, layoffs, and poverty is identified as the main driver of psychological distress.…”

“…Individual level Employee 37 [9,10,14,17,18,20,[22][23][24] Organizational and systematic level Leadership 18 [19,28,[75][76][77][78][79][80][81][82][83][84][85][86][87][88][89][90] Management and operations 33 [7,8,11,12,15,16,[33][34][35]42, Digital transformation 19 [21,[114][115][116][117][118][119][120][121][122][123][124][125][126]…”

“…Aside from health and economic repercussions, exposure to infection and distress due to fear of unemployment, stigmatization, exclusion, displacement, work-family conflict, and psychological deterioration caused strain on society as a whole, posing a social crisis [20]. Furthermore, lockdown and academic closure posed an additional challenge for the employed parents, as they are expected to take on more responsibilities at home while navigating new roles and tasks in an unfamiliar and disrupted environment [21][22][23][24]. Economic reverberation has a follow-up repercussion for a livelihood by way of limiting available resources, employment opportunities, income, and, consequently, access to healthcare services and essential assets.…”