Staying well and engaged when demands are high: The role of psychological detachment.

Abstract

The authors of this study examined the relation between job demands and psychological detachment fro m work during off-job time (i.e., mentally switching off) with psychological well-being and work engagement. They hypothesized that high job demands and low levels of psychological detachment predict poor well-being and low work engagement. They proposed that psychological detachment buffers the negati ve impact of high job demands on well-being and work engagement. A longitudinal study ( 12-month time lag) with 309 human service empl oyees showed that high job demands predicted emoti onal exhaustion, psychosomatic complai nts, and low work engagement over ti me. Psychological detachment from work during off-job ti me predicted emotional exhaustion and bu ffered the relation between job demands and an increase in psychosomatic complaints and between job demands and a decrease in work engagement. The fi ndings of this study suggest that psychological detac hment from work during off-job time is an important factor that helps to protect employee well-bei ng and work engagement.Keywords: job demands, emotional exhausti on, work engagement, psychological detachment, recoveryIn many contemporary j obs, employees face a high level of quantitative job demands refl ected in a hi gh workload and time pressure. Hi gh job demands not only produce a stressful shOJt-term experi ence (Ilies et aI.,

Long-term profiles of work-related rumination associated with leadership, job demands, and exhaustion: A three-wave study

“…Applying the COR theory, this is essentially a loss cycle in terms of energy depletion and failure to restore lost energetic resources which rumination further consumes. Without proper recovery and regain of energy, short-term load reactions accumulate and become more harmful (Meijman & Mulder, 1998;Sonnentag et al, 2010). Thus, our results concur with the notion of Querstret et al (2016) that rumination and indicators of lack of energy may be involved in a cycle whereby one feeds the other.…”

“…This is compatible with the notion of exhaustion resulting from impeded recovery after investment of effort in job demands. As for longitudinal evidence, poor psychological detachment predicted an increase in emotional exhaustion within one year (Sonnentag, Binnewies, & Mojza, 2010). Similarly, sustained cognitive activation in the form of preoccupation with thoughts of work during leisure time predicted clinical burnout across two years while controlling for job demands (Söderström, Jeding, Ekstedt, Perski, & Åkerstedt, 2012).…”

“…First, in a quasi-experimental study, rumination and fatigue decreased simultaneously after a cognitive-behavioural intervention on work-related rumination (Querstret, Cropley, Kruger, & Heron, 2016). Second, longitudinal variable-centred studies have found not only that poor psychological detachment predicts exhaustion (Sonnentag et al, 2010), but also that exhaustion predicts poor psychological detachment (Sonnentag, Arbeus, Mahn, & Fritz, 2014). Third, one study found that all participants, both compulsive and non-compulsive workers, ruminated less about work during their vacation (de Bloom et al, 2014).…”

Divergent effects of detachment from work: a day-level study on employee creativity

“…Although research on recovering from job stress during non-work time extensively demonstrated the positive effect of disengaging from work on health and well-being (e.g., Sonnentag, Binnewies, & Mojza, 2010), recent studies suggest that the link between detachment from work and performance outcomes, such as employee creativity, may not be that straightforward (e.g., Binnewies, Sonnentag, & Mojza, 2009;De Jonge, Spoor, Sonnentag, Dormann, & Van den Tooren, 2012;Fritz, Yankelevich, Zarubin, & Barger, 2010).…”

Occupational role stress is associated with higher cortisol reactivity to acute stress.

“…Sonnentag, Binnewies, & Mojza, 2010). The uncertainty scale assesses role ambiguity and role conflict: (1) "How often to you get unclear instructions?…”