Workplace telepressure and work-life balance outcomes: The role of work recovery experiences

Assessing the prevalence of workplace telepressure on resident and attending physicians: A validated scale

Background

Physician wellbeing and burnout are significant threats to the healthcare workforce. Mobile electronic medical record access and smartphones allow for efficient communication in healthcare but may lead to workplace telepressure (WPT).

Methods

An IRB-approved survey related to five domains of burnout [WPT, smartphone usage, boundary control, and psychologic detachment] was circulated. Internal medicine and general surgery faculty and residents were surveyed between 3/2021 and 6/2021. Survey results were analyzed for internal consistency with a Cronbach alpha coefficient and validation against a known physician burnout scale.

Results

The domains were internally valid with a Cronbach alpha of 0.888. Validation against the physician burnout scale was significantly correlated with WPT domains but was overall positively correlated across domains. Surgical trainees reported the highest burnout rate related to every domain.

Conclusion

Survey-based WPT burnout scales provide insight into the daily pressures on physicians. Targeted interventions to limit WPT are needed to improve physician wellbeing.

"Always online": How and when task interdependence and dispositional workplace anxiety affect workplace telepressure after hours

Information and communication technology (ICT) provides employees with convenience in communication. However, it also creates a preoccupation with and urges to respond quickly to work-related ICT messages during nonworking time, which is defined as workplace telepressure after hours (WTA). Drawing on the job demand-resource model, conservation of resource theory, and workplace anxiety theory, this study explores how and when task interdependence and dispositional workplace anxiety affect WTA and how individuals cope with WTA. A total of 269 full-time workers from an online survey panel completed questionnaires at three time-points. We found that both task interdependence and dispositional workplace anxiety are positively related to WTA. The perception of pay-for-responsiveness moderates the relationship between task interdependence and WTA, such that the relationship is significant only for employees with a strong perception of pay-for-responsiveness. Others' approval contingency of self-worth moderates the relationship between dispositional workplace anxiety and WTA, and the relationship is significant only for employees with high degrees of others' approval contingency of self-worth. Finally, WTA arising from external work requirements or the internal pursuit of achieving work goals prompts employees to generate responsiveness coping strategies. Overall, these findings suggest that task interdependence and dispositional workplace anxiety are important factors affecting employees' WTA and highlight the importance of being responsive to WTA.

Secure app-based secondary healthcare clinical decision support to deployed forces in the UK Defence Medical Services

BACKGROUND

Modern instant messaging systems facilitate reach-back medical support for Defence Medical Services (DMS) by connecting deployed clinicians to remote specialists. The mobile app Pando (Forward Clinical, UK) has been used for this purpose by the DMS via the 'Ask Advice' function. We aimed to investigate the usage statistics for this technology in its first 1000 days to better understand its role in the DMS.

METHODS

An observational study was undertaken using metadata extracted from the prospective database within the application server for clinical queries between June 2019 and February 2022. These data included details regarding number and name of specialties, timings, active users per day and the number of conversations.

RESULTS

There were 29 specialties, with 298 specialist users and 553 requests for advice. The highest volume of requests were for trauma and orthopaedics (n=116; 21.0%), ear, nose and throat (n=67; 12.1%) and dermatology (n=50; 9.0%). There was a median of 164 (IQR 82-257) users logged in per day (range 2-697). The number of requests during each day correlated with the number of users on that day (r=0.221 (95% CI 0.159 to 0.281); p<0.001). There were more daily users on weekdays than weekends (215 (IQR 123-277) vs 88 (IQR 58-121), respectively; p<0.001). For the top 10 specialties, the median first response time was 9 (IQR 3-42) min and the median time to resolution was 105 (IQR 21-1086) min.

CONCLUSION

In the first 1000 days of secure app-based reach-back by the DMS there have been over 500 conversations, responded to within minutes by multiple specialists. This represents a maturing reach-back capability that may enhance the force multiplying effect of defence healthcare while minimising the deployed 'medical footprint'. Further discussions should address how this technology can be used to provide appropriately responsive clinical advice within DMS consultant job-planned time.

I Do Not Want to Miss a Thing! Consequences of Employees' Workplace Fear of Missing Out for ICT Use, Well-Being, and Recovery Experiences

As more and more employees have access to work-related information and communication technologies (ICTs) anywhere and anytime, new challenges arise in terms of well-being and recovery experiences. Feelings of workplace fear of missing Out (wFoMO) and workplace telepressure may be personal demands that add to the literature of the job demands-resources (JD-R) theory. In this study, we proposed a model in which wFoMO and workplace telepressure were associated with employee well-being variables via the use of ICTs during leisure time. Therefore, we analyzed the data of N = 130 employees who answered two questionnaires in the interval of one work week. The results revealed negative indirect effects between wFoMO/workplace telepressure and psychological detachment/perceived stress via ICT use. The results were more ambivalent regarding the dependent variables burnout, relaxation, and control. This strengthens the literature that categorized ICT use as a job demand. However, we also found positive indirect effects on perceived informational benefits, which supports the idea of ICTs being both a job demand and a job resource in light of the JD-R theory. This study contributes to past research on work-related ICT use during leisure time and demonstrates the relevance of personal demands such as wFoMO for employees' well-being.

Working 9 to always: relationships among workplace telepressure, ICT boundary creation, and workaholism

BACKGROUND

Information and communication technology (ICT) in the work environment continues to change the landscape of the workplace. This technology allows employees to have greater flexibility when accessing information and communicating with those not physically present. The goal of the current study was to investigate the relationships between workplace telepressure, workaholism, and ICT boundary creation. The moderating role of ICT boundary creation in the relationship between workaholism and workplace telepressure was also examined.

PARTICIPANTS AND PROCEDURE

The sample consisted of 317 full-time faculty and staff at a large Southeastern university. Participants were recruited through an email distribution service, LISTSERV, that contains potential respondents' university email addresses. Prior to starting the Qualtrics survey, participants were shown an informed consent form indicating that their participation is voluntary, and responses will be confidential and anonymous. When they completed the form, respondents were evaluated on measures of workplace telepressure, workaholism, and ICT boundary creation.

RESULTS

Workplace telepressure was positively related to workaholism (and its subscales) and negatively related to ICT boundary creation. Furthermore, workaholism was negatively related to ICT boundary creation. Additionally, both workaholism and ICT boundary creation had significant partial effects for predicting workplace telepressure.

CONCLUSIONS

As ICTs become more popular in the workforce, organizations must be aware of how the additional ease of access that ICTs provide affects employees. Setting ICT boundaries serves as a way to reduce the negative influence that workaholism and workplace telepressure have on workers.

Does workplace telepressure get under the skin? Protocol for an ambulatory assessment study on wellbeing and health-related physiological, experiential, and behavioral concomitants of workplace telepressure

BACKGROUND

The daily working life of many employees requires the use of modern information and communication technology (ICT) devices such as computers, tablets, and smartphones. The double-edged nature of digital work environments has been increasingly highlighted. Benefits such as increased flexibility come at a personal cost. One of the potential downsides is workplace telepressure, i.e., the experience of urge and preoccupation to quickly reply to work-related messages and demands using ICT. There is initial - mainly survey-based-evidence that workplace telepressure may have negative effects on a variety of wellbeing and health outcomes.

AIMS AND HYPOTHESES

Adopting the Effort-Recovery Model and the concept of allostatic load as theoretical frameworks, the present study aims to investigate the hypothesis that workplace telepressure is significantly associated with increased "wear and tear", in the form of more psychosomatic complaints, worse sleep quality (self-reported and actigraphy-based), worse mood, and biological alterations (lower cardiac vagal tone, lower anabolic balance defined as the ratio of salivary dehydroepiandrosterone to salivary cortisol, and higher salivary alpha-amylase). Additionally, the study aims to investigate the hypothesis that connection to work defined as work-related workload and work-related perseverative cognition plays a significant role in the mediation of these relationships.

METHODS

To test our hypotheses, we will conduct an ambulatory assessment study with a convenience sample of 120 healthy workers regularly using ICTs for job communication. For one week, participants will be asked to complete electronic diaries assessing their level of workplace telepressure, psychosomatic complaints, sleep quality, mood, work-related workload, and work-related perseverative cognition. They will also continuously wear the Bittium Faros 180L ECG monitor, the wrist-worn actigraph MotionWatch 8, and perform saliva sampling five times per day.

DISCUSSION

This study will be the most comprehensive ambulatory investigation of workplace telepressure and its psychophysiological concomitants to date and constitutes an important step towards understanding how high levels of workplace telepressure may lead in the long term to secondary alterations (e.g., hypertension, chronic inflammation) and disease (e.g., heart disease). The findings of this study are also anticipated to contribute to guiding the development and implementation of interventions, programs, and policies relevant to employees' digital wellbeing.

Positioning Technostress in the JD-R Model Perspective: A Systematic Literature Review

This paper aims to describe the effects of Technostress on employees' well-being and productivity. We adopted the Job Demands Resources Model as a theoretical framework to analyze the "Technostress" phenomenon in order to clarify whether and how technology can be considered a job demand, a job resource, or part of the effects of personal resources in the workplace. The sources search and selection process was conducted according to the PRISMA guidelines and regarded papers published from 2010 to 2022. Overall, the findings show that most selected papers consider ICT a job demand negatively affecting human behavior, thoughts, and attitudes. In contrast, some report that ICT acts as a job resource, thus reducing the impact of job demands and their physiological and psychological costs. Finally, a third category of studies does not consider the effects of ICT itself but gives more space to the interaction among ICT, the organizational context in which it is used, and the personal characteristics of ICT users. More specifically, the findings show how individual features and organizational procedures can shape the interpretations employees make about their ICT-related experiences at work and, consequently, their performance or well-being. Findings suggest that when ICT tools are strategically planned and used within organizations, they can enrich the employee experience at work, positively affecting the individual and the organizational level.

"Out of office": Availability norms and feeling burned out during the COVID-19 pandemic: The mediating role of autonomy and telepressure

Introduction

Digital innovations make it possible to work anywhere and anytime using any kind of device. Given these evolutions, availability norms are emerging at work. These norms specifically refer to the experienced beliefs or expectations from colleagues or superiors to be available for work-related communication after regular work hours. We rely on the Job-Demands Resources Model as we aim to investigate the relationship between these availability norms and burnout symptoms during the COVID-19 pandemic. We first of all study to what extent availability norms are associated with heightened burnout symptoms. Secondly, we study how both a personal demand, namely telepressure, and a job resource, namely autonomy, could offer distinct and relevant explanations for the role these availability norms play in experiencing burnout symptoms.

Method

We collected data through a survey study with 229 employees from various organizations in the second half of 2020.

Results

The findings indicated that indeed availability norms are significantly associated with more burnout symptoms and that both heightened telepressure and reduced autonomy mediated this relationship.

Discussion

This study contributes to theory and practice as we offer insight into how availability norms at work could be detrimental for the occupational health of employees, which can be taken into account when setting up rules and regulations at work.

Shining a light on an additional clinical burden: work-related digital communication survey study - COVID-19 impact on NHS staff wellbeing

Work-related communication volume within the United Kingdom's National Health Service (NHS) has had little systematic research previously. The impact of communication volume on work-life balance of healthcare staff in the NHS is also not known and has not been an area of focus or governance. COVID-19 led to a shift to non-physical work, with greater reliance on digital communication for clinical decision making. We sought to elucidate the relationship between communication, work-life balance, and COVID-19. An online survey was conducted to assess the platforms used to communicate professionally, the volume of and time spent on work-related communications, how this has changed from before to during COVID-19, and the effect on work-life balance. A total of 3047 healthcare staff provided consent and evaluable data. Emails were reported as the most frequently used communication tool, and the majority of staff asked, reported increased work-related communications due to COVID-19. Staff estimated receiving 14 emails on an average day before COVID-19. During the pandemic, staff estimated getting approximately 17 emails on an average day and 29 emails on a busy day. Work communications reportedly took up increased amounts of family and home time during COVID-19. A large proportion (36%) of staff were unable to switch off from work-related communications already before COVID-19, worsening (57%) during the pandemic. Work-related digital communication is a vital component of working in the NHS. We provide the first detailed data on the types, volume, and impact of such communication on NHS staff during the COVID-19 pandemic, compared to pre-pandemic levels. We found that 82% of staff support the need for NHS guidance on work-related communications to help manage overload, protect emotional wellbeing, and increase resilience. Further work is urgently needed in this area to tackle the negative impact of communication technologies (technostress) on work-life balance to reduce staff stress, burnout, and turnover or early retirement of some staff.

Professional social media-enabled productivity: a five-wave longitudinal study on the role of professional social media invasion, work engagement and work exhaustion

Purpose

Social media platforms are increasingly used at work to facilitate work-related activities and can either challenge or make people feel more productive at jobs. This study drew from technostress and employee well-being literature and analyzed longitudinal effects of professional social media (PSM) invasion, work engagement and work exhaustion on PSM-enabled productivity.

Design/methodology/approach

Nationally representative five-wave survey data of Finnish employees were analyzed with hybrid multilevel linear regression analysis. Outcome measure was PSM-enabled productivity and the predictors included PSM incqvasion, work exhaustion and work engagement. Age, gender, education, occupational sector, managerial position, remote work and personality traits were used as control variables.

Findings

PSM invasion and work engagement had both within-person and between-person effects on PSM-enabled productivity. Higher educated and individuals with open personality reported higher PSM-enabled productivity. No association between work exhaustion and PSM-enabled productivity was found.

Originality/value

The findings are central considering the increasing use of social media and other technologies for work purposes. The authors challenge the dominant view in the literature that has often seen PSM invasion as a negative factor. Instead, PSM invasion's positive association with PSM-enabled productivity and the association of work engagement and PSM-enabled productivity should be recognized in work life.

When Thoughts Have No Off Switch: The Cost of Telepressure and Message-based Communication behaviour within Boundary-crossing Contexts

Communication technology enables employees to be constantly connected at the cost of potentially blurring the boundaries between work and private life, which can be detrimental to their well-being. The present study utilised a quantitative diary approach (N = 269 employees, N = 1256 data points) to provide further evidence on the association between telepressure and ruminative thoughts within boundary-crossing contexts (i.e., including work-related behaviour and cognitions during leisure time as well as private-related behaviour and cognitions at work). On a day-to-day level, we examined if context-incongruent telepressure had a positive effect on context-incongruent affective rumination through context-incongruent message-based communication behaviour. Multilevel analyses supported our hypothesised mediation models. Altogether, findings reveal that quickly replying towards messages or its related cognition (i.e., telepressure) may result in a resource-draining experience in terms of affective rumination within both boundary-crossing contexts. Theoretical and practical implications as well as future research avenues are discussed.

Exploring the Impact of COVID‐19 on Employees’ Boundary Management and Work–Life Balance

The COVID‐19 pandemic altered the ways academics work and live by creating a context during the spring of 2020 when working from home was largely mandatory and where, for cohabiting workers, the home as workplace was simultaneously occupied by all household members during working hours (and beyond). Using a multi‐method qualitative approach, we examine how academics experienced working from home during the unprecedented circumstances imposed by the first UK lockdown and social distancing measures. Our findings show that a working arrangement commonly termed ‘flexible’ – working from home – can actually reduce flexibility in a context of mandatory implementation, accompanied by the removal of instrumental and emotional support structures such as childcare and face‐to‐face (physical) social gatherings. Intensified workloads, increased employer monitoring, social disconnection and blurred boundaries between work and personal life collectively generate the reduction of employees’ perceived flexibility‐ability. Experiences may be particularly negative for those with low flexibility‐willingness, whose pre‐pandemic preference was to separate work and home as much as possible. Employee efforts to assert agency in this context include establishing ‘micro‐borders’ and using time‐based strategies to create ‘controlled integration’. We discuss implications for border theory and outline directions for future research.

The Key to Work-Life Balance is (Enriched) Job Design? Three-Way Interaction Effects with Formalization and Adaptive Personality Characteristics

The COVID-19 outbreak has blurred the boundaries between work and personal life, making the concept of work-life balance (WLB) even more important. Based on a three-source (employees, family members, and supervisors) sample (n = 436) of working professionals, we investigated the importance of enriched job design for employee WLB. In addition, on the basis of the job demand-control (JD-C) model, we examined whether organizationally imposed formalization and employees' individual adaptive personality traits (proactive personality and resilience) act as boundary conditions that strengthen this positive relationship. First, we conducted a supplementary analysis to investigate further which of the enriched job design characteristics play the most important role in our three-way interaction models predicting WLB. Then we discuss implications for theory and practice.

Validation of the work stress screener (WOSS-13) and resilience at work scale (ReWoS-24)

OBJECTIVE

Work stress is a global issue with countries such as the UK requiring organisations to protect employees. Work stress can be beneficial (challenging) or harmful (overwhelming), and characteristics such as resilience are thought to mitigate some of the negative effects. This paper describes the validation of two new scales. The WOSS-13 was designed to measure both benign and harmful experiences of work stress, while the ReWoS-24 captures information about individual and team resilience.

METHODS

For both scales the assessment of individual items, domains captured by scale items, reliability and validity were completed using data from a survey of 1980 individuals from the University of York, England. A sub-sample of respondents (N = 609) provided additional data for retest purposes. Analyses were performed using these two samples.

RESULTS

Responses to scale items were found to be normally distributed. Confirmatory factor analysis indicated the WOSS-13 was comprised of three subscales: positive work-related affect/stress, general positive affect and harmful stress. The ReWoS-24 is presented as four sub-scales: general well-being, well-being at work, satisfaction with job performance and team resilience. All subscales demonstrated good internal consistency (Cronbach's alpha ≥0.80). Both scales complement existing measures of stress and mental health.

CONCLUSION

The findings suggest that the WOSS-13 is a valid and reliable measure which enables the assessment of both benign and harmful forms of work stress. The ReWoS-24 is a valid and reliable measure of individual and team resilience. These scales could be used in workplaces to assess for and mitigate against, harmful work stress.

The Conditions of Successful Telework: Exploring the Role of Telepressure

The purpose of this paper is to explore the causes of the inconsistent relationship between telework and work-life conflict, which has been reported in the research literature. We predicted that the qualitative aspects of telework, direction of work-life conflict, and telepressure would influence whether telework decreases work-life conflict. To test these predictions, data from a sample of 328 workers enrolled in the online subject recruitment platform, Prolific, were collected three times, with a one-month interval between each data collection. The analysis, based on these data, revealed that the qualitative aspects of telework had no impact on the relationship between telework and work-life conflict. In addition, telework was significantly related only to work-to-life conflict, but not life-to-work conflict. Finally, the moderating effect of telepressure was significant, such that the positive impact of telework on work-life conflict was found only for people reporting low telepressure. Based on the research findings, theoretical and practical implications were discussed.

Identifying the Moderating Effect of Hyperconnectivity on the Relationship between Job Demand Control Imbalance, Work-to-Family Conflict, and Health and Well-Being of Office Employees Working in the Oil and Gas Industry, Malaysia

There is an increasing acknowledgment of the added value obtained by integrating technological efforts to engage employees round the clock for organizational productivity. Hyperconnectivity is the demand of time for competitive advantage in businesses, but studies on its impact on the health and well-being of the employees have been neglected in academic research. Hence, in this study, we investigated the effect of hyperconnectivity on health and well-being, and in moderating the effect of work-to-family conflict and job demand control imbalance on the health and well-being of the office employees. An online questionnaire survey was used to collect data from 410 office employees working in the oil and gas industry in Malaysia. Respondents were approached through the LinkedIn forum. Statistical tests, principal component analysis, structural equation modeling, and path analysis were conducted. It is found that hyperconnectivity has a negatively insignificant effect on health and well-being. In addition, hyperconnectivity significantly strengthens the negative effect of job demand control imbalance (22%) and work-to-family conflict (24%) on health and well-being. It is concluded that hyperconnectivity decreases health and expedites other psychosocial hazards related to the health and well-being of the employees. Urgent measures should be taken to reduce unnecessary and frequent online notifications, messages, emails, and phone calls, both during and off-working hours. In this way, the effect of job demand control imbalance and work-to-family conflict can be reduced on the health and well-being of the office employees. Considering the negative consequences of hyperconnectivity, this problem should be addressed in health and safety policies in organizations. Future studies can investigate the effect of hyperconnectivity on job demands and control separately.

Supervisor expectations regarding work-related messages: their differential effects among remote and on-site workers

Purpose

Research suggests that supervisor expectations regarding the need to respond quickly to work-related messages (SE) tend to be positively related to employees' levels of emotional exhaustion. In the present research paper, the authors examine the indirect – through emotional exhaustion – effects of these expectations on employees' levels of family satisfaction, life satisfaction and sleep quality. They also explore whether and how these associations differ between employees working on-site (n = 158) or remotely (n = 284).

Design/methodology/approach

A total of 442 employees completed an online survey that covered measures on SE, emotional exhaustion, family and life satisfaction and sleep quality.

Findings

As hypothesized, the results of the study revealed that the indirect effects of SE on family satisfaction, life satisfaction and sleep quality were significantly mediated by emotional exhaustion. Finally, the relations between SE and the mediator (emotional exhaustion) were stronger among employees working on-site than among employees working remotely.

Practical implications

SE prevention could be encouraged to decrease employees' emotional exhaustion, in turn increasing their sleep quality, family satisfaction and life satisfaction.

Originality/value

These results revealed that working remotely helped buffer the undesirable effects of SE on emotional exhaustion.

Unlimited Paid Time Off Policies: Unlocking the Best and Unleashing the Beast

Unlimited paid time off policies are currently fashionable and widely discussed by HR professionals around the globe. While on the one hand, paid time off is considered a key benefit by employees and unlimited paid time off policies (UPTO) are seen as a major perk which may help in recruiting and retaining talented employees, on the other hand, early adopters reported that employees took less time off than previously, presumably leading to higher burnout rates. In this conceptual review, we discuss the theoretical and empirical evidence regarding the potential effects of UPTO on leave utilization, well-being and performance outcomes. We start out by defining UPTO and placing it in a historical and international perspective. Next, we discuss the key role of leave utilization in translating UPTO into concrete actions. The core of our article constitutes the description of the effects of UPTO and the two pathways through which these effects are assumed to unfold: autonomy need satisfaction and detrimental social processes. We moreover discuss the boundary conditions which facilitate or inhibit the successful utilization of UPTO on individual, team, and organizational level. In reviewing the literature from different fields and integrating existing theories, we arrive at a conceptual model and five propositions, which can guide future research on UPTO. We conclude with a discussion of the theoretical and societal implications of UPTO.

Did you get that thing I sent you? Mediating effects of strain and work-family conflict on the telepressure and burnout relationship

Employees who feel the urge and preoccupation to respond to workplace asynchronous communication quickly may be suffering from workplace telepressure (WPT). Although information and communication technologies have many organizational benefits, it is imperative to understand the cost of blurring work and family roles. Using the Job Demands-Resources model, the relationship between WPT and key outcomes, such as strain, work-family conflict, family-work conflict (FWC), and burnout was examined. In Study 1, a sample of 220 working students supported the mediation of strain in the WPT and work-family and family-work relationship. Additionally, Study 2 expanded this model using a sample of 269 working individuals. Specifically, the relationship between WPT and burnout was sequentially mediated by strain and either work-family or FWC. Implications are discussed.

Millennials in the workplace: perceived supervisor support, work–life balance and employee well–being

Purpose

The purpose of this study is to examine the relationship between perceived supervisor support (PSS), work–life balance (WLB) and employee well-being (EW) of millennial employees. More specifically, the study explores the mediation impact of WLB in the relationship between PSS and EW.

Design/methodology/approach

Data were collected from 235 full-time millennial employees working for the financial sector in Turkey. The aforesaid relationships were assessed through structural equation modeling and the bootstrapping procedure.

Findings

The results indicate that PSS positively influenced WLB which, in turn, impacted EW.

Research limitations/implications

Since this is a cross-sectional research study, causal inferences cannot be inferred from the research outcomes.

Practical implications

The findings show that supervisors play a critical role in enhancing employees’ ability to maintain a balance between work and personal obligations which improves their well-being. This implies that the supervisor’s actions impact the well-being of employees, which, in turn, influences how an employee perceives the organization. So employers need to formulate policies and programs that encourage work–life balance in the workplace so as to improve EW beyond the workplace, as improving EW and supporting employees can help create a healthy workforce helping organizations to avoid unnecessary health costs.

Originality/value

Only a few research efforts have been conducted toward exploring the mediation role of WLB between PSS and EW. The findings advance the understanding of how PSS could enhance EW in a mediation model.

The "What", "Why" and "Whom" of Interrole Interference Among Home-Based Teleworkers

Many employees are drawn to work-from-home arrangements based on expectations that such arrangements will help them manage both work and home life more effectively. Yet, mixed empirical findings suggest that telework arrangements do not uniformly result in less interrole interference (i.e., work-home and home-work interference). Applying and extending a border theory perspective, the present research offers insight into what factors may predict interrole interference, mediating mechanisms that may explain why such interference occurs, and a moderator that tests for whom interference is most damaging when employees work from home. Specifically, we test cross-role interruption behaviors as a predictor of interrole interference, with recovery experiences as a mediator of this relation and work-life border segmentation preference as a moderator. A sample of 504 home-based teleworkers recruited through Amazon’s Mechanical Turk participated in a three-wave survey. Results from a structural equation modeling approach support our overall model. However, the extent and valence of the impact of cross-role interruption behaviors had on teleworkers’ interrole interference depended on the direction of the interruption, type of recovery experience, and personal work-life border preference. These findings provide theoretical and practical insights that may help explain the gap between expected and actual occurrence of interrole interference in home-based telework arrangements.

The lived experience of workplace reciprocity of emergency nurses in the mid-Atlantic region of the U.S.: A descriptive phenomenological study

INTRODUCTION

Emergency nurses work under sometimes uncertain conditions to provide care to patients with all kinds of illnesses and afflictions from all segments of the population. Despite implications that they must work together to provide efficient and effective patient care, few studies explore reciprocal workplace relationships of emergency nurses.

AIM

This research sought to illuminate the lived experience of workplace reciprocity of emergency nurses.

METHODS

Using a phenomenological approach with snowball sampling technique, unstructured, open-ended interviews were conducted with emergency nurses in the mid-Atlantic region of the United States. The original study was conducted in 2013 (n = 9) and a replication study in 2018 (n = 7). Data were collected and analyzed using Giorgi's Phenomenological Method. Results from each study were evaluated for thematic congruence.

RESULTS

Six themes of workplace reciprocity of emergency nurses were identified for both studies: emergency department (ED) culture, balancing, technology, caring, bridging, and connection. An additional theme, bonding, was identified with the replication study.

CONCLUSIONS

Exploring workplace reciprocity of emergency nurses provided insight the influences on workplace relationships. Establishing and nurturing workplace reciprocity may create a culture of safety, connection, enhance work engagement, and influence nurse recruitment and retention.

Daily Beneficial Effects of Work-to-Family Facilitation on Employees' Recovery and General Health: Is More Work Engagement Always Better?

This study of 104 Chilean employees examines the process of WFF—recovery—general health on a daily basis. Drawing on the work–home resources (W-HR) model, we hypothesized that daily work-to-family facilitation and work engagement predict recovery experiences during off-job time in the evening (i.e., detachment from work and relaxation) and subsequent general health at night. Furthermore, we explored whether daily work engagement moderates the relationships between daily work-to-family facilitation and recovery experiences during off-job time in the evening and general health at night. In addition, we expected employees' detachment from work to have a lagged effect on next-day general health at night. Participants completed a survey and a diary booklet over 5 consecutive working days (N = 520 occasions). Multilevel analyses show that, as expected, daily work-to-family facilitation predicted recovery experiences during off-job time in the evening (i.e., detachment from work and relaxation). However, contrary to our expectations, daily work engagement only predicted general health at night. Moreover, as expected, a moderation effect of daily work engagement shows that on days that employees experience low levels of daily work engagement, daily work-to-family facilitation is strongly related to detachment from work and relaxation during off-job time in the evening and to general health at night. Unexpectedly, on days on which employees experienced high levels of daily work engagement, daily work-to-family facilitation was weakly related to these outcomes. Finally, in accordance with our expectations, detachment from work had a lagged effect on next-day general health at night. These findings offer support for the W-HR model and have theoretical and practical implications for research and organizations.

Workaholism Prevention in Occupational Medicine: A Systematic Review

INTRODUCTION

Given the extent of workaholism identified in the literature, it seems essential to consider effective preventive measures. The purpose of this article is to summarize literature data on possible collective and individual preventive measures against workaholism, especially in occupational medicine.

METHOD

We conducted a systematic literature review in accordance with the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses guidelines.

RESULTS

155 articles were retrieved in March 2019, but only 15 well-designed studies providing concrete measures to prevent workaholism were included. The various measures were classified using the traditional distinction between three levels of prevention. At the first level of prevention, workaholism can be avoided by implementing a protective organizational culture. The second level of prevention rather focuses on individual training and counselling to address the negative consequences of workaholism. Finally, the third level of prevention combines cognitive and behavioral interventions that enable professional and social reintegration of workaholics.

DISCUSSION

This literature review confirms the multifactorial origin of workaholism and the involvement of organizational factors, supporting the necessary contribution of companies in its prevention. This review also reinforces the growing perception of workaholism as a behavioral addiction. Occupational physicians play a key role in this preventive approach as they can influence both working conditions and individual care. The highlighted preventive measures seem to be not only favorable to workaholics, but also to companies.

CONCLUSION

This review provides field tools that can be used at the various levels of workaholism prevention. Nevertheless, intervention studies are required to confirm the effectiveness of the measures presented.

"You've Got Mail": a Daily Investigation of Email Demands on Job Tension and Work-Family Conflict

Email represents a useful organizational tool that can facilitate rapid and flexible communication between organizations, managers, and employees regardless of their physical location (e.g., office, home, on vacation). However, despite the potential benefits of email, its usage is a double-edged sword that also has the potential to negatively affect its users. To advance knowledge and inform both researchers and practitioners of such negative outcomes, we integrate the job demands-resources model with spillover theory to investigate email as a potential job demand and explore how it may relate to employees' job tension and work-family conflict. Using an interval-contingent experience sampling methodology with respondents from two separate organizations (n = 134) providing 704 observations across 6 days of surveys, we hypothesize that, as a job demand, email can have negative consequences on the job that can spill over into the home. Furthermore, we also examine an individual trait (i.e., trait self-regulation) as a potential boundary condition that moderates the extent to which experienced tension from email demands spills over into home life. Finally, theoretical and practical implications are also discussed.

At the heart of family businesses: how copreneurs craft work-life balance

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to understand how experienced copreneurs of small family business (SFB), as the smallest unit and heart of their family business (FB), may create work-life balance (WLB). Copreneurs evince highly intertwined life-domains and often struggle to respite while managing their high business demands.

Design/methodology/approach

In this couple interview study with 18 experienced copreneurial couples of SFBs (N = 36), we investigated strategies copreneurs use to create their WLB by merging a resource perspective (Hobfoll, 1989) with the concept of WLB crafting (Sturges, 2012).

Findings

A key strategy in copreneurial couples was the structural establishment of microdomains, such as periods of personal resource recreation within a macrodomain (e.g. work) via individual physical and cognitive WLB crafting. Copreneurs used relational WLB crafting with a strong emphasis on seeking support and mainly to protect their microdomains by relying on their spouses as boundary keepers. Women more often expressed the importance of health and time for respite, as cognitive WLB crafting, and they were more active in creating (joint) recovery opportunities. Dyadic WLB crafting strategies were used when goal congruency for work or private activities was high.

Originality/value

This research applies WLB crafting research to the smallest unit of SFBs, namely copreneurs. The study provides in-depth insights into the strategies copreneurs of SFB use to create a satisfying WLB.

Always on, never done? How the mind recovers after a stressful workday?

Many workers experience their jobs as effortful or even stressful, which can result in strain. Although recovery from work would be an adaptive strategy to prevent the adverse effects of work-related strain, many workers face problems finding enough time to rest and to mentally disconnect from work during nonwork time. What goes on in workers’ minds after a stressful workday? What is it about their jobs that makes them think about their work? This special issue aims to bridge the gap between research on recovery processes mainly examined in Occupational Health Psychology, and research on work stress and working hours, often investigated in the field of Human Resource Management. We first summarize conceptual and theoretical streams from both fields of research. In the following, we discuss the contributions of the five special issue papers and conclude with key messages and directions for further research.

Influence of Leader Mindfulness on the Emotional Exhaustion of University Teachers: Resources Crossover Effect

This study combined conservation of resources theory with the job demands-resources model to explore the influence of leader mindfulness on the emotional exhaustion of university teachers Using a time-lagged research design, 388 paired data sets were gathered. Multiple regression and bootstrapping were used to test each hypothesis. The results showed that first, leader mindfulness significantly reduces the emotional exhaustion of university teachers. Second, the results showed that workplace telepressure partially mediates the relationship between leader mindfulness and the emotional exhaustion of university teachers. Third, university teacher mindfulness positively moderates the relationship between leader mindfulness and workplace telepressure. Finally, the results of this study indicate that self-efficacy in managing negative emotions negatively moderates the relationship between workplace telepressure and the emotional exhaustion of university teachers. This study empirically examined the interpersonal influence of leader mindfulness and the initial resources effect of university teacher mindfulness and self-efficacy in managing negative emotions from the bilateral perspective of leaders and university teachers.

Exploring flexible home arrangements – an interview study of workers who live in vans

Purpose

The purpose of this study is to understand the lived experience of workers who live in vans to explore how work and non-work interact when one's living environment is mobile.

Design/methodology/approach

In this qualitative study, semi-structured interviews were carried out with 18 participants. Thematic analysis of interview transcripts, coded while listening to each interview recording, provided a rich account of the interaction of work and non-work life domains.

Findings

Several themes were identified, including seeing the van as a home, hidden or disclosed identity stemming from living in a van, financial freedom, career freedom and work/non-work synchronization. Overall, findings suggest that flexible home arrangements, the relocation of one's home to adapt to work, aligned work and non-work domains to positively impact their overall work and non-work satisfaction, providing career freedom and expanded career opportunities.

Research limitations/implications

The understanding of workers who live in vans broadens one’s understanding of mobile work and the work/non-work interface, providing insight into the dual alignment of work and home to accommodate each other, which the authors term work/non-work synchronization.

Originality/value

This is one of the first studies to consider van living from a work and career perspective and for the first time conceptualizes the notion of flexible home arrangements.

Boundarylessness and sleep quality among virtual team members - a pilot study from Germany

Background

In the course of globalisation and digitalisation, new ways of work are becoming increasingly prevalent. To remain competitive as an organisation, cooperation across time, place, and organisational boundaries is becoming necessary. Virtual teamwork offers these advantages, but can also be both, an opportunity and a burden, for employees. This pilot study aims to gain first insights into job demands and resources in virtual teamwork to provide a basis for further research from which appropriate health promotion and prevention measures can be derived.

Methods

In this pilot study, an online questionnaire was used to examine the relationship between boundarylessness as a job demand, psychological detachment as a personal resource, as well as perceived stress and sleep quality as health outcomes among 46 virtual team members from Germany. Data collection lasted from October 2019 to January 2020. Validated scales were used for the questionnaire, except for virtuality. Due to insufficient operationalisation to date, a virtuality scale was developed based on the current state of research. The data were analysed with ordinal logistic regression analyses and median split t-tests.

Results

The results indicate that perceived stress impaired sleep quality of virtual team members in this sample. In contrast, successful psychological detachment from work was positively related to sleep quality. A higher degree of virtuality coincided with higher levels of boundarylessness. Virtual team members with leadership responsibility showed higher levels of psychological detachment.

Conclusion

The present pilot study breaks ground and provides initial insights into the relationship between virtual teamwork and employee health in the German context. Further research, particularly on job demands in virtual teamwork, is needed to derive concrete health promotion and prevention measures.

Teams in a New Era: Some Considerations and Implications

Teams have been a ubiquitous structure for conducting work and business for most of human history. However, today's organizations are markedly different than those of previous generations. The explosion of innovative ideas and novel technologies mandate changes in job descriptions, roles, responsibilities, and how employees interact and collaborate. These advances have heralded a new era for teams and teamwork in which previous teams research and practice may not be fully appropriate for meeting current requirements and demands. In this article, we describe how teams have been historically defined, unpacking five important characteristics of teams, including membership, interdependence, shared goals, dynamics, and an organizationally bounded context, and relating how these characteristics have been addressed in the past and how they are changing in the present. We then articulate the implications these changes have on how we study teams moving forward by offering specific research questions.