Healthy Work

In Episode 22, we discuss a paper by Cangiano, Parker, and Ouyang (2021) that explores how proactivity and taking charge at work can make it hard to detach and recover at home. They found people who did take charge found it harder to detach and recover at night unless they were people who were motivated to be autonomous.

In Episode 21, we are joined by Dr. Kimberly French, and expert in work-family conflict (and Keaton's spouse). Keaton and Kim discuss a paper by Lawson, Lee, and Maric (2021) that explores the effects of reacting negatively to work-to-family conflict on sleep, distress, and health behaviors. People who tend to be more negatively reactive experience worse subjective sleep quality and more psychological distress.

In Episode 20, we discuss a paper by Simon and colleagues (2021) that explores how empathetic leaders suffer from giving negative feedback. Over the course of three studies, the authors show that leaders who are more empathetic perform worse and feel more distressed when they give negative feedback, compared to their less empathetic peers. 

In Episode 19, we discuss a paper by Henderson & Horan (2021) that explores how sleep impacts our performance on the job as well as our attitudes about our job. Sleep, both quality and quantity, is important for job performance, sleep quality more so. Sleep is particularly important for attendance at work and general task performance. So dear listener, get some sleep!

In Episode 18, we discuss a paper by Andel, Shen, and our VERY OWN Arvan (2021) that explores how different types of job stress during the COVID-19 pandemic were linked to employee loneliness, which in turn predicted higher levels of depression and fewer helping behaviors on the job. Good news is that people higher in self-compassion were less likely to report being depressed even if they were lonely, but they were also less likely to engage in helping behaviors on the job.

In Episode 17, we discuss a paper by Wu, Wang, Parker, & Griffin (2020) that explores how prolonged job insecurity can change your personality. Over 9 years, people who had extended periods of job insecurity were more neurotic, less conscientious, and less agreeable.

In Episode 16, we discuss a paper by Shockley, Clark, Dodd, & King (2021) that explores how couples handled their work and family demands while navigating working from home during the COVID-19 pandemic. Couples who were able to alternate days of going into work while the other partner stayed home with the child(ren) fared best.

In Episode 15, we discuss a paper by Allen, Merlo, Lawrence, Slutsky, & Gray (2021) that explores how people balance work and non-work lives when working at home during the COVID-19 pandemic. People who had a home office, and prefer work and non-work to stay separate found better balance. We discuss strategies people shared about creating boundaries and finding balance.

In Episode 14, we discuss a paper by Chong, Huang, and Chang (2020) that explores the impact of COVID-19 induced setbacks on work tasks on employees' withdrawal and emotional exhaustion. Effects were particularly harmful for employees whose tasks relied heavily on others and these effects were exacerbated if organizations didn't provide necessary task-related support.

In Episode 13, we discuss a paper by DiStaso and Shoss (2020) that examines how anticipated workload changes the relationship between current workload and emotional strain. Essentially, if you expect your workload to stay the same or go up, your current workload impacts your emotional strain, but if you expect it to go down, there is no relationship between current workload and emotional strain.

Shoutout to our new favorite listener who suggested this paper. Send us your thoughts, comments, feedback, and suggestions.