Healthy Work

In episode 12, we discuss a paper by Vaziri, Casper, Wayne, & Matthews (2020) about the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on how people navigate the balance between work and family. Although most people's patterns of work-family balance were unaffected by the pandemic (during the first month of U.S. quarantines) individual differences in preference and behaviors affected how people's patterns did change.

In episode 11, we discuss a paper by Kuykendall, Craig, Stiksma, & Guarino (Online First) about the reasons people don't use all of their vacation days. People who feel they are generally able to disconnect from work on vacation and those who expect to be relaxed on vacation are more likely to use all of their vacation days, but people who feel that vacation might result in a financial burden are less likely to use all of their days.

We are SO excited to bring you this special episode of Healthy Work. We are joined by one of our favorite podcasts Workr Beeing. If you like what we do, you'll love them! Together we talk about why it's hard for the science of healthy work to make it into practice. We briefly discuss a relevant paper by Aguinis & Cascio.

We definitely recommend you check out Workr Beeing on their website (workrbeeing.com), LinkedIn, Twitter, Instagram (@WorkrBeeing), or email ([email protected]). You can also listen (and subscribe) to their podcast!

In this episode, we discuss a paper by Yu and Duffy (2020) about the effects of abusive supervision and how sometimes supervisors can make it seem like they're abusive to help you. Don't be an abusive supervisor, and don't be tricked into thinking it's good for you.

In Episode 9 of Healthy Work, we discuss a recent paper by Smith, Martinez, & Gettle (2020) that explores how the perceived and actual healthiness of the food offered in workplace cafeterias affects employee's satisfaction, intention to quit, and perceived organizational support. Workplaces with healthier offerings have employees who feel more supported, and therefore, more satisfied and less likely to quit.

In Episode 8 of Healthy Work, we discuss a recent paper by Du, Bakker, & Derks (2020) that found that having positive experiences with children, AND talking about them helped people perform better the next day at work and handle work demands better. This phenomenon of positive experiences at home helping you be better at work is called work-to-family enrichment.

In Episode 7 of Healthy Work, we discuss a recent paper by Sayre, Grandey, & Chi (2020) that tested how experiences at work lead to after-work drinking. Employees who tried to actually experience the emotions they have to display at work actually drank less after work. Those who only faked the emotions drank more, but only if they have an emotionally demanding job. 

In Episode 6 of Healthy Work, we discuss a recent paper by Horan, Flaxman, & Stride (in press) that examined the effects of vacation on exhaustion and negative mood. Unless employees were high in perfectionism and worked during their vacation, employees vacation boosted their mood and made them less exhausted.

In Episode 5 of Healthy Work, we discuss a recent paper by Crain and colleauges (2019) that experimentally tested an intervention in the workplaced designed to improve employee sleep. Employees with suportive supervisors, schedule control/flexibility, got more sleep on average each night even up to a year later, and felt like they had more sufficient sleep. If you want resources from this intervention you can go to workfamilyhealthnetwork.org

In Episode 4 of Healthy Work, we discuss a recent paper by Sianoja, Syrek, de Bloom, Korpela, & Kinnunen (2018) that tested how walking in a park or doing relaxation techniques during lunch breaks boost experiences in the afternoon. Taking a walk or relaxing can increase concentration, decrease detachment, strain, and fatigue in the afternoon.