Gedrag & Organisatie - Volume 23, Issue 4, 2010

Not right now…! On recovery and recovery strategies in work situations

Jan de Jonge, Fred R.H. Zijlstra en Judith K. Sluiter, Gedrag & Organisatie, volume 23, December 2010, nr. 4, pp. 259-274.

The guest editors introduce the subject of this special issue on the effects of recovery and recovery strategies in work situations. The terms effort, fatigue and recovery are explained, and the context of recovery in the workplace is outlined. In addition, various forms of recovery are discussed. Theoretical and empirical research in the field of recovery is illustrated by means of review articles and empirical studies. Finally, an introduction is given to the four other contributions to this special issue. The conclusion is that both from a social and a scientific viewpoint recovery in work situations is an important issue, and that in the near future the level of interest for this subject will only increase.

Recovery opportunities and health at work

Marc J.P.M. van Veldhoven & Judith K. Sluiter, Gedrag & Organisatie, volume 23, December 2010, nr. 4, pp. 275-295.

Recovery opportunities allow employees to recuperate from work and diminish load effects. We validate a scale for measuring recovery opportunities in relation to health at work, and show that it is different from job control.

Cross-sectional data from three Dutch worker samples, which differ in amount of heterogeneity, were used with response rates over 60%. Internal consistency of the scale is good. Recovery opportunities can be discriminated from job control (decision latitude). Recovery opportunities show significant relations with work-related fatigue (need for recovery), sleep complaints, and health complaints, but not with future absenteeism. The recovery opportunities scale has good reliability and shows good construct- and criterion-related validity. It is concluded that the scale is adequate for measuring recovery opportunities, and the implications of this finding for research and practice are discussed.

Take a break…! Or better not…?

A daily-survey study on detachment and creativity

Ellen Spoor, Jan de Jonge & Jan P.H. Hamers, Gedrag & Organisatie, volume 23, December 2010, nr. 4, pp. 296-315.

This study investigated the influence of job demands, job resources, and off-job detachment on creativity, by testing the principles of the Demand-Induced-Strain Compensation (DISC) model with an 8-days daily survey study. Detachment is defined as the extent to which one is able to detach oneself completely from one’s work (recovery experience). Results of multilevel analysis among 71 health care workers showed that, in case of high emotional job demands, not completely detaching oneself emotionally from the job after working hours is beneficial for creativity. In addition it appeared that a combination of high physical demands and low physical resources is conducive to creativity. Contrary to expectations, cognitive job demands, cognitive resources, and cognitive detachment did not have any influence of creativity. Finally, study implications for theory and practice were discussed.

The relationship between recovery, work pressure and sleep quality: A diary study

Alicia L.T. Walkowiak, Ute R.Hülsheger & Fred R.H. Zijlstra, Gedrag & Organisatie, volume 23, December 2010, nr. 4, pp. 316-332.

Previous research showed that the experience of high work pressure can lead to fatigue and even to health complaints on the long term. This makes it very important, especially for people who experience high work pressure, to take sufficient time to recover after work. Sleep quality has a positive influence on recovery.

The aim of this diary study was to investigate whether sleep quality has a mediating effect on the relationship between work pressure and recovery.

Seventy-six people took part in the study and answered questions about work, recovery and sleep for 14 days. Results showed that work pressure indeed had a negative effect on recovery and sleep quality. Furthermore, we found a partial mediation effect: sleep quality mediated the relationship between work pressure and recovery. These results stress the importance of recovery and sleep quality, especially for people who experience high work pressure.

Vakantie als prototypische mogelijkheid tot herstel van werk

Jessica de Bloom, Sabine Geurts en Michiel Kompier, Gedrag & Organisatie, jaargang 23, december 2010, nr. 4, pp. 333-349.

Onvoldoende herstel van het werk kan negatieve gevolgen hebben voor gezondheid en welbevinden van werknemers. Hoewel vakantie in potentie een sterk herstelbevorderend effect kan hebben, is er nog maar weinig onderzoek naar het effect van vakantie op herstel van werk verricht. Dit artikel geeft een overzicht van eerdere en actuele onderzoeksbevindingen op dit terrein en doet een aantal aanbevelingen voor toekomstig onderzoek. Allereerst bespreken wij de mechanismen die ten grondslag liggen aan herstel tijdens vakantie. Ten tweede geven wij een overzicht van de meest belangrijke empirische bevindingen en de sterkten en de zwakten van eerdere vakantiestudies. Ten derde presenteren wij de resultaten uit recent dagboekonderzoek naar korte vakanties (lang weekeinde en midweekvakanties) en wintersportvakanties (negen dagen). Tot slot bespreken wij implicaties en suggesties voor toekomstig onderzoek.

Werknemers zullen langer moeten doorwerken om de economische gevolgen van de vergrijzing van de babyboomgeneratie (d.w.z. het cohort dat geboren is tussen 1946 en 1964) en de ontgroening van de arbeidspopulatie op te kunnen vangen (De Lange, Van Yperen, Van der Heijden & Bal, 2010; Schalk, Van Veldhoven, De Lange, De Witte, Kraus et al., 2010). Recente kabinetsvoorstellen hebben tot doel de mogelijkheden voor vervroegd pensioen in te perken, dan wel om de pensioengerechtigde leeftijd te verhogen. Om verlies van waardevolle kennis en ervaring door de uittreding van ouderen tegen te gaan en om productiekracht te behouden, worden werknemers gestimuleerd om langer door te werken en ontmoedigd om voortijdig uit te treden.