Work-home boundary management and burnout

An always on mentality and blurred boundaries between work and private life have become inevitable characteristics of todays working life for many employees. At the same time, employee reports of stress and burnout are considerably high. This may be the case because bringing work home can be associated with limited time for recovery. When recovery from strenuous jobs is hampered, acute or chronic strain reactions and exhaustion may follow. Given this potentially negative impact of work-related activities during off-job time on employee recovery, it is imperative to clarify why employees bring work home. In the research project Work-home boundary management and burnout, we assess whether unfinished tasks go along with employees engagement in work- related activities during spare time and whether this engagement in work activities is more likely the more individuals tend to have maladaptive thinking patterns. Moreover, we will assess how the management of boundaries between work and private life affects job burnout. In order to gain a deeper understanding of the burnout process and to help employees to cope better with job demands, an intervention will be conducted. Workers will receive trainings based on cognitive- behavioral therapy and mindfulness research to learn how to separate work and private life und to foster recovery during off-job time.

The digitalization and flexibilization of work are increasingly blurring the boundaries between work and private life. More and more employees are involved in their work during leisure time. They write work-related e-mails, prepare work documents or mentally go through work tasks. This can result in a lack of recovery and eventually lead to emotional exhaustion. In view of these potentially negative effects, the question arises which factors promote the preoccupation with work during leisure time. The project "Boundary Management and Burnout" therefore investigated how and under what circumstances people engage in work during leisure time and what consequences may result. Several empirical studies with employees from Austria, Germany, United Kingdom and Slovenia examined the consequences of work-related involvement during leisure time. They showed that both work-related behaviors during leisure, such as writing e-mails, and negative thoughts and emotions about work during leisure, such as worry or anger about work, are associated with negative outcomes. Employees report higher levels of burnout, more conflicts between work and private life, and lower general well-being. In contrast, positive thoughts and emotions about work during leisure time, such as feeling enthusiastic about work, are associated with lower levels of burnout, an enrichment of private life, higher work engagement, and higher general well-being. Thus, contrary to previous assumptions, positive involvement in work during leisure time does not impair recovery and is associated with both higher work-related and higher general well-being. Another study examined the conditions under which work-related involvement, specifically negative thoughts and emotions about work during leisure time, emerges. The results show that both individual factors, i.e., so-called maladaptive thinking patterns, and external factors, i.e., job demands, are associated with negative cognitive-affective involvement with work during leisure time and, subsequently, with higher levels of burnout. People with more frequent maladaptive thinking patterns, i.e., who have inflexible, unfounded and negative beliefs about themselves and their work (e.g., "my work is never good enough"), are more likely to engage negatively with their work during leisure time, both mentally and emotionally, especially when job demands are high. Overall, the project results provide important evidence of the conditions under which involvement with work occurs during leisure time and what negative as well as positive effects can subsequently result.