Supervisors segmenting work and home are family-friendly role models

Supervisors are perceived as family-friendly role models when not working in their leisure time. According to a German study, this family-friendly role modeling leads employees to better segment their own work and home roles. Employees of these supervisors are also better able to recover from work at home. Supervisors should be aware that they are perceived as role models not only at work but also for how they manage their work and family roles. 

Journal of Occupational Health Psychology

Thinking about something happy at work is better than suppressing anger

The management of emotions as part of one’s work role (i.e., emotional labour) is especially important in jobs that require frequent customer/client contact. There are two main strategies to manage emotions: Suppressing negative emotions and pretending good mood (surface acting) and trying to actually create positive feelings (deep acting). Surface acting is related with lower well-being, whereas deep acting has no such detrimental effects, according to a recent study. Workers in a service job should therefore try to create true positive feelings at work instead of only pretending positive emotions. So how about instead of suppressing your anger think about something positive in your live when the next costumer wears you down ?

Journal of Applied Psychology

Doing what you are good at increases satisfaction with work but does not reduce exhaustion

The more individuals use their skills at work, the more positive they feel about their work each day. This is especially true for individuals who are motivated internally, for example, by self-development. However, according to the same study, using skills at work does not help to reduce feelings of exhaustion. Doing what you are good at thus can make you happier at work. However, using your skills does not necessarily mean that work feels less demanding.

Work and Stress

Women at increased risk for work-family conflict

Family centrality has always been at a high level for women. However, over the last years their levels of work centrality rose to become as high as men’s, according to a recent study from Israel. In the past, men showed higher work centrality than women while women were more likely to show high family centrality and lower work centrality. The current rise of work centrality reflects an increasing potential for more work-family conflict for women due to increased demands in multiple roles.

Sharabi, M. (2015). Life domain preferences among women and men in Israel: The effects of socio-economic variables. International Labour Review, 154. 519–536.

Too much control over your job might not be good for you

High and low job control may decrease well-being and produce a depersonalized attitude toward one’s work. Too little control can be frustrating and lead to alienation. However, too much control can be overwhelming because of too much autonomy and uncertainty regarding how the job ought to be performed. According to an Austrian study, a medium level of job control is the optimal level because it produces a sense of pride, significance, and enthusiasm for one’s work.

International Journal of Nursing Studies

Your social network can enhance your ability to innovate

The size of a social network, its diversity, and being the connector between different groups is related to being more innovative, according to meta-analytic evidence. On the other side, having a close social network where one’s contacts are also mutually interconnected is related to lower innovation, possibly because of higher overlap in the knowledge of the group members. Having a broad, open, free social network may thus make your ideas fly! 

Organizational Psychology Review

Interruptions at work can lead to lower satisfaction with one’s performance

Employees may experience lower satisfaction with their performance, increased feelings of irritability, more rumination about problems at work, and heightened distraction from work goals because of interruptions at work. According to a German study, some of the results could be explained by a higher level of time pressure and mental demands induced by interruptions. These findings caution against the frequent use of social-media during work hours or constant email checking that is prevalent among some employees.

Work & Stress

Dads involved in childcare at home experience better outcomes at work

Fathers who are involved in taking care of their children at home report higher job satisfaction and work-family enrichment, according to US study. Involved fathers also reported personal benefits of their child-caring experience, such as positive self-views, sense of competence, and less work-family conflict. The study helps to challenge the idea that the ideal worker is a male employee who is fully committed to his work and available 24/7 for the organization. Rather, organizations can benefit from increased job satisfaction and well-being of employees who also take their family-role seriously. 

Academy of Management Perspectives

Organizations have to make senior management positions less “male”

Women's career aspirations are affected by their perceived congruence with senior management positions and by their perceived opportunity to reach senior management, as a US study revealed. Organizations should therefore assure that senior management roles are not predominantly associated with masculine characteristics and should evaluate their promotion systems to eliminate such psychological barriers to women's advancement into senior management.

Sharabi, M. (2015). Life domain preferences among women and men in Israel: The effects of socio-economic variables. International Labour Review, 154. 519–536.

Using communication technologies for work after working hours increases work-family conflict

Cell phones, e-mails, voice mail, PDAs or pagers are related to more family conflicts when used for work after working hours. Especially employees with higher ambitions and job involvement use these communication technologies more often after working hours, according to a US study.

Journal of Management