By IANS,
Washington : Dedicated employees carry over their positive work experiences into their home life, brightening up family interactions, a new study says.
Kansas State University (KSU) psychology researchers found that such employees have higher levels of vigour, more dedication and absorption in daily activities, have better moods and more satisfaction at home.
The KSU research group included professor of psychology Clive Fullagar, assistant professor of psychology Satoris Culbertson and graduate student in psychology Maura Mills.
“Our research indicated that individuals who… shared those experiences with significant others perceived themselves as better able to deal with issues at home, became better companions and became more effective overall in the home environment,” Culbertson said.
The researchers tracked 67 extension agents for two weeks to determine the relationship between daily work engagement and work-to-family facilitation.
The researchers found that both work engagement and work-to-family facilitation vary considerably from day-to-day.
“Just because an employee might not be invigorated or dedicated to his or her work on a Monday doesn’t mean he or she won’t be engaged on Tuesday or vice versa,” Culbertson said.
“Additionally, one’s work can facilitate things at home to a different extent depending on the day and what has happened on that particular day.”
The researchers, according to a KSU relese, also found that daily work engagement had a positive effect on family life after controlling for workload — heavy or light work hours were not a factor.
However, “work addicts, or workaholics, have been shown to experience higher levels of work-family conflict,” Culbertson said.
These findings were presented at the annual conference for Society for Industrial and Organisational Psychology in New Orleans.