Precise planning may keep work worries off: Study

Planning how to resolve incomplete work tasks can help employees switch off from work and enjoy their evenings

NEW YORK: Do you keep worrying about work even when you are away from office? Planning how to resolve incomplete work tasks can help employees from thinking about work and enjoy their evenings, advises a new study.



In a study of people's ability to detach themselves from work, Brandon Smit from Ball State University, Indiana used an online questionnaire to survey 103 employees pursuing 1,127 work goals.

Overall, he observed they had more difficulty detaching from work tasks that had been left unfinished, especially the important ones.

However, one group of employees was encouraged to create plans by writing down where, when, and how they would complete these unfinished tasks.

Smit found that they detached themselves from work more effectively than employees who did not create plans.

"For example, if you have an important deadline looming on the horizon, your brain will keep nudging you with reminders which makes it difficult to get a break from work demands," Smit said.

"It seems like we have the ability to 'turn off', or at least 'turn down' these cognitive processes by planning out where, when, and how goals will be accomplished," he said.

This is primarily true for people who have a difficult time forgetting about work during their leisure time because their job plays a central role in their life.

"For them, a simple change to their work routine like task planning near the end of the workday would likely make a real difference," Smit said.



The study was published in the Journal of Organizational and Occupational Psychology.