Rest and recovery: reaping the rewards of encouraging employees to switch off

Leaders must foster strong relationships with teams and respect out-of-work boundaries to support their employees’ ability to recover from the demands of the workplace, according to research by Ronit Kark, Sabine Sonnentag, and Laura Venz

Work is becoming ever more demanding, taking a heavy toll on employees' mental health and well-being. According to a landmark survey by Leslie Perlow and Jessica Porter at Harvard Business School, 94% of 1,000 professionals reported working 50 or more hours a week, with nearly half working more than 65 hours. Most also spent 20 to 25 hours a week monitoring their phones and e-mails when out of the office. Post-pandemic data shows that technology-assisted work during “free time” has accelerated with negative consequences for mental health. Recent figures from the American Institute of Stress showed that 80% of employees feel stress at work, with a third suffering from exhaustion and 44% feeling overworked. In the wake of the COVID-19 lockdowns, a 2022 study by McKinsey of 15 countries worldwide…

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I by IMD (Digital) - 1 Issue, 16. December 2024

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