Recovery and employee engagement

1. Daily Job Demands:
The Role of Recovery and Resources
Prof. dr. Arnold Bakker
Erasmus University Rotterdam
bakker@fsw.eur.nl
EAWOP, May 2007, Stockholm

2. Outline
• Recovery
• Job Resources
• Hypotheses
• Work Engagement, Performance
• Results Multilevel analyses
• Discussion

3. • Dealing with job demands requires
physical work, attention, concentration
• Energy expenditure make people feel
fatigued, because their resources are
depleted (cf. Meijman et al., 1992)
• People need rest to recover
• Recovery: Process of replenishing
resources
Recovery

4. • High job demands  greater need for
recovery (Sluiter et al., 1999)
• Intensive work environment  more
difficulties in unwinding during
evening (Meijman et al., 1992)
• Optimal recovery also depends on
type and quality of activities
(Sonnentag, 2001; Sonnentag &
Zijlstra, 2006)
Previous Research

8. FATIGUE WORK
ENGAGEMENT
APATHY BOREDOM
LOW
HIGH
LOW
HIGH
JOB RESOURCES
JOBDEMANDS
Resources during workday

9. Job Demands
Engagement
Job
Resources
Recovery
Performance
Hypotheses

10. “Work engagement is a positive,
affective-motivational state of
fulfillment that is characterized by
vigor, dedication, and absorption”
Schaufeli & Bakker (2003)
Work Engagement

11. Sample
• 53 employees working on assembly lines
• 10-day diary study
• 35% overall response
• 83% male
• Mean age: 37 years
• Organizational tenure: 2.7 years
• Low level of education

12. Example Items
• Job Demands (6 items based on Van Veldhoven &
Meijman 1994)
• Today, I had to work very fast
• I really had to concentrate on my work the whole day
• Job Resources (5 items; Bakker et al., 2003)
• Today, I could easily interrupt my work if I wanted to
(autonomy)
• Today, it was easy to know how I performed my job
(feedback)

13. Example Items
• Recovery
• When I started my shift today, I felt recovered
• When I started my shift today, I felt rested
• Work Engagement (Schaufeli & Bakker, 2003)
• Today, I felt vital and strong (vigor)
• Today, I was enthusiastic about my job (dedication)
• Performance (based on Goodman & Svyantek)
• Today, I performed very well
• Today, I voluntarily did more than required

14. Job Demands
Engagement
Job
Resources
Recovery
Performance
Results

15. Demands * Recovery
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
Low Demands High Demands
Engagement
Low Recovery
High Recovery

16. Demands * Recovery
3
4
5
6
7
Low Demands High Demands
Performance
Low Recovery
High Recovery

17. Conclusions
• Recovery helps to keep job demands
challenging
• “Recharging the batteries” helps to
perform well
• Insight in the function of recovery on
daily basis
• No evidence in this study for buffer
role of job resources
• More studies needed on recovery as
moderator

18. Contact
Arnold Bakker
bakker@fsw.eur.nl
Thanks!