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02/18 PERSONALquarterly
SUMMARY
Research question:
There is ample research showing that a good
work-life balance of employees, particularly recovery processes, plays
an important role for reducing stress and fostering employees’ perfor-
mance und health in the long run. Consequently, organizations should
be eager to enable and foster their employees’ work-life balance. In
this article, I will discuss the role of supervisors as role models and
workplace designers for employees’ work-life balance.
Methodology:
Results from two different studies investigating relati-
onships between different supervisor behaviors and employees’ work-
life balance (recovery and psychological well-being) will be reported.
In both studies employees and their supervisors evaluated supervisor
behavior (role modeling behavior, communication behavior) via online-
based surveys. Employees also indicated their level of recovery and
psychological well-being.
Practical implications:
Organizations should sensitize supervisors
with regard to their role model function for employees concerning a
good work-life balance, foster an open discussion culture and the nego-
tiation of individual rules, and strengthen their support of supervisors
by training interventions and decreasing demands to reduce the level
of stress and raise all employees’ health.
PROF. DR. CARMEN BINNEWIES
Professur für Arbeitspsychologie
Institut für Psychologie
Westfälische Wilhelms-Universität Münster
E-Mail:
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