Off-job and on-job recovery as predictors of employee health

The goal of the present chapter is to understand how different dimensions of both off-job recovery and on-job recovery can benefit employees and organisations through improved employee health. We will look through the lenses of three theoretical frameworks to understand how and when recovery occurs. These are the Conservation of Resources Theory, the Effort-Recovery Model, and the Stressor-Detachment Model. To illustrate the function of these frameworks, we highlight an empirical study among health care employees that investigated both off-job and on-job recovery as predictors of employee health. Results showed that if employees experienced more physical detachment after work, they reported less concentration problems, less feelings of emotional exhaustion, less sleep problems and less physical health problems. Second, when employees experienced more emotional detachment after work, they reported less feelings of emotional exhaustion, less depressive feelings, and less sleep problems. Finally, when employees experienced more cognitive detachment after work, they reported less concentration problems. No significant associations were found for detachment during work breaks. In conclusion, findings add to current recovery research showing that detachment after work is an important predictor for employees’ health. The chapter ends with a summary of findings and several practical implications.