Work-life balance improved by setting and completing goals, study finds

Over 70% of workers spend their leisure time worrying about their job

The study found that workers should focus on smaller, concrete goals at the end of the day as these were more manageable. (Isopix/REX Shutterstock)

The majority of employees worry about job-related issues long after the working day has ended because of unachieved goals, a study has found.

The research, published in the Journal of Occupational and Organizational Psychology, found that some 72 per cent of workers spend their leisure time worrying about their job, while 22 per cent said that they worry regularly.

The solution proposed by author Brandon Smit is simple: set and complete goals.

Uncompleted goals leave employees unable to detach from work-related issues. Of the 103 surveyed, those with a higher level of investment in their job were worst affected, the survey found.

Creating plans

Creating plans at the end of the day that describe where, when and how unfulfilled work goals will be completed is the simplest low-cost intervention to enhance psychological detachment, according to the study.

Smit said that by setting out how they would complete the task, the employee was better able to detach from the as they had a clear image of when and how the task will be completed. The uncompleted goal was less intrusive as a result and had a similar status to a complete goal.

Focus on smaller concrete goals

The study found that workers should focus on smaller, concrete goals at the end of the day as these were more manageable.

“Goals are theoretically relevant to psychological detachment because of the varied and powerful ways they shape human cognition,” said Smit.

The so-called Zeigarnik effect in 1927 showed that unfulfilled goals take up people’s attention span until the goal has been either completed or abandoned.

Once the task has been completed, employees experience many positive effects, Smit found. Employees with a better work life boundary will have an increased positive mood, reduced fatigue as well as increased daily task performance and personal initiative.