TITLE:
How to Implement an Effective Intervention for Breaks during Working Days—A Field Study
AUTHORS:
V. Wagner, E. Pfaffstaller, K. W. Kallus
KEYWORDS:
Intervention, Breaks, Employees, Field Study
JOURNAL NAME:
Psychology,
Vol.8 No.5,
March
31,
2017
ABSTRACT: Following current prognosis, an aging of the working population is expected. A field study was conducted to investigate interventions to strengthen the ability to work of (older) employees. Interventions should support them to recover from stress to maintain performance and work-related motivation. The current paper addresses this interplay and analyzes the effect of three different interventions (standard intervention; interruption-specific intervention; biological rhythm group). Following research questions should be answered: (1) Can the subjective well-being of employees be improved by specific interventions for breaks? (2) Are there differences between older and younger employees’ subjective well-being depending on the contents of break interventions? 34 employees of two Austrian public service organizations participated in the field study. 58.82% of the participants were female. Following the definition of WHO (1993) whereas “aging workers” are defined as workers which are aged 45 years and older, 21 participants belong to the group “aging workers” resp. “older workers”. Overall, the study participants participated in the field study for nine weeks (seven measurement times). With regard to the different intervention groups, the results show that additional intervention contents have a positive effect on the subjective well-being of the employees. Furthermore, older employees benefit more from interventions than younger do. The two main research questions can be answered with the results of the study: (1) Specific interventions for breaks are able to improve the subjective well-being of employees. (2) Differences in the subjective well-being between older and younger employees during the intervention can be made visible.