It’s Time for a Break! The Nature and Functioning of Breakwork in Multifaceted Jobs

Abstract

Consistent with the recovery lens, respite breaks enhance employee effectiveness by replenishing attentional and energetic resources that become depleted from engaging in work. Unfortunately, because jobs today are multifaceted, these resources are further depleted by cognitions and emotions that go hand in hand with the need to engage in, and transition between, a number of highly varied tasks during a workday. Although the recovery lens suggests that more frequent or longer breaks would replenish resources used to cope with the additional demands of multifaceted work, the practical constraints of time available in a workday imply a negative feedback loop. We propose here that by integrating an episodic view of work with the concept of attentional focus, another possibility emerges. Specifically, we propose that a state of task mindfulness—or a heightened sense of availability and presence while engaging in a task—can enhance task performance, and that this state may be engendered when employees process thoughts and emotions associated with other tasks outside of the task episode. Following from this foundation, we propose that transitions between tasks that involve breakwork, which not only involves respite, but also reflection, planning, and emotion regulation, enhance task effectiveness by the virtue of its effect on task mindfulness. We also discuss practical issues surrounding how breakwork might be leveraged to structure workdays to enhance effectiveness in tasks and streams of tasks. Finally, we identify task characteristics that influence the degree to which breakwork promotes effectiveness through task mindfulness.