Team-managed rest breaks during computer-supported cooperative work

Abstract

Team management of frequent, discretionary rest breaks was tested as an alternative to forced rest breaks. Two-person work teams ( N = 30) performed a cooperative computer-mediated task for 46 min under laboratory conditions. Teams were instructed to take 1 min of discretionary break time for every 10 min of work. Forced breaks were administered whenever discretionary breaks were insufficient. In the parallel condition, both team members received feedback about their discretionary break behavior. In the serial condition, only one team member received feedback. In the control condition, neither team member received feedback. Team measures of break management, work performance, user acceptance, musculoskeletal discomfort, mood, and psychophysiological response were collected. As expected, teams that received feedback in the parallel and serial conditions managed discretionary breaks better than controls. While teams reported more comfortable working relationships in the serial condition than in the parallel condition (strong trend), they also showed trends for increased impatience and lower productivity. Musculoskeletal discomfort and psychophysiological responses were unaffected. These results indicate that computer-generated feedback information can help two-person work teams manage discretionary test break behavior. Trends suggest that the parallel mode of rest break management can benefit productivity and lower impatience but may increase the demand for work coordination. Relevance to industry Frequent rest breaks during intensive computer-mediated work can benefit performance and wellbeing but may seriously disrupt computer-supported cooperative work. The laboratory results reported here show that using computer resources to support team management of discretionary rest breaks is a viable alternative to administering forced rest breaks on a rigid schedule.