The Role of Off-Job Crafting in Burnout Prevention during COVID-19 Crisis: A Longitudinal Study.

Roald Pijpker,Jessica De Bloom,Georg F Bauer,Philipp Kerksieck,Martin Tušl,Rebecca Brauchli

doi:10.3390/ijerph19042146

Abstract

The COVID-19 pandemic and remote working challenge employees’ possibilities to recover from work during their off-job time. We examined the relationship between off-job crafting and burnout across the COVID-19 crisis. We used a longitudinal research design, comprising one wave collected before the onset of the pandemic, in March 2019 (T1), and one wave collected during the first lockdown of the crisis in April 2020 (T2). We measured the six off-job crafting dimensions (Crafting for Detachment, Relaxation, Autonomy, Mastery, Meaning, and Affiliation) and burnout (fatigue/exhaustion) via a questionnaire among German and Swiss employees (N = 658; Age M = 47; 55% male). We found that both burnout levels and crafting for affiliation significantly decreased at T2 compared to T1. All off-job crafting dimensions and burnout correlated negatively cross-sectionally and longitudinally. Regression analyses showed that employees who crafted in their off-job time before and during the crisis experienced fewer burnout complaints during the crisis. Looking more closely at the subdimensions of off-job crafting, employees who crafted for detachment before and during, and for affiliation before the crisis, reported less burnout during the crisis. We conclude that off-job crafting may act as a buffer mechanism against burnout during the COVID-19 crisis.

Highlights

The continuing global COVID-19 pandemic and the related control measures seriously challenge employees’ ability to maintain their health while staying productive at work [1,2].The pandemic affects employee health through direct pathways and indirect pathways, resulting in mental health complaints and stress symptoms [3]
Based on a longitudinal study design, comprising one wave collected before the onset of the pandemic and one wave collected during the crisis, the present study examines the role of off-job crafting for burnout prevention in times of the COVID-19 pandemic
The present study shows that both burnout and off-job crafting for affiliation decreased during the COVID-19 crisis compared to before the crisis, while other off-job crafting dimensions remained stable across time

Summary

Introduction

The continuing global COVID-19 pandemic and the related control measures seriously challenge employees’ ability to maintain their health while staying productive at work [1,2].The pandemic affects employee health through direct pathways (e.g., via the fear of being affected by the virus in high-exposure occupations) and indirect pathways (e.g., via the fear of being economically affected by the measures to control the pandemic), resulting in mental health complaints and stress symptoms [3]. The continuing global COVID-19 pandemic and the related control measures seriously challenge employees’ ability to maintain their health while staying productive at work [1,2]. A report published by Eurofound [4] showed that even employees who have experienced some improvements in their work situation after lifting the first lockdown (e.g., getting back to full working hours) still report high levels of work-related stress. Besides its markedly adverse effects, the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic offers an excellent opportunity to increase our understanding of how employees recover from work stress in their non-working time before and during crisis situations, which may buffer the 4.0/).

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