Recovery from Work Stress Field Assignment
Overview
Use this activity to help students personally experience the concept of recovery from work stress.
Recovery and Coping Field Assignment
In organizational stress research, recovery refers to both a process and a state of replenishing the personal resources that have been drained by engaging in various work-related tasks and activities. As we’ve learned earlier on in the course, coping refers to the process of appraising and addressing stressors in the work environment.
How are recovery and coping similar? They both involve the ways we handle the stressors, demands, and burdens that we face every day. Recovery helps individuals to maintain well-being, prevent burnout, and be engaged in their work. Coping helps individuals face threats and adapt to stressful situations. Activities that we engage in, like physical exercise or social activities, could be both coping and recovery-related.
Yet, how are recovery and coping different? While coping is a function of the stressors we perceive as threatening (external), recovery is a function of your own energy capacity (internal). Coping is your response to stressors that are perceived as a threat. Recovery of depleted energy is necessary even in the absence of threat or distress. You can think of recovery as your personal gas tank or battery that needs to be recharged. You don’t need to have experienced distressing situations to feel drained at the end of a long day.
Without adequate recovery, even the safety and performance of individuals and teams can be compromised. Imagine being the captain of a sports team. Everyone is relying on you for a big rivalry game coming up. However, the night before the game, you get into a fight with someone important to you. After, you feel emotionally exhausted. You stay up all night watching Netflix. You eat a whole pizza and gallon of ice cream, even though you’re lactose intolerant. You realize the sun is coming up, and you haven’t gotten any rest. What does that mean for your performance? What does that mean for your team? This can be considered an example of coping but not recovering. Recovery activities often overlap with health behaviors like healthy eating, exercise, sleep, and even mindfulness.
Importantly, the activities and strategies we have for recovering from work stress vary greatly. Think about what you like to do to de-stress or clear your mind. Some people like to go for a run. Some may play an instrument, take a painting class, cook or bake, listen to music, or watch TV. Think about what you like to do. According to organizational stress theory on recovery, no matter what your activities of choice may be, they each enable two fundamental recovery processes: psychological detachment and relaxation.
Psychological detachment: The ability to completely stop thinking about work when you’re not at work
Relaxation: Not exerting physical, emotional, or mental energy or effort When you continue thinking about work, your energy continues to be drained. Once you stop thinking about work, your brain stops exerting energy toward it.
When you continue thinking about work, your energy continues to be drained. Once you stop thinking about work, your brain stops exerting energy toward it. When you relax, that drained energy begins to replenish. It’s like plugging yourself in to a charger.
Unfortunately, some of our most effective recovery activities (imagine a supercharger that gets your battery from 5% to 100% in much less time) are our favorite hobbies or activities that are easier to dismiss or that we don’t always make time for. When work piles up, we may skip our recovery activities, feeling overwhelmed and like we need to focus on getting things done. We may feel guilty engaging in them, thinking, I should be studying instead. However, skipping those important recovery opportunities makes stress feel more difficult to manage, and it even reduces your ability to get work done well.
Now, pick a recovery activity to engage in for this assignment.
Consider your answers to the following statements to help you pick a recovery activity.
- When I am feeling overwhelmed with stress, _______ helps me to get my mind off it.
- After _______, I feel like the things I have going on are a little easier to manage.
- Even though I love _______, it’s usually the first thing I give up to get work done.
- When I take time to _______, time passes without me realizing it; I feel happy and fulfilled.
For this assignment, you will be taking at least an hour of time to dedicate to your own recovery activity of choice. Give yourself permission to pick something you may have been giving up, that you haven’t had a chance to do recently, or even something you’ve always wanted to try but haven’t gotten to yet. If feeling guilty, remind yourself: this is an assignment for class!
After you finish the activity, you will write a journal entry (up to one page) that discusses:
1. What the recovery activity is, why you chose it, and how it overlaps with or is distinct from coping
2. How long you engaged in it and how it made you feel; were you able to psychologically detach? Were you able to recover? What other thoughts/emotions did you experience by taking the time to engage in this recovery activity?
3. How at least one study from this week’s readings add to your understanding of how your chosen activity facilitates recovery (using proper APA formatted citations/references)
For example, how it enables psychological detachment and/or relaxation
4. Whether you think you will continue this particular recovery activity once you’re in your future career or if you want to engage in a different one and why.