Recovery at home and performance at work: A diary study on self-family facilitation

This 5-day diary study among 65 Dutch employees focuses on the interplay between time on and off the job. We examined how daily off-job (work-related, physical, household) activities, in combination with the degree to which people want to engage in these activities relate to self-family facilitation (i.e., the positive influence of the fulfilment of one's own interests on one's family life). Further, we tested whether self-family facilitation relates to psychological detachment from work, recovery, and finally whether recovery relates to job performance. Multilevel analyses revealed that household activities enhance self-family facilitation only on days that people want to engage in such activities. Furthermore, spending time on household activities hinders psychological detachment on days people do not want to spend time on these activities. In addition, self-family facilitation and psychological detachment relate to better recovery the next morning. Finally, feeling recovered in the morning is beneficial for task performance during work. These findings emphasize the role of one's "wants" in the degree to which off-job activities lead to recovery. Furthermore, the results highlight the importance of keeping a good interaction between the self and the family for daily recovery and performance.