Negative work-to-nonwork spillover occurs when employees’ negative moods or behaviors from work spill over into other parts of their lives (e.g., family life). Researchers in this study (Grotto & Lyness, 2010) recently investigated several factors that lead employees to experience negative spillover, including job demands and the availability of organizational support.
THE RESEARCH STUDY
Based on a representative sample of 1178 working adults in the U.S., the researchers found that high degrees of autonomy on the job and opportunities to develop skills were associated with a reduction in negative spillover – that’s the good news. The bad news, however, is that job demands such as the degree to which employees are required to take work home, time demands, (e.g., excessive work hours) and strain-based work demands (e.g., heavy workload, difficulty of the work) were associated with an increase in negative spillover.
Interestingly, the authors note that while much of the research on spillover has focused on the possible buffering (i.e. protective) effects of various organizational supports, their results suggest that job demands were by far the biggest contributor to spillover. In fact, while autonomy and opportunities to develop skills do indeed predict less spillover, the effects were very small in comparison to the negative effects of job demands such as time-based and stress-based demands and work at home requirements.
THE BOTTOM LINE
The researchers conclude that organizational supports and favorable job characteristics (i.e., autonomy) are not enough to offset the negative effects of excessive job demands. Thus, organizations must take another look at the demands placed on their employees. Such demands can be particularly harmful to employees and can cause major problems for them and their employing organizations in the long run (e.g., physiological or psychological health problems, turnover). So while organizational supports are important and do reduce negative spillover, they do not appear to come close to buffering employees from the negative effects of excessive job demands.
Grotto, A. R., & Lyness, K. S. (2010). The costs of today’s jobs: Job characteristics and organizational supports as antecedents of negative spillover. Journal of Vocational Behavior, 76(3), 395–405.
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