Employees who engage in creative hobbies during their free time could perform better at work than those who do not, according to the BPS Journal of Occupational and Organizational Psychology. A team at San Francisco State University examined data on 341 employees from across the US, including their creative pursuits, work-life balance and self-perception of how positively they performed in their jobs, including how supportive they were of colleagues and their employers. Ninety-two active duty US Air Force captains were also similarly surveyed, although they were evaluated on job performance by colleagues. It was found that creative pursuits - including anything from writing stories to playing video games - helped people recover from the demands of their job, increased a sense of control and challenged them to learn new skills, as expected. However, they also appeared to have a direct effect on how good the subjects were at creative problem solving and helping others in the workplace. Writing in the Journal of Occupational and Organizational Psychology, lead author Kevin Eschleman said companies might want to do more to ensure employees use their free time in a way that benefits them. A lot of organisations carve time out where they talk about physical heath and exercise and eating habits, but they can also include in that a discussion of mental health and the importance of recovery and creative activity, he added. The paper can be accessed here
Posted on: Fri, 18 Apr 2014 14:02:26 +0000