What is it about?
This study followed employees for ten workdays to see how busy days spill over into home life. We examined how evening thoughts about work – either worrying or constructively solving problems – link daily workload with feeling that work adds energy, skills and good mood to family time.
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Why is it important?
Heavier workloads are often seen as purely harmful, yet our results show a more complex picture. The same busy day can either drain energy and undermine family life (through negative, emotional brooding about work) or enrich it (through constructive problem-solving thoughts). We also find that feeling in control of the border between work and home helps people use busy days as a source of growth rather than strain. This helps explain mixed findings in past research and points to concrete levers such as boundary management, end-of-day routines and training to reduce unhelpful rumination.
Perspectives
I am particularly interested in how everyday work experiences reach into our private lives. In this project, I was struck by how strongly the quality of our thoughts after work matters: the same demanding day can either keep people stuck in worry or help them see new solutions and bring positive energy home. It was also eye-opening to see the role of boundary control – feeling able to decide when work ends and family time begins. For me, the main takeaway is that organisations should not only manage workload, but also support employees in shaping healthy boundaries and more constructive ways of thinking about work after hours.
Prof. Dr. Thomas Rigotti
Leibniz Institute for Resilience Research (LIR) and Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz
Read the Original
This page is a summary of: The relevance of work-related rumination and boundary control for spillover effects from work to home: results from a diary study, Work & Stress, September 2025, Taylor & Francis,
DOI: 10.1080/02678373.2025.2553651.
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