What makes for a good break? A diary study on recovery experiences during lunch break

This study investigated the role of four recovery experiences during lunch break for employees' afternoon well-being. We hypothesized that lunch-break recovery experiences (psychological detachment, relaxation, control, and relatedness) reduce afternoon exhaustion and enhance afternoon work engagement via replenished personal resources (i.e., state of being recovered immediately after break and subsequent self-efficacy regarding the upcoming tasks in the afternoon). One hundred and nine employees provided daily survey data three times a day (i.e., start of work, after lunch break, end of work) over a period of two workweeks. Multilevel path analysis showed that relaxation, control, and relatedness during lunch break negatively predicted afternoon exhaustion and positively predicted afternoon work engagement via state of being recovered. For relaxation and relatedness, we additionally found positive serial indirect effects on afternoon work engagement via state of being recovered and self-efficacy. Psychological detachment was not related to personal resources and afternoon well-being. This study demonstrates that experiencing control over lunch break and using the lunch break to relax and to relate to others are indirectly associated with improved afternoon well-being via replenished personal resources.