Working at Home Through Technology After the Workday Ended: Organizational and Personal Processes Involved and Their Direct and Indirect Effects on Mental Health

TL;DR

This study explores how using work technology after hours affects mental health, finding that it increases stress through work-life imbalance and reduced well-being.

Contribution

The study introduces a model linking workplace flexibility, technology use, and mental health via psychological and work-family mechanisms.

Findings

Workplace flexibility increases supplemental work, especially under telepressure and technoaddiction.

Supplemental work raises psychological distress by reducing detachment and vitality.

Work-family conflict mediates the negative mental health effects of after-hours work.

Abstract

Workers often make use of Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) in the workplace and outside normal working hours, either voluntarily or compulsorily, especially since the COVID-19 pandemic. This study had three main objectives. Firstly, to explore whether workplace flexibility was associated with technology-assisted supplemental work (TASW), and whether this, in turn, is associated with higher levels of psychological distress. Secondly, to analyze if this relationship between workplace flexibility and TASW could be moderated by subjective workplace telepressure and workers’ technoaddiction. Finally, to investigate whether the execution of this type of supplemental work was linked to psychological distress through the mediating effects of psychological detachment, work-family conflict, and subjective vitality. This cross-sectional study was conducted in 2021 during the pandemic, involved 577 professionals (72.8% women and 27.2% men) from various productive sectors. The participants were primarily from Spain, followed by other Hispanic American countries and European Union countries. Results revealed that workplace flexibility was associated with increased supplemental work, especially among those workers experiencing higher levels of subjective workplace telepressure and technoaddiction. Furthermore, this type of supplemental work was linked to greater psychological distress by hindering psychological disconnection from work, heightening work-family conflict, and reducing feelings of vitality. The discussion has focused on preventive measures.

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