讲真 不要在假期工作了
Don’t Work on Vacation. Seriously.
How — and when — we work is fundamentally changing.
Data from the 2018 American Time Use survey indicates that 30% of full-time employees report working weekends and holidays, and even when people officially have time off, that doesn’t mean they stop working. Moreover, the recent global shift to remote work due to the Covid-19 crisis could further exacerbate the situation: as the formal boundaries that separate work from non-work become even more blurred, employees may feel conflicted about what time is — and isn’t — meant for working.
Many people assume that flexibility in when we work should boost motivation.
However, our research finds that the opposite is often true. Spending weekends or holidays working undermines one of the most important factors that determines whether people persist in their work: intrinsic motivation. People feel intrinsically motivated when they engage in activities that they find interesting, enjoyable, and meaningful. Our data shows that working during leisure time creates internal conflict between pursuing personal and professional goals, leading people to enjoy their work less. Yet, in doing this research during weekends and holidays ourselves, we also uncovered a solution to this problem: reframing time off as “work time” can help people maintain intrinsic motivation for their work.
How does working during time off affect intrinsic motivation?
Across all studies, we found that working during time off reduced people’s intrinsic motivation for their work. For example, in one study, we interviewed students studying in a campus library during a federal holiday. We either reminded students that it was a federal holiday (“Today is February 17th, President’s Day”) or not (“Today is February 17th”). When students were reminded that they were studying during a time that others had off, they found their study materials to be less engaging or enjoyable — that is, they felt less intrinsically motivated to study.
Why does working during time off undermine intrinsic motivation?
Similarly to how many people think of Monday as the “true” start of the week, people generally categorize their time as either for work or for leisure. When they engage in work during time that they think of as leisure time, such as the weekend, they experience conflict between their expectations and reality, and as a result, they find their work less engaging and less meaningful.
What should you do if you have to work during time off?
In our research, we found an intervention strategy that helped students studying during Spring Break and employees working on a Saturday maintain their intrinsic motivation: re-labeling time as “work time.” For example, in one study, we told one group of people working on a Saturday, “People usually use weekends to catch up or get ahead with their work” and told another group, “People usually use weekends to relax and take a break from work.” Our data suggests that even though both groups were working during time off, the first group felt more interested and engaged in their work goals because they were thinking about the time as time to work (versus time to relax).
Does working during time off undermine all work motivation?
One caveat to note is that intrinsic motivation isn’t the only kind of motivation that inspires people to work. People also work because of extrinsic motivation (i.e., to receive a salary, support a family, etc.). And while working during time off has a negative effect on intrinsic motivation to work, across our studies we found no evidence that it impacts people’s extrinsic motivation.
If you have to work during time off, try to reframe it mentally as work time to help you maintain your motivation.
Managers can also support their employees by encouraging them not to work during time off, as our data suggests that working during time off can undermine intrinsic motivation and thus reduce the effort that employees put into their work.
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