Busting the Myths About Workday Breaks

Contact: Shelby Cefaratti-Bertin, 254-327-8012 
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To tackle an ever-increasing workload, most employees feel pressure to maximize productivity and just ignore taking a break. It may seem simple: More time spent working results in a higher completion of tasks. However, research findings from three Baylor University professors debunk the common myths about break time in the workplace, revealing how “intentional rest” is a key factor in employee well-being.

Hankamer School of Business researchers Emily M. Hunter, Ph.D., professor and chair of management, and Cindy Wu, Ph.D., professor of management, along with Katherine Ann Rush, Ph.D., assistant professor of communication in the College of Arts & Sciences, all research the impact of rest in and outside of the workplace, focusing on its impact on holistic flourishing.

“The reason why I love this area of research is because everybody spends so many hours at work every day. And if they don't enjoy what they do, if they don't have good experiences at work, that pretty much means they have a not very enjoyable life experience,” Wu said.     

On an episode of the Baylor Connections podcast, Hunter and Wu discuss their research collaboration that examined the benefits of break time and the most effective practices. Their research has received national media attention, turning the tables on the top myths about breaks, including that they are a waste of time, must be designated and should separate work life from home life. Instead, they discovered that breaks are essential moments for “refreshment and replenishment.” Similarly, Rush’s research examines the use of rest as a strategic defense against burnout, highlighting how intentional breaks outside the workplace fuel employee resilience and productivity.

Three strategies for effective workday breaks    

Together, the researchers identify three strategies for taking effective breaks that can lead to higher productivity and lower risks of burnout: autonomy to choose the types of breaks, engaging in physical leisure and taking breaks outside of the work day. 

Strategy 1. Personal break preferences

First published in the Journal of Applied Psychology, Hunter and Wu’s research found that the driving force behind effective breaks in the workplace is the employee’s ability to choose how to spend their time.

“It’s that choice, that autonomy, that drives the replenishment,” Hunter said. “You're going to recover your resources and feel more replenished after the break if you get to choose what you do and you do something you prefer.”

But it’s certainly helpful if employees are supported in this autonomy by their managers and organizational leaders, who play this crucial role in the workplace. 

“I think often managers and organizational leaders see breaks as a waste, as something to minimize. Whereas we see breaks as something that's going to help an employee flourish,” Hunter said. Instead, “leaders can encourage their employees to find recovery by promoting a culture in which breaks are normative and expected.” 

In addition, Hunter and Wu’s study found that replenishing breaks led to less headaches, eye strain and lower back pain immediately following the breaks. Long-term benefits included improved helping behavior in the workplace and less overall emotional exhaustion.   

Overall, providing breaks and allowing employee autonomy on how they choose to spend their breaks isn’t just for personal benefit, but also improves the overall work environment. 

“It’s going to ultimately help with employee wellbeing and health, and help employees be retained, stay on the job, be happy and healthy and that's good for business,” Hunter said. 

Strategy 2. Physically active leisure 

In the same study, Hunter and Wu examined the benefits of various break-time activities. While there is no “one size fits all” approach to break time, Wu said physically active leisure and connections with family also can improve energy management. Their study found that physically active leisure helps employees magnify work benefits and then transfer the positive work experience to the family domain. 

“Physically active leisure is considered a ‘key resource,’ which means it is a resource that can help generate other kinds of resources (e.g., cognitive resources, emotional resources), and its benefit spans across domains of life,” Wu said. “I do think employers should promote physically active leisure.”

Spending breaks doing physically active leisure can improve employees’ positivity and focus, which provides more energy and resources for an employee to use in and outside the workplace.

“If you can find a more effective way to harness, to mobilize these resources, to allocate them, then that's also going to help you to become more effective in different areas of life,” Wu said.   

In addition, their research breaks the myth that the work and family spheres should be kept separate. Instead, brief encounters with family members while on workday breaks can provide benefits as long as the employee finds those encounters enjoyable. 

“As long as it brings you joy, then you will come back [to work] with a better mood and positive emotions,” Wu said.  

Strategy 3. Outside the office breaks 

Breaktime isn’t just limited to the walls of the workplace, and in an ever-increasing technological world, finding rest outside of work is equally as important to employee rejuvenation. In her work, Rush explores how highly resilient caregivers make sense of and practice rest. In her research published in the journal Communications Monographs, she discovered something similar to Hunter and Wu, finding that the most resilient workers used rest as a strategic defense against burnout, not a last resort to fight against it. 

“Resting as a strategic defense means that people intentionally pursue rest and restoration prior to exhaustion and burnout. In other words, rest serves as a shield to prevent future exhaustion, rather than merely a reactive response to exhaustion,” Rush said. 

By pausing at work to take a break even without feeling tired, an employee is presumptively seeking refreshment and fighting against burnout. When at home, seeking periods of intentional rest promotes physical, emotional, relational and professional flourishing.

“Rest outside of work gives people the opportunity to ‘turn off’ and refill their own cup so that they can continue to pour out, both in their personal and professional lives,” Rush said. 

While it can be difficult to balance a healthy work life and home life under the pressures of maximizing workload, Rush’s research seeks to break the myth that working hard is the same as never resting. 

“It’s easy to assume that the ‘best workers’ never stop, have higher capacity and push their limits constantly. However, I found the opposite: the most resilient workers actually engaged in behaviors such as resting rhythmically (daily, weekly, seasonally, yearly), taking every day of available paid time off, negotiating longer sabbaticals and establishing strong boundaries around work and rest,” Rush said.

Holistic employee replenishment    

Breaktime serves as an opportunity for both the employee and employer to nurture the positive aspects of work. All three professors discussed their use of faith as a foundation to view employees as more than just workers, but instead as beings in need of holistic replenishment and healthy boundaries.  

“Understanding our limits as human beings helps us show up to all of the spaces and responsibilities in front of us. Good rest shouldn’t detract from good work; instead, rest should be embraced as a gift from God that ultimately helps us be more diligent and present in the work we are each called to,” Rush said. 

ABOUT BAYLOR UNIVERSITY

Baylor University is a private Christian University and a nationally ranked Research 1 institution. The University provides a vibrant campus community for more than 20,000 students by blending interdisciplinary research with an international reputation for educational excellence and a faculty commitment to teaching and scholarship. Chartered in 1845 by the Republic of Texas through the efforts of Baptist pioneers, Baylor is the oldest continually operating University in Texas. Located in Waco, Baylor welcomes students from all 50 states and more than 100 countries to study a broad range of degrees among its 12 nationally recognized academic divisions. Learn more about Baylor University at www.baylor.edu.