Daily exercise has a positive “one-day lagged effect” on employee wellbeing and job performance, especially when the preceding work demands were high, researchers have found. In a study led by Professor Yolanda Na Li from Hong Kong’s Lingnan University, researchers set out to determine the impact of daily exercise on employee wellbeing and job performance, and the moderating effect of high versus low work demands. The research focused on office employees in China who worked nine-to-five hours then exercised in the evening.
The researchers say that daily physical exercise indirectly increased employees’ wellbeing and performance the next day, by enhancing their “morning positive affect” – “a positively activated state characterised by energetic activation and positive feelings” – and their work engagement. Daily work engagement is “significantly related” to employees’ self-reported wellbeing, and their job performance as rated by their leaders. In explaining the results, the researchers highlight the role of the “effort-recovery model”, which posits that individuals’ “effort expenditure” on daily work tasks “consumes their limited resources” and elicits adverse effects such as hampering the immune system, provoking depressive symptoms, and reducing productivity.
The Benefits of Exercise
Exercise releases “feel-good chemicals” such as endorphins and glucose, while also fostering self-control to avoid ruminating over work stress, the researchers add. This causes an “uplifting affective state” the following morning, which enables and motivates employees to function well in their subsequent daily work, leading to greater work engagement, and enhanced wellbeing and job performance.
These indirect positive benefits are amplified when “hindrance demands”, such as red tape, are high. “On days with high-hindrance work demands, which obstruct work accomplishment and personal growth, employees may have a heightened need to recover,” they say. “Exercise, in this context, serves as a vital method to mitigate the adverse effects of hindrance demands.”
Given these results, the researchers urge employers to encourage and facilitate employee exercise, particularly in industries with significant hindrance demands.
Benefit Packages
Benefit packages could encourage employees to engage in physical exercise. This could include providing on-site fitness facilities, supporting exercise breaks during the workday, offering various exercise programs or activities to employees, or reframing physical exercise as part of the job to facilitate employees’ allocation of time for such activities. Journal of Occupational Health Psychology, Li, et al, August 2024
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