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A new study published in the Journal of the American Planning Association looked at breaks in the workplace and why some employees take their breaks and others don’t.

“Our research is about breaks in the workplace,” study author Vincent Phan told us. “We were hoping to get a better sense of employees’ reasons for taking breaks at work, as well as their reasons for not taking breaks despite wanting or needing a break.”  

Past theory and research within the occupational health psychology literature would suggest that employees may want a break when they feel tired or upset, or when they feel their performance on the job isn’t as good as they would like. However, employees do not always take breaks when they want to do so. 

Theory and research within the work motivation literature provides some insights into why employees sometimes skip breaks. Notably, past studies suggest that employees tend to prioritize goals that are more strongly incentivized, as well as goals that have closer deadlines, among other characteristics. 

“This is important because work goals often come with tight deadlines, and moreover, the consequences employees incur for failing to meet these goals can be quite severe (e.g., you might get fired),”  Phan told us. “In sum, based on past theory and research, we expected individuals to want breaks in response to the negative experiences that may occur on the job, yet we also expected that individuals would be less likely to take breaks as needed if they happened to have a great deal of work that they needed to accomplish rapidly. The results of our research largely supported our theorizing.” 

Given that individuals spend a great deal of their time at work, it is important to better understand the factors that can promote both employee performance and well-being. Past research suggests that taking breaks during the day can help employees maintain high levels of performance while staying engaged and energized, yet employees don’t always take breaks when they want or need to do so. As such, we wanted to better understand the psychological processes which underlie an employee’s decision to take (or not to take) a break. 

Researchers asked a sample of 107 employees to simply tell them about their reasons for taking a break, as well as their reasons for not taking a break. This was done via an open-ended survey. The purpose of this survey was twofold. First, the research team sought to provide a preliminary test of their theorizing, and second, they sought to identify reasons and motives (for taking and for not taking breaks) that may have been left out by past research and theory.  

Next, researchers tracked a separate sample of 287 employees over five consecutive workdays to investigate whether individuals’ experiences within the workday can predict the number of breaks employees took during that same workday. Specifically, during each workday participants filled out two short surveys: In the first daily survey, which was administered at around noon, participants reported on their experiences at work during the first half of their workday (e.g., how much work had to do, how tired they felt). In the second survey, which was administered around the end of the workday, participants reported the number of breaks they took during the afternoon.  

“Our findings were consistent with our expectations,” Phan told us. “That is, on days when employees experienced more stressors (e.g., poor quality sleep, fatigue, negative emotions, concerns about their own performance), they experienced a greater desire to get away from work and to take breaks. Yet, employees’ desire to take a break did not always translate to employees actually taking more breaks.” 

For one, employees were less likely to take breaks as needed when they wanted to complete their work rapidly (e.g., before the end of the day or before a deadline). Additionally, employees were also less likely to act upon their desire to take a break if they were employed in an environment in which breaks are frowned upon.  

“We do not think that the results were particularly surprising,” Phan told us. “However, one finding that I think is particularly noteworthy is that performance-related concerns were often cited as a reason for taking a break. We believe this is meaningful because it suggests that employees are aware of the potentially benefits of breaks on performance, and that they may take proactively take breaks as a means to manage their own performance."  

The researchers believe it is difficult to make pronouncements as to what the results mean moving forward, as this is only one research endeavour out of many. 

“However, I do think that these results are meaningful as they show that breaks are not necessarily counterproductive,” Phan told us. “Based on the results of our research, it appears that employees no not perceive breaks merely as time to slack off, but rather as an opportunity to recharge and refocus for the work that is to be done.”