Painful recession prompts rethinking the role of work.

Experiencing a "painful Great Recession," Americans are reconsidering the role of work in their lives. As millennial generation employees continue to enter the work force, older employees and employers will adapt to the trend of balancing work life with family and friends.

Widespread layoffs and other job changes associated with the Great Recession have caused workers to question career-related sacrifices, including time away from family, less leisure time, and fewer self-improvement activities. On October 18, Florida State University (FSU) in Tallahassee, FL, released the news of these findings of a recent study conducted by Wayne Hochwarter, the Jim Moran Professor of Business Administration in the FSU College of Business, and research associates Tyler Everett and Stuart Tapley. They examined the recession's role in changing employees' thoughts about work, commitment to their families, and the pursuit of a more balanced lifestyle.

"The objective of the study was to see if we could identify shifts in thinking, as well as the causes of these changes," Hochwarter said.

Reactions to the Recession

Opinions gathered from more than 1,100 full-time employees, across a range of occupations and career stages, showed the following effects of the recession:

* Increased appreciation of family: 48 percent

* Promoted thoughts that work isn't as important as it once was in the grand scheme of things: 37 percent

* Helped recognize the value of people over things: 49 percent

* Increased awareness of an overcommitment to work at the expense of family and recreation: 23 percent

* Confirmed that most of what happens at work is out of one's control regardless of commitment and effort: 42 percent

* Increased motivation to be a better person rather than just a better employee: 43 percent

Finally, more than 70 percent of employees acknowledged that most days at work "seem like they will never end." This belief is commonly held in work settings in which increasingly more time and output are expected with less support and fewer guaranteed rewards.

Gender and Stress

Recession-related stress tends to manifest differently in men and women, according to the study findings.

"Digging a little deeper into the data, it was evident that men's reflective, and often remorseful, thoughts were driven by recession-related job insecurity and its subsequent role in encouraging hostile work treatment," Hochwarter said. He suggests that it is common for work stress to push employees...