Leisure crafting means proactively pursuing down-time activities that involve goal setting, learning, personal development, or human connection. This may lead to positive impacts for employees, such as reduced stress and burnout, as well as greater feelings of overall health and work-life balance. Researchers in this study (Petrou et al., 2024), investigated the benefits of leisure crafting on specific work-related outcomes, including creativity and meaning.
THE RESEARCH STUDY
In their first study, the researchers recruited 193 employees to take weekly surveys for three weeks. They initially measured the employees’ levels of work engagement, then had them report weekly on their creativity, meaning at work, and leisure crafting.
Results indicated that when employees were engaging in leisure crafting, they reported higher levels of creativity and higher levels of meaning at work. This was especially true for the less engaged employees.
In a second study of 393 employees, the researchers found that when employees engage in leisure crafting, they may enhance their cognitive abilities, for example, by refining their reasoning skills or ability to multi-task. This could ultimately lead them to become more creative at work. Once again, the researchers found that this association is especially true for employees who are less engaged.
PRACTICAL APPLICATIONS
How employees spend their leisure time can be particularly beneficial, both for their personal and professional outcomes. Organizations who want to utilize the results of this study should consider doing the following:
- Coach employees on how to engage in leisure crafting and encourage them to do so.
- Ensure a healthy work-life balance so that employees will have opportunities to participate in leisure crafting and activities.
- Focus on meaning and engagement as important metrics of success, rather than just strictly measured job performance and financial outcomes.
Petrou, P., Hamrick, A. B., & Hadi, S. A. (2024). Unraveling the power of leisure crafting for unengaged: Implications for creativity and meaning at work. Journal of Organizational Behavior, 45, 1170-1188.
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