oa Werkplekleren, energie-uitputting en psychische vermoeidheid

Workplace learning, energy-depletion and psychological fatigue

A parsimonious, robust and theoretical elaborated model has been developed to predict psychological fatigue; it also discriminates between an energy-depleting and a workplace learning process. It was tested both on three heterogeneous sub-samples taken out of the Flemish Workability Monitor 2007, and on homogeneous samples representing respondents out of three sectors of employment. Work pressure, autonomy, learning opportunities and – foremost – work-to-home interference (WHI) were significantly related to fatigue, explaining more than half of the total variance. Emotional load had an indirect relation with fatigue through WHI, and task variety through learning opportunities. Both WHI and learning opportunities acted as potent mediators. From a policy point of view, more effort was recommended in reducing energy-depleting work conditions such as work pressure and emotional load because of its lowering effects on both WHI and fatigue. At the same time, a practice of job redesign promoting informal learning opportunities and workplace learning should be re-valued.