Two management professors interviewed 108 workers and their spouses every day for 10 days. The workers held jobs in a variety of industries that included finance, healthcare, government, education, transportation and construction.
Workers were asked about the tasks they performed during the day; spouses, about the time spent with their husbands.
The findings: the more the worker was busy with idea-generation on the job, the less time he spent at home.
To remedy "the relational aftereffects of creative behaviors at work on relationships at home," the professors say, bosses should critique creative workers' results at the end of each day.
By providing an immediate critique, bosses, in effect, reboot creative workers' brains before they head home.
"Validating ideas at work may liberate an employee’s cognitive resources in a way that allows them to provide more effective support to their spouse after work," the professors say.
Of course, downloads of domestic devices also work.
