Healthy Holidays: Recovery from Work and Why It Matters

As the year comes to an end, many employees feel exactly what the calendar reflects: they are running on empty. Deadlines, constant availability, digital overload, and the emotional demands of modern work all accumulate over the year. The holiday season is therefore not just a nice break – it is a crucial opportunity for recovery from work.

From a work and organizational psychology perspective, recovery is more than “just taking time off.” It is a psychological process through which employees restore depleted resources, reduce strain, and regain energy, motivation, and cognitive capacity. When recovery fails, the risk of chronic stress, health problems, and burnout increases; when recovery succeeds, employees return to work more engaged, healthier, and better able to perform.

This article explains what recovery from work means, why it is essential for health and performance, and how organizations and individuals can use the holiday season – and beyond – to support sustainable working lives.

What Is Recovery from Work?

Recovery from work refers to the process during non-work time in which the psychological and physiological load caused by work demands is reduced. Well-established research in occupational health psychology shows that daily and longer breaks are needed to restore energy, regulate emotions, and “switch off” from work-related thoughts.

Key recovery experiences that have been identified in the literature include:

• Psychological detachment: mentally switching off from work and not ruminating about tasks, conflicts, or deadlines.

• Relaxation: experiencing low activation and calm states, such as through rest, nature, or quiet activities.

• Mastery experiences: engaging in challenging, enjoyable non-work activities (e.g., sports, learning, hobbies) that build competence and self-efficacy.

• Control during leisure time: having autonomy over how one spends free time, rather than feeling constrained or obligated.

These experiences help replenish mental, emotional, and physical resources that have been taxed during the workday or work year.

Why Recovery Is Essential for Health and Performance

Without adequate recovery, strain accumulates. This can manifest in irritability, sleep problems, difficulty concentrating, physical complaints, and eventually more serious health outcomes. Research shows that insufficient detachment from work is linked to higher exhaustion, depressive symptoms, and reduced well-being, whereas good recovery is associated with higher life satisfaction, better sleep, and more positive affect.

From an organizational perspective, recovery is not only a health matter – it is a performance and retention issue. Employees who return from holidays or weekends truly recovered show:

• Better concentration and decision-making

• Higher creativity and problem-solving capacity

• More positive interactions with colleagues and clients

• Greater engagement and willingness to go the extra mile

In contrast, chronically tired employees are more prone to errors, conflicts, and disengagement. Investing in recovery is therefore not a “nice extra,” but part of a sustainable performance strategy.

The Holiday Season: Opportunity and Risk

The holiday season offers a natural window for recovery: many organizations slow down, social activities increase, and official days off create space for rest. Yet, holidays can also become another source of stress – packed schedules, family obligations, financial pressures, and the temptation to “quickly check emails” can undermine the restorative effect.

Several patterns are common:

• Employees carry unfinished tasks or worries into the holiday and ruminate about them.

• Smartphones and laptops keep work psychologically present, even when the office is physically distant.

• Social and family commitments fill every free moment, leaving little time for actual rest.

To make the holiday season truly restorative, both organizations and individuals need to approach it deliberately, rather than assuming that time off automatically leads to recovery.

What Organizations Can Do to Support Recovery

Organizations play a critical role in enabling or hindering recovery. Especially around the holidays, leadership behavior and norms around availability send powerful signals. Concrete actions include:

Clarify Expectations About Availability

Leaders should explicitly communicate that employees are not expected to be available during their holidays. Avoid phrases that suggest “just checking in quickly” or praise those who answer emails while on leave. Instead, role model disconnection by also being offline yourself.

Plan Work Cycles Realistically

If major projects are planned right up until the year-end, employees may enter the holidays exhausted and worried about January. Whenever possible, plan demanding phases so that the intensity decreases before longer breaks, allowing a smoother transition into recovery.

Create Handover Routines

Encourage clear handovers before holidays so employees know that urgent matters are covered. This reduces the feeling of having to stay reachable “just in case” and supports psychological detachment.

Communicate the Value of Recovery

Use internal communication channels to highlight that rest and recovery are part of sustainable performance – not a sign of weakness. Recognizing the importance of recovery publicly can help shift the culture away from glorifying constant busyness.

What Individuals Can Do: Practical Strategies for Recovery

While organizations create the framework, individuals also have agency in how they use their time off. The following strategies are grounded in research on recovery and can be particularly useful during the holiday season:

Deliberately Switch Off from Work

Set a clear boundary: define the last moment you will check emails before your holiday and stick to it. Turn off notifications, log out of work accounts, and, if possible, keep work devices out of sight. If you must be reachable, agree on narrow time windows and specific conditions under which contact is acceptable.

Protect Time for True Rest

Holidays often become fully scheduled with social events. Try to consciously keep unscheduled time for relaxation: quiet mornings, walks, reading, or simply doing nothing. Rest is not unproductive – it is the basis for future productivity.

Engage in Enjoyable, Non-Work Activities

Mastery experiences outside of work are particularly restorative. Whether it is learning something new, practicing a hobby, doing sports, or exploring a new place, choose activities that feel meaningful and energizing to you, not just those you “should” do.

Support Healthy Sleep

Sleep is one of the most powerful forms of recovery. Even in festive times, try to maintain some regularity in sleep times, limit heavy late-night screen use, and avoid accumulating a large sleep debt. Quality sleep enhances mood, immunity, and cognitive functioning.

Reflect, Don’t Ruminate

It can be helpful to reflect briefly on the past year – what went well, what you learned, and what you want to adjust – without getting stuck in worry. Short, structured reflection (e.g., writing down three things you are grateful for and three things you want to do differently next year) can promote closure and agency, instead of open-ended rumination.

Building a Culture of Sustainable Performance

Recovery should not be seen as a once-a-year repair mechanism, but as an ongoing part of everyday work life. Daily breaks, evenings, weekends, and holidays all contribute to the long-term balance between demands and resources. Organizations that cultivate a culture of sustainable performance acknowledge that high performance over time is only possible when employees regularly have the chance to disconnect and recharge.

This involves:

• Normalizing breaks and time off

• Encouraging healthy boundaries

• Designing jobs with manageable demands and sufficient resources

• Training leaders to recognize early signs of overload and to support recovery-oriented behaviors

Recovery is therefore both an individual responsibility and a collective task.

Conclusion

The holiday season offers a valuable opportunity to pause, recover, and regain energy after a demanding year. But genuine recovery does not happen automatically as soon as the out-of-office message is activated. It requires conscious decisions – from organizations and individuals – to create and protect space for detachment, relaxation, and meaningful non-work experiences.

For organizations, supporting recovery is an investment in health, motivation, and long-term performance. For individuals, it is a foundation for well-being and sustainable careers. As the year comes to a close, one question becomes central: not just what we have achieved, but how well we have taken care of the people who made it possible – including ourselves.