The Inclusion Hangover: A Daily Diary Study of the Reflective Mechanisms for Employee Well‐Being

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Abstract
How included employees feel at work fluctuates meaningfully from day to day. Emerging research demonstrates that these fluctuations have important implications for employee well‐being. Yet little is known about the cognitive processes through which these effects extend beyond the workday. Drawing on Ilies and colleagues' (2024) model of work‐derived well‐being, we propose that evening work reflection constitutes a key mechanism linking daily perceptions of workgroup inclusion to next‐morning well‐being. We further argue that daily fluctuations in perceived workgroup inclusion carry greater psychological significance for employees who perceive themselves as underrepresented or non‐prototypical within their immediate work environment (i.e., contextual minorities), thereby exerting a stronger influence on subsequent work reflection and well‐being. Using a daily diary design with morning, afternoon, and evening surveys ( n = 3480 days; N = 389 employees), multilevel path analyses supported the proposed model, demonstrating that positive and negative evening work reflection explain how daily workgroup inclusion carries over to next‐morning well‐being. By identifying positive and negative work reflection as distinct pathways linking daily workgroup inclusion to employee well‐being, and establishing contextual minority status as a boundary condition of these processes, we advance understanding of how , and for whom , the effects of daily workgroup inclusion extend beyond the workday. Together, these findings underscore the importance of fostering day to day workgroup inclusion to support employee well‐being in increasingly diverse workplaces.

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