Alexandra Michel

Retirement is a major life transition, including substantial changes that require adaptation and (re)organization to adjust to the new situation. To support retirees-to-be in this process, we designed and evaluated a resource-oriented group-coaching program for older employees to prepare for retirement transition and beyond. Aim of this study was to test the weekly intervention effects on retirement anxiety and individual retirement concepts with a longitudinal waitlist control group design ( N = 54) applying weekly short questionnaires over a period of six weeks including n = 585 measurement points. We furthermore assessed the mediating role of state hope to gain knowledge about underlying mechanisms of intervention effects. Initially, multi-level analyses showed no positive intervention effects on participants’ retirement anxiety and retirement concepts. Differential analyses showed significant intervention effects for subsamples of retirees-to-be with initially higher levels of retirement anxiety and lower levels of retirement concepts, however, indicating that these participants benefitted from the intervention. The proposed mediation effect could not be supported, however. Overall, the results indicate that the intervention is an effective mean to reduce retirement anxiety and promote retirement concepts for retirees-to-be with initially high levels of retirement anxiety or low levels of retirement concepts.

The way in which people work is changing, with workplaces characterized by greater variations in where, when, and how people work. Across two studies, we evaluated a web-based intervention introducing self-regulation strategies based on Action Regulation Theory to enable workers in hybrid working environments to organize their workday effectively, to manage work and private life demands, and thus to improve work performance (indicated by task performance and proactivity), occupational self-efficacy, and psychological detachment and reduce work-life conflict. In two randomized controlled trials, participants were assigned to an intervention group or a waitlist control group, filling out questionnaires before and after the intervention. In Study 1, using a randomized controlled trial with a convenience sample of 128 German employees (intervention group: n = 65; control group: n = 64) with baseline and two follow-up measurement points, multilevel analyses revealed positive effects on occupational self-efficacy, task performance, and proactivity. Moreover, we found a delayed effect on both work-life conflict and detachment after 2 weeks. In Study 2, in a randomized controlled trial with a sample of 125 Irish employees from one organization (intervention group: n = 59; control group: n = 66), we found positive effects directly after the intervention on occupational self-efficacy and work-life conflict. The results of both studies converge to support the effectiveness of the developed self-regulation intervention. Findings suggest that the intervention is an effective tool for promoting certain aspects of work performance. Furthermore, training self-regulation in the work context can improve occupational self-efficacy and reduce work-life conflict. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2026 APA, all rights reserved).

Employing a stress theoretical perspective, we investigate the role of working time for the trajectory of health complaints at the transition from employment to retirement. Drawing on job demands-resources theory, we argue that higher weekly working hours are a health-impairing stressor during employment so that individuals with longer weekly working hours experience greater health improvements when retiring than those with shorter weekly working hours. Additonally, we assume that work time control as job resource buffers the relationship between weekly working hours and changes in health complaints. We used a subsample of a representative panel survey conducted in Germany. This comprised 876 employees who transitioned from employment to retirement. The results of the discontinuous multilevel growth model indicated longer weekly working hours and lower work time control lead to stronger decreases in health complaints from employment to retirement. However, we found no evidence of a buffering effect of work time control.

Self-regulation is important for coping with demands of flexible work designs (FWD) such as telework, remote work, or flextime. This article evaluates a web-based intervention based on self-regulation models to enable workers meet challenges of FWD and thus improve recovery, work-life balance, and well-being. Over six weeks, participants learnt self-regulation strategies to detach from work, segment work and private life, and organize their workday. In a randomized controlled trial, participants were assigned to an intervention group or a waitlist control group. Study participants rated their levels of self-regulation, psychological detachment, strain-based work–family conflict (WFC), and affective, cognitive and work-related well-being (indicated by positive affect, stress, and work engagement) before and after the intervention, and at a four-week and six-month follow-up. The final sample after the training included 358 participants (intervention group: n = 147; control group: n = 211). As expected, covariance analyses revealed that the intervention improved positive affect and work engagement, and that it reduced stress and strain-based WFC. Moreover, we found positive effects on psychological detachment for participants with low baseline levels of psychological detachment. Self-regulation mediated intervention effects on positive affect and work engagement. Effects hold at four-week and six-month follow-ups, except for work engagement. Overall, findings indicate that the intervention is an effective tool for promoting self-regulation and enabling workers to achieve their goals regarding recovery, work-life balance, and well-being.