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Harnessing the Potential of Workday Design: The Sequencing of Task Difficulty and Its Implications for Workday Well‐Being and Performance.

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Title: Harnessing the Potential of Workday Design: The Sequencing of Task Difficulty and Its Implications for Workday Well‐Being and Performance.
Authors: Zhang, Chen (AUTHOR), Qiu, Zhaodong (AUTHOR), Zhao, Helen H. (AUTHOR), Yang, Mengxi (AUTHOR), Chen, Wansi (AUTHOR), Ma, Yuan (AUTHOR)
Source: Personnel Psychology. Dec2025, Vol. 78 Issue 4, p545-570. 26p.
Subjects: Well-being, Job performance, Cognitive load, Field research, Quality of work life, Scheduling, Work structure
Abstract: Can workers improve their workday well‐being and performance through the temporal organization of tasks, without altering the content and characteristics of tasks during the day? We integrate insights from cognitive energetics theory with the lens of temporal comparison to theorize the workday sequencing of task difficulty, and we uncover its implications for workday well‐being and performance outcomes. We conducted two field studies in two organizations: Study 1 was a field experiment with an intervention on 166 employees' workdays; Study 2 was an experience sampling study with 226 employees, integrating multiple daily surveys, supervisor ratings, and electroencephalogram (EEG) assessments. Results show that when workers addressed more difficult tasks early on and moved to easier ones later as the day unfolded, they experienced less fatigue and greater mental relaxation at the end of the workday; they also exhibited better extra‐role performance on the day. Additionally, the effectiveness of this difficult‐tasks‐first approach varied with individual differences: although it enhanced perceived work progress on a day for early‐pacers, this benefit was less pronounced for individuals with a steady or late pacing style. Overall, our research highlights the temporal sequencing of tasks as a valuable perspective for work and workday design. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]
Copyright of Personnel Psychology is the property of Wiley-Blackwell and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites without the copyright holder's express written permission. Additionally, content may not be used with any artificial intelligence tools or machine learning technologies. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)
Database: Psychology and Behavioral Sciences Collection
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  Data: Harnessing the Potential of Workday Design: The Sequencing of Task Difficulty and Its Implications for Workday Well‐Being and Performance.
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  Data: <searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Well-being%22">Well-being</searchLink><br /><searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Job+performance%22">Job performance</searchLink><br /><searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Cognitive+load%22">Cognitive load</searchLink><br /><searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Field+research%22">Field research</searchLink><br /><searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Quality+of+work+life%22">Quality of work life</searchLink><br /><searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Scheduling%22">Scheduling</searchLink><br /><searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Work+structure%22">Work structure</searchLink>
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  Data: Can workers improve their workday well‐being and performance through the temporal organization of tasks, without altering the content and characteristics of tasks during the day? We integrate insights from cognitive energetics theory with the lens of temporal comparison to theorize the workday sequencing of task difficulty, and we uncover its implications for workday well‐being and performance outcomes. We conducted two field studies in two organizations: Study 1 was a field experiment with an intervention on 166 employees' workdays; Study 2 was an experience sampling study with 226 employees, integrating multiple daily surveys, supervisor ratings, and electroencephalogram (EEG) assessments. Results show that when workers addressed more difficult tasks early on and moved to easier ones later as the day unfolded, they experienced less fatigue and greater mental relaxation at the end of the workday; they also exhibited better extra‐role performance on the day. Additionally, the effectiveness of this difficult‐tasks‐first approach varied with individual differences: although it enhanced perceived work progress on a day for early‐pacers, this benefit was less pronounced for individuals with a steady or late pacing style. Overall, our research highlights the temporal sequencing of tasks as a valuable perspective for work and workday design. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]
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  Data: <i>Copyright of Personnel Psychology is the property of Wiley-Blackwell and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites without the copyright holder's express written permission. Additionally, content may not be used with any artificial intelligence tools or machine learning technologies. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract.</i> (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)
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              Text: Dec2025
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