Does recovery buffer against emotional labor in terms of motivational outcomes at work? Analyzing age differences among Finnish health care professionals

- Emotional labor is a common job stressor among health care professionals and therefore more research evidence is needed concerning its buffers.
- Age-specific knowledge regarding the buffers of different job stressors is needed as health care professionals in industrialized countries are aging.
- The results showed that recovery from work buffering against emotional labor was age-specific: among early middle-aged health care professionals good off-job recovery served as a stress buffer.
- Good recovery from work should be encouraged, particularly among early middle-aged health care professionals as a stress relieving coping resource.
- Psychological detachment from work while not working is one of the best off-job recovery strategies and should be encouraged among health care professionals.