Social support in the company canteen. A restorative resource buffering the relationship between job demands and fatigue

BACKGROUND: The quality of the places where workers take their breaks may affect the completeness of recovery in the time available. Little is known about how characteristics of a company canteen buffer the relationship between job demands and fatigue. OBJECTIVE: We addressed the possibility that the company canteen buffers the relationship between job demands and fatigue to the extent that workers perceive it to hold restorative quality. Further, we considered how the restorative quality of the canteen signals the provision of organizational support, another job resource thought to buffer the demands-fatigue relationship. METHODS: A questionnaire was completed by 141 male blue collars workers during their lunch break in the factory canteen of an Italian industrial organization. RESULTS: Canteen restorative quality correlated positively with organizational support. In multivariate regression analyses, the demands-fatigue association was weaker among workers who saw greater restorative quality in the canteen. This buffering effect was accounted for by a buffering effect of organizational support. CONCLUSIONS: When settings for rest in the workplace have higher restorative quality, they may better function as job resources in two respects: serving the immediate needs of workers for recovery from job demands, and signaling the interest of the organization in their well-being.