A client’s partner (in life rather than business) recently shared something that made us swell with pride (we’re not big headed though, honest!) and made us stop and think:
““I realised the other day,” the partner told us, “that I hadn’t heard any mention of fulfilment problems for weeks when, previously, they took up a huge amount of my partner’s time and caused a huge amount of stress. Life is so much better and calmer now.”
How did we get this feedback? Well, they had joined our client for a meeting, not out of necessity, but because our client genuinely enjoyed visiting and wanted their partner to see what all the fuss (sorry, lack of fuss!) was about.
This particular client had recently outsourced their fulfilment to The Fulfilment People after numerous issues with their previous 3PL provider. Delayed dispatches, poor communication, lost packages, lost stock, invoicing errors and unexplained price increases had begun to affect not just their own mental state but their home life and relationships too.
Of course, it is far from breaking news that when we’re stressed at work it impacts our lives outside work and our nearest and dearest may be affected too but the comments did prompt us to look into the academic research on this.
Turns out, our experience is more than just a nice little anecdote. It’s an example of a well-documented psychological phenomenon known as the spillover–crossover effect, from the Spillover-Crossover Model (SCM) developed by Bakker & Demerouti (2013) which integrated existing research on separate concepts of spillover and crossover and drew on their own 2008 study ‘How job demands affect partners’ experience of exhaustion: Integrating work-family conflict and crossover theory’ (Bakker, Demerouti & Dollard).
So, what are spillover and crossover?
Spillover is when stress (or joy) from one area of life transfers into another such as from work into family life.
Crossover is when these feelings go further still, affecting not just the person directly involved, but those around them, particularly close partners or family members.
In the 2008 study the authors looked at 168 dual-earner couples and found that:
- High job demands caused work–family conflict, leading to increased stress and emotional exhaustion (spillover)
- That stress then crossed over to affect the partner’s own emotional state and demands at home
- This process was bidirectional and gender-neutral, affecting both men and women equally.
But the study didn’t stop at the negative. It also explored the positive potential of the same mechanisms:
When workers felt high engagement and energy in their roles, thanks, say, to good systems, clear communication and support, this spilled over into their personal lives, making them feel more upbeat, present and emotionally available at home.
And crucially, that positive emotional state then crossed over to their partners, improving relationship satisfaction and even their partner’s well-being.
In short, just as stress can be contagious, so can positive energy. While our client’s partner wasn’t complaining about being stressed, the fact they thought to comment on it to us showed they clearly benefited from the improvement in the day-to-day pressures and frustrations our client had been facing.
So, we can say that our client’s transformation, shifting from stress and tension to calm and enjoyment, had not only improved their own day-to-day life, but also improved life for their partner. That’s the power of reducing friction at work …….and of doing fulfilment properly!!
We might say that working with The Fulfilment People means you have more time for what fulfils you!
Want your fulfilment to fulfil YOU too? Get in touch!