{
  "title": "In Fribourg, can work be interrupted without scattering attention?",
  "url": "https://www.shr.swiss/blog/a-fribourg-interrompre-le-travail-sans-disperser-l-attention-en",
  "language": "en",
  "datePublished": "2025-05-25",
  "publisher": {
    "name": "SHR — Swiss Human Resources",
    "url": "https://www.shr.swiss",
    "address": "Esplanade de Pont-Rouge 9A, 1212 Lancy, Suisse"
  },
  "summary": "An interruption costs more than the time it occupies. Research invites us to examine how the previous task lingers in our attention, without equating cognitive performance with mental health.",
  "section": "Research",
  "topic": "Psychosocial Risks",
  "place": {
    "name": "Fribourg",
    "region": "Fribourg",
    "country": "CH"
  },
  "keyPoints": [
    {
      "heading": "What the literature establishes",
      "point": "Sophie Leroy (2009, Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes) shows experimentally that some attention can remain attached to a previous task, particularly when it is unfinished."
    },
    {
      "heading": "Anticipating the return affects the transition",
      "point": "Sophie Leroy and Theresa Glomb (2018, Organization Science) show that anticipating time pressure when resuming an interrupted task increases attention residue and impairs performance on the interrupting task."
    },
    {
      "heading": "The hasty conclusion",
      "point": "It would be tempting to conclude that interruptions should be banned or that everyone should concentrate harder."
    },
    {
      "heading": "What these data cannot establish",
      "point": "These studies concern attention and performance; they do not demonstrate that a ready-to-resume plan prevents burnout or mental illness."
    },
    {
      "heading": "A practical check in Fribourg",
      "point": "A team at an agri-food site, a bilingual industrial company or a university department could test a resumption note for non-urgent interruptions over two weeks: stopping point, next action and missing information, in the relevant working language."
    }
  ],
  "sources": [
    {
      "authors": "Leroy",
      "year": "2009",
      "source": "Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes"
    },
    {
      "authors": "Glomb",
      "year": "2018",
      "source": "Organization Science"
    }
  ],
  "wordCount": 393,
  "image": "https://www.shr.swiss/img/blog-Training-Psychosocial-Risks-Fribourg-a-fribourg-interrompre-le-travail-sans-disperser-l-attention-en.jpg?v=4",
  "translations": {
    "fr": "https://www.shr.swiss/blog/a-fribourg-interrompre-le-travail-sans-disperser-l-attention",
    "en": "https://www.shr.swiss/blog/a-fribourg-interrompre-le-travail-sans-disperser-l-attention-en",
    "de": "https://www.shr.swiss/blog/a-fribourg-interrompre-le-travail-sans-disperser-l-attention-de",
    "it": "https://www.shr.swiss/blog/a-fribourg-interrompre-le-travail-sans-disperser-l-attention-it"
  },
  "relatedPages": {
    "programme": "https://www.shr.swiss/formation-risques-psychosociaux-fribourg",
    "city": "https://www.shr.swiss/formations-ville/fribourg",
    "blog": "https://www.shr.swiss/blog"
  },
  "citationPolicy": "Citation autorisée avec mention « SHR — Swiss Human Resources » et lien vers l'article."
}