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Longitudinal research on the relationship between job demands and job performance and its underlying mechanisms is scarce. The aims of this longitudinal three‐wave study among 920 Finnish employees were to ascertain whether (1) challenge job demands (i.e., workload, cognitive demands) and self‐reported job performance are positively related over time, (2) job insecurity (i.e., a hindrance demand) and job performance are negatively related over time, (3) restorative experiences during off‐job time and sleep quality are underlying mechanisms in these relations, and (4) affective rumination mediates the proposed relations of job demands and job insecurity with restoration and sleep quality. Self‐report data were analysed with structural equation modelling. The results revealed a positive, temporal relationship between challenge job demands and job performance (task and contextual performance) across 1 year, but no temporal relationship between job insecurity and self‐reported job performance. Moreover, high challenge job demands were positively related to the restorative value of off‐job activities, and favourable restoration was positively related to subsequent task performance. Finally, affective rumination mediated the relationship of challenge job demands with both restoration and sleep quality. Job insecurity was not longitudinally related to restoration, sleep quality, or affective rumination. The implications of our findings for occupational health psychology are discussed. Practitioner points: Provide employees with sufficient job resources (e.g., high autonomy and social support) to adequately deal with high job demands.Allow employees sufficient time to recover from high job demands during off‐job time and provide training sessions in recovery, relaxation, meditation, and goal setting.Employees may attempt to counteract perseverative thoughts by actively pursuing distracting restoration activities (e.g., exercise, meditation). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

To test the direct and moderator effects of the stressor-detachment model from a long-term perspective, we investigated whether workload and detachment are related to changes in exhaustion and sleep difficulties over one year. We also examined whether detachment attenuates the relationship between high workload and these outcomes both cross-sectionally and over time. Questionnaire data with 1722 respondents at Time 1 and 1182 respondents at Time 2 were collected. We used a latent change score approach to analyse the data in order to identify intra-individual change among the studied constructs. Our results showed that high workload and low detachment at baseline were related to an increase in exhaustion over one year. Additionally, an increase in workload and a decrease in detachment were related to a simultaneous increase in exhaustion over time. Low detachment, but not high workload, was related to an increase in sleep difficulties over time, and a decrease in detachment across one year was related to a simultaneous increase in sleep difficulties. A high level of detachment only attenuated the relationship between workload and exhaustion at baseline. Our results underline the significance of poor psychological detachment as a risk factor for the development of strain outcomes over time. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]