Disclosing Disruptive Personal Life Events at Work: How Timing Influences Employee Evaluations

Abstract: We examine how the disclosure timing of disruptive personal life influences evaluations of employees in the workplace. Across three studies, we find that disclosing the disruptive personal life event early rather than later led to more favorable evaluations of the employee. But when the disruptive personal life event had an impact on the employee’s performance, early disclosure no longer benefitted employees. Our research illuminates how the decision of when to disclose disruptive personal life events at work has implications for impression management and performance evaluations.

Keywords: organizational issues, communication processes, decision-making