question: The COVID-19 pandemic has disrupted normal life and has resulted in considerable stress One important reason for reduced well-being is rumination about COVID-19 This study used proactivity theory to propose that playful work design (i e , the process through which employees proactively create conditions within work activities that foster enjoyment and challenge) may buffer the impact of rumination on employee well-being In May 2020, we collected data at two time points among 501 employees of a large bank cooperation At Time 1, participants reported about rumination about COVID-19 and playful work design, and 1 week later (Time 2), they reported depressive symptoms, exhaustion, and vigor Results of hierarchical regression analyses showed that rumination about COVID-19 had a negative relationship with well-being (increased depressive symptoms and exhaustion, decreased vigor) Designing fun was negatively related to exhaustion and positively related to vigor, whereas designing competition was positively related to vigor As hypothesised, designing fun (not designing competition) moderated the link between rumination and well-being Rumination was positively related to depressive symptoms and exhaustion and negatively related to vigor when participants scored lower on designing fun These findings suggest that employees may use playful work design to deal with ruminative thoughts about COVID-19 (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2021 APA, all rights reserved) Abstract (French) La pandemie de COVID-19 a perturbe la vie normale et engendre un stress considerable Les pensees recurrentes sur la COVID-19 sont l'une des principales raisons de cette reduction du mieux-etre La presente etude recourait a la theorie de la proactivite pour postuler que le travail ludique (c -a-d , le processus grace auquel les employes creent, de facon proactive, des conditions qui favorisent le plaisir et le defi pendant les activites de travail) peut attenuer les effets nefastes des pensees recurrentes sur le mieux-etre des employes En mai 2020, nous avons recueilli des donnees a deux periodes differentes parmi 501 employes d'une grande cooperative bancaire A la periode 1, les participants devaient donner leur impression sur les pensees recurrentes au sujet de la COVID-19 et sur le travail ludique;une semaine plus tard (periode 2), ils devaient rapporter leurs symptomes depressifs ainsi que leurs niveaux d'epuisement et d'energie Les resultats des analyses de regression hierarchiques ont demontre que les pensees recurrentes a propos de la COVID-19 avaient une incidence negative sur le mieux-etre (augmentation des symptomes de depression, epuisement accru, moins d'energie) Le travail ludique etait en correlation negative avec l'epuisement et en correlation positive avec l'energie, tandis que le travail competitif etait en correlation positive avec l'energie Comme il avait ete postule, le travail ludique (et non le travail competitif) attenuait le lien entre les pensees recurrentes et le mieux-etre Les pensees recurrentes etaient en correlation positive avec les symptomes de depression et avec l'epuisement, et en correlation negative avec l'energie, lorsque les participants affichaient des scores inferieurs relativement au travail ludique Ces constatations donnent a penser que les employes peuvent utiliser le travail ludique pour gerer les pensees recurrentes au sujet de la COVID-19 (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2021 APA, all rights reserved) Impact Statement Public Significance Statement: COVID-19 has disrupted daily life, and many people ruminate about the impact of the crisis We argue and show that employees who repeatedly think about COVID-19 and the possible undesirable consequences can redesign their daily work tasks so that these tasks are more fun and employees protect their daily well-being (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2021 APA, all rights reserved)