Overworking and Workaholism: How it Affects Our Lives and What to Do about It
Imagine for a second that you worked two hours today, stopped, and made enough to support you and your family for the week. How does that make you feel? If you were disgusted by that idea and felt the need to get back to work, you may be experiencing workaholism.
Are you working long hours while feeling sleeping deprived, poorly functioning mentally and physically, and getting sick and injured1? Does it take you longer to recover after getting sick or injured, and are you not seeing your family as much2? If so, you could be overworking, and overworking is chronic underperforming. Even if you’re not working compulsively, overworking leads to conflict between work and family3 and not performing well at work1?
Compulsively working in addition to overworking, that is working excessively long hours (or harder than necessary) due to an irresistible drive to work, is the definition of a workaholic4. Workaholics spend their free time working, always think about work, and do more than what is required5. These people tend to be (often irrational) perfectionists6,7 and have a negative affect8. These people experience “burnout, job stress, work-life conflict, and decreased physical and mental health”9, and the negative impact on health and low life satisfaction can even last up to two years10. Their personal relationships are weak, and they tend to be dissatisfied with their personal relationships11. Moreover, workaholics aren’t even beneficial to the company6,12. Coworkers tend to dislike workaholics11, and because of the poor quality of work, unproductivity (often creating busy work to continue workin11, poor health, and high stress, the workaholic might cost the company more money than he or she brings in6.
In a big picture sort of way, perfectionism leads to workaholism, which leads to being bored during free time, which leads to loneliness, which leads to lower life satisfaction. Negative affect enhances this entire process13.
Although there is a difference between being engaged in work and workaholism, there is evidence to suggest that it’s not the compulsion to work that is the problem but the act of overworking itself that causes the health, relationship, and work problems3. You, your family, and your workplace may not even be aware your workaholism or its effects on you because Western society labels it as the ideal15. “[W]ith technology continuing to advance and the world becoming more globally connected, the environment is ideal for workaholism to persist, and even increase”11, and a work climate that emphasizes overworking enhances workaholism in someone with workaholic tendencies16.
You can, however, break yourself out of this pattern, but your work environment must be structured to prevent it, and you must engage in individualized approaches18. For example:
- The work environment must nurture engagement rather than workaholis6,17.
- You can participate in work-life balance programs17, including active leisure activities6.
- You must use techniques that address the dissatisfaction with life outside of work. Therapy and Workaholics Anonymous are two ways to do this18.
1. Carus (2006); 2. Dahlgren, Kecklund, & Akerstedt (2006); 3. Huyghebaert et al., (2016); 4. Bakker & Schaufeli (2008); 5. Scott, Morre, & Miceli (1997); 6. Clark et al. (2016); 7. van Wijhe, Peeters , & Schaufeli (2013); 8. Ng et al., (2007); 9. Clark, Michel, Zhdanova, Pui, & Baltes (2016); 10. Shimazu et al. (2015); 11. Aziz & Foyer (2018); 12. van Beek, Taris, Schaufeli, & Brenninkmeijer (2014); 13. Bovornusvakool, Vodanovich, Ariyabuddhiphongs, Ngamake (2012); 14. Huyghbaeart et al. (2016); 15. Robinson (2000); 16. Mazzetti, Schaufeli, & Guglielmi (2014); 17. Andreassen (2014); 18. Aziz and Vitiello (2015)
