Workaholic or Just Passionate About Your Job?

We start with a direct question: would you define yourself as a workaholic?  

Is work extremely important to you? If yes, then maybe you are… or maybe you are just an engaged, highly motivated professional.  

As summer rolls in and many of us take advantage of the annual leave, these questions are more likely to pop up in our minds as we struggle to shut down the laptop, we send one more email, we answer to that one colleague on Teams, and we take one last look at that document.

Now, jokes aside, how do we know if our passion for our work has become problematic? Are we all workaholics who can’t disconnect even when on holiday? And if yes, what do we do about it?  

What does being a workaholic mean?  

The term workaholic is very popular, but it actually means something specific: work occupies most of your conversations, thoughts, and time, and you are unable to disengage from work. The key is its intensity: how much do you do this? Do others notice it? Do they complain about it? Do you feel guilty when not working? Are you spending most of your after-work time thinking about or doing work? Then it might be a problem.  

Being highly engaged or passionate about your work is not the same as being a workaholic. The difference is not how much you enjoy your work, but whether you can mentally disengage from it when needed. 

What does being a workaholic do to you?  

We intuitively associate workaholism with negative things. But is this belief founded?  

Researchers have found that people who can be classified as workaholics are more likely to develop burnout, lack life satisfaction, and suffer from mental but also physical health issues. Insomnia, anxiety and depression were all more likely to appear if a person was in an unhealthy relationship with their work.  

Maybe even more interesting is what workaholism does to those around us: spending so much time and mental energy on work has negative impacts on relationships, starting with partners and extending to children and other important people in our lives.  

Should organisations want their employees to be workaholics?  

You might think that working longer and being intensely dedicated to work is a good thing for the employer. Your organisation should be glad they got such a high performer!  

Well, research conducted since 2016 until now found no association between workaholism and overall performance, and sometimes the two were even negatively related. So, working to an unhealthy level makes you more tired, more angry, and too invested in the results you obtain, which ultimately translates into negative work outcomes.  

What can we do to reduce workaholism? 

Before taking time off this summer, it might be a good moment to ask yourself if you need to review your relationship with work, and reduce the risk of driving into workaholism. Also, as HR professionals and leaders, it is worth reflecting on the signals your organisation sends and how you can help employees develop a healthier relationship with work.  

Reducing workaholism requires more than individual willpower. It is also affected by personal habits, organisational norms and the way work is designed.  

Here are a few practical starting points you can try and find out which works best for you and your organisation:  

• Enforce hard limits: If the email is accessible, the temptation to look at it is higher. Limit access to the work laptop or phone after hours or during time off. It is especially important for leaders to act as role models here: if your manager sends emails while on holiday, you’re getting the implicit message that that’s what is normal.  
• Keep track of unhealthy work habits: It’s OK to send one email after hours. We’ve all had an important deadline and worked well into the night the day before. But does this happen often? Is there someone in the team always writing emails on Saturdays? Maybe have a conversation with them (or with yourself, if that’s you).  
• Reconnect with life beyond work: You're home. You have time off this week, but you're just resting on the couch. You've already slept 12 hours... so why not open the laptop to check what's happening at work? Instead, do something else. If you keep yourself engaged in meaningful activities, relationships and interests outside work, your mind will be less tempted to return to work-related stimuli. 
• Question what gets rewarded: Employees quickly learn what is truly valued within an organisation. If responsiveness, long hours or constant availability are consistently rewarded, explicitly or implicitly, disconnecting becomes more difficult. 
• Review how work is designed: If people consistently struggle to disconnect, the problem may not only lie with individual habits or organisational norms. It may also be a sign that the work itself needs to be designed differently. For example, autonomy is generally considered a valuable job resource, but without clear boundaries it can make it harder for people to switch off. Read more in our recent article on work design. 

If you’ve read this far, you might worry now that you are indeed in an unhealthy relationship with your work. Don’t ruin your summer by worrying about this. Passion for your work is something to cherish, as long as you can also disconnect from it. 

Reference 

Taris, T. W., & De Jonge, J. (2023). Workaholism: Taking Stock and Looking Forward. 𝘈𝘯𝘯𝘶𝘢𝘭 𝘙𝘦𝘷𝘪𝘦𝘸 𝘖𝘧 𝘖𝘳𝘨𝘢𝘯𝘪𝘻𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯𝘢𝘭 𝘗𝘴𝘺𝘤𝘩𝘰𝘭𝘰𝘨𝘺 𝘈𝘯𝘥 𝘖𝘳𝘨𝘢𝘯𝘪𝘻𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯𝘢𝘭 𝘉𝘦𝘩𝘢𝘷𝘪𝘰𝘳, 11(1), 113–138. https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev-orgpsych-111821-035514 

Picture: Iulia Cioca