Is it a Saturday and you’re already obsessing about next Wednesday’s conference call? Do you routinely skip morning jogs so you can get to the office an hour early? Do you sneak glances at your work inbox while sitting at the dinner table? If you answered “yes,” chances are good that you’re an addict and your drug is work.
But you’re not alone—far from it. A recent study out of Norway found that 7.8% of its population regularly punches the clock as workaholics—people who simply cannot (or will not) detach from work. In fact, a CNN article on the survey observed that “the difference between enthusiasm for work and addiction to it can sometimes be difficult to discern, especially when it’s so easy to take work home on a smart phone or laptop.” Like any addiction, workaholism is a crippling, soul-deadening and progressive disease that blinds sufferers from its symptoms.
Is “Workaholism” Even A Thing?
The idea of “workaholism” can be downright laughable to some people. But in many offices, there’s simply an unspoken expectation that you’re going to work 60 to 70 hours a week. In many cases, it’s less a problem and more a badge of honor worn by bleary-eyed 14-hour-day junkies. I’ve seen countless people use “hours worked” to shame and guilt their co-workers. Early in my career, I worked for a publisher who had set an insanely aggressive production schedule I had to assign to writers—one that demanded that staff work roughly 70 hours per week for two months straight. It was a disaster. Late one night as I was leaving, a supervisor passed me in the hall and asked with a straight face: “You’re just stepping out, right? You’re coming back.” Not only did I quit that job shortly thereafter, but that project failed pretty spectacularly.
There’s nothing quite as annoying as a co-worker casually dropping how late they worked the night before or how many hours they logged-in over the weekend. Emails conspicuously deployed at 1 am aren’t uncommon in corporate America, either. And yet, it’s as acceptable as it is quietly (and passive-aggressively) encouraged. No company is going to complain that they’re getting more hours out of their employees.
The Norway study found that “people were spending more time at work than intended, working to reduce feelings of guilt and anxiety, and deprioritizing hobbies and exercise because of work.” These are common refrains among over-workers everywhere, but as financial website DQYDJ noted, “the choice of Norway was appropriate [since]the Nordic countries have some of the highest rates of depression, alcoholism and psychiatric disorders in the world with very high rates of people currently taking antidepressant drugs.” Even if the survey paints a gloomy portrait of Norway’s workforce, the rest of the world is certainly working with colors from the same depressed palette.
Hard Data About Hard Work
Even though these results aren’t surprising, very little research actually exists about work addiction—that’s what makes the Norway study so valuable. Researchers at Norway’s University of Bergen sought to identify just how many people in its workforce were burning the midnight Outlook oil and designed a tool called the Bergen Work Addiction Scale (BWAS) to grade workers’ unhealthy habits. Even more interesting is that the BWAS scale is “based on core symptoms found in more traditional drug addictions,” including mood, withdrawal symptoms and relapse. (The scale reminds me of the “Am I An Alcoholic?” quizzes I used to take online.)
“If you reply ‘often’ or ‘always’ to at least four of seven criteria, there is some indication that you may be a workaholic,” the BWAS designer said. “This is the first scale to use core symptoms of addiction found in other more traditional addictions.” Participants can be categorized in one of three groups: “non-addicted,” “mildly addicted” or “workaholic.”
Nearly 16,500 working adults between the ages of 16 and 75 from a wide range of backgrounds were surveyed. The results suggest that no matter the age, gender or background, work can produce an addictive high not unlike drugs or alcohol. And just like those substances, work addiction is progressive and feeds on itself, demanding more and more to achieve the same effect. Workaholics seem forever doomed to chase the fantasy of that note-perfect performance review, raise or promotion.
To The Limit
“Exceeding expectations” in the workplace might simply be the expectation nowadays, not the exception. Everyone is pushing themselves to extremes while quietly pushing their co-workers in the same direction. Interestingly, the survey found evidence linking workaholics and people with psychiatric disorders. For one, “32.7% of workaholics met criteria for attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (compared with 12.7% of non-workaholics).” The link to ADHD—which deals with “patterns of inattentiveness, impulsiveness and/or hyperactivity,” makes a certain amount of sense. “Some may work to compensate for their shortcomings by working at the weekends and working after co-workers have gone home, or if they like to work when it’s more quiet at the office,” the study’s author noted in the CNN article. The Norway study also drew connections between work addicts and those diagnosed with obsessive-compulsive disorder; nearly 25% of people classified as workaholics also met OCD criteria. Unsurprisingly, “anxiety and depression were also linked [to work addiction].”
With such clear connections between workaholism and mental health, it’s worth considering that we’re collectively setting the bar higher—and more impossibly—for ourselves. The borders between the workplace and home aren’t just blurred, they’re not-existent. The study acknowledges that through “mobile technology hardware, work is highly accessible to anyone and anywhere, and has the potential to facilitate and enhance workaholism tendencies.” In other words, technology isn’t doing us any favors. While work addiction can be treated with improved work-life balances and more reasonable expectations, it remains a very real health issue with very real consequences. Until society changes, workaholics will soldier on with the same blind, joyless determination of alcoholics and drug addicts everywhere.
Sponsored DISCLAIMER: This is a paid advertisement for California Behavioral Health, LLC, a CA licensed substance abuse treatment provider and not a service provided by The Fix. Calls to this number are answered by CBH, free and without obligation to the consumer. No one who answers the call receives a fee based upon the consumer’s choice to enter treatment. For additional info on other treatment providers and options visit www.samhsa.gov.
