The belief that to get ahead in life requires an awful lot of work is so strong that it underpins a strong culture of presenteeism across much of the western world.  The underlying logic behind this seems sound enough on the surface.  After all, can you really achieve anything without working hard for it?

Whilst this does have an element of truth to it, when our desire to work hard slips into working too hard, it can have very dangerous consequences.  New research from Cass Business School suggests that when we work too hard, not only does our health suffer, but our careers too.  Interestingly however, the paper suggests that it isn’t so much the hours we commit to work that matter, but the intensity with which we work.

The researchers examined data from nearly 52,000 employees from 36 different European countries.  Each employee was measured for things such as stress, fatigue levels, job satisfaction as well as their career prospects, recognition levels at work and overall job security.

A number of key findings emerged.  For instance, putting in more effort at work, either by working longer hours or more intensely, did not have any positive impact on career outcomes for employees.  Quite the opposite in fact, with the data suggesting such work resulted in poorer career outcomes  What’s more, people who repeatedly worked under such conditions reported lower wellbeing levels too.

“Practitioners and policymakers worry a lot about long hours and overtime,” the authors say. “Yet, our findings could imply that work intensity (i.e. the amount of effort per unit of time) might be the more pressing issue.”

“Additionally, it’s worth noting that the career benefits of excessive work effort – such as putting in longer hours at the office or working harder than is typical in one’s occupation – may never materialise. Sacrificing well-being in the hopes of improving one’s career may be a mistake,” they continue.

Tackling overwork

Such is the damage caused by overwork that a test was created by a team of Norwegian researchers a few years go to help test for it.

The team developed a tool to measure addiction to work called the Bergen Work Addiction Scale.  This tool borrowed heavily from tools used to measure drug addiction, and analyzed symptoms such as change in mood, levels of tolerance, salience and so on.  They used this to draw up seven criteria against which they could directly measure workplace addiction:

• You think of how you can free up more time to work.
• You spend much more time working than initially intended.
• You work in order to reduce feelings of guilt, anxiety, helplessness and/or depression.
• You have been told by others to cut down on work without listening to them.
• You become stressed if you are prohibited from working.
• You deprioritize hobbies, leisure activities, and/or exercise because of your work.
• You work so much that it has negatively influenced your health.

“If you reply ‘often’ or ‘always’ to at least four of these seven criteria, there is some indication that you may be a workaholic,” the researchers say. “This is the first scale to use core symptoms of addiction found in other more traditional addictions.”

The Cass researchers urge managers to tackle the problem head on, and suggest a good first step is to give workers freedom and autonomy over how and when they complete their various tasks.

“The more an employee has such freedom, the more they can work in ways that are relatively more convenient, and therefore more productive. Organisational leaders should give as much of this freedom as possible to their employees, as well as be more aware of the longer-term limitations of pushing staff to their extremes,” they say.

It’s important that such strategies are persistent however, as research suggests that workaholism can be a form of mental illness.  The study examined over 16,000 adults whereby each participant was quizzed for things such as ADHD, OCD and their workaholic score using the scale above.

When the numbers were crunched, the results revealed a clear link between workaholism and a number of psychiatric disorders. Among those who showed signs of workaholism, rates of anxiety, depression, OCD and ADHD were significantly higher than their non-workaholic peers.

With a growing number of workplaces affording mental wellbeing the same level of priority as physical wellbeing, it is perhaps time that over work is tackled head on by employers, both for their own sakes and that of their workers.