The term workaholic was first used by a renowned American psychologist Wayne Oates in 1968. This was after he confessed to being addicted to work. He noted that, although workaholism can be recognized as a disorder, it was much more socially respectable compared to those addictions caused by substance abuse. In the definition of a workaholic, Oates pointed that a person’s desire to work becomes overwhelming to the extent of invoking noticeable harm to health, happiness, interpersonal relations, and social functioning (Griffiths 740). In this definition, the emphasis was on how work can become centralized to the extent of influencing certain behaviors.
In the early 1970s, Oates expounded on the earlier definition to make it implicit. He added that workaholism is an addiction that involves an uncontrollable need to work or engage in compulsive working. There are certain core elements in this earlier description that emerge in recent definitions of workaholism. They entail excessive working and irresistible inner drive. The former presents a situation where workaholics tend to allocate much of their time to work and, therefore, exceed the expected limits. The objective here is to achieve the desired goals of the organization. The latter acknowledges that workaholic’s thoughts are preoccupied with work, even when there is a need to rest. This creates a mental picture that a workaholic is an individual who is obsessed with work (Griffiths 742).
Some scholars also define the word ”workaholic” as an individual who frequently and considerably allocates time to work-related activities without undertaking a proper evaluation of the external necessities. Most of these definitions portray workaholism as behavior that only results in harmful consequences as opposed to the positive effects.
The negativity of workaholism
Although the term workaholism may seem to be self-explanatory due to its widespread usage, there is no single definition that has been settled on yet. A workaholic is someone who is exhibiting features related to work addiction. Socially, it is acceptable behavior for one to have his (or her) inner drive to work (Bakker 17). However, it is a genuine psychological problem that requires a proper diagnosis to alleviate it.
Negative workaholism encompasses behavioral and mental aspects (Stevenson, 879). The behavioral aspects involve working hard more than what is required or recommended. This can be through the allocation of more hours per day or per week to work. This means for a person to be referred to as a workaholic, he or she must be able to extend the working hours beyond the expected limit willingly and not necessarily due to circumstances. For that reason, anyone doing a particular piece of work for long hours but would rather prefer doing something else within the extra time available is practically not a workaholic (Killinger 49).
Workaholism is usually manifested by the neglect of other aspects of life that constitute what one can call healthy living. Some psychologists describe it as an addiction that is not easy to control or a channel through which one escapes from personal problems, including avoidance of other persons so that evade the intimacy trap. Workaholism may also be associated with a deep and pressing desire to control their own life. It can be influenced by an extraordinarily competitive environment where success is a mandate. Also, childhood traumas like poverty can result in scanty self-esteem, thus prompting one to become a workaholic. There is a possibility that an individual may have inherited workaholism from workaholic parents or role models (Bakker 20).
Many scholars have expressed divergent views about the effects of workaholism on workaholics themselves and others. Negative stress is one of the negative effects of workaholism that are commonplace in a workaholic lifestyle. This can also be accompanied by anxiety, which is disastrous to normal working. This can easily lead to deterioration of one’s health and eventually, death. For instance, it has been discovered that there is a connection between stress and coronary heart disease. Also, there is a high tendency of a workaholic to develop secondary addictions such as alcoholism and overeating.
The adverse physical effects of workaholism may cause a significant impact on an individual’s personal life. One can easily learn that there is some degree of incompatibility between intimacy and workaholism. This is because most workaholics often exhibit a diminished sexual drive that affects their sex life. A unique negative effect of work addiction to the workaholics themselves is the inability to feel pleasure due to long periods of displeasure. This takes place when one postpones the feeling of pleasure merely because of work-related commitments.
Work addiction is believed to have a direct impact on the family life of a workaholic. The family members of workaholics normally endure sufferings inflicted by the workaholism of a person. Some marriages were broken because workaholics’ spouses completely paralyzed the attempts of their partners to achieve their goals and dreams which hindered personal development (Killinger 51).
Workaholism does affect the normal work of a person in a job environment. This is because it encourages destructive competitiveness among employees. It becomes even worse when a workaholic is in a managerial position. He sets exceptional standards that result in frequent resentment and less-motivated staff. Work addiction has not allowed some managers to delegate duties to their subordinates because of fear of imperfection. However, this attribute can result in inefficiency and eventually lead to low productivity of the entire organization.
The Symptoms of workaholism
A person can become a workaholic when he engages in activities such as taking his work home from the office, work during weekends and vacations, and what he likes talking about is his work. Normally, workaholics work for many hours to derive the necessary satisfaction they need in their life. Also, they are always irritated by the fact that one can ask them to do something else that does not relate to their work (Killinger 53).
The opposite of workaholic
Despite the existence of workaholics, there are also persons who do not like working at all. They are known as slackers. Slackers prefer spending much of their time doing certain things that do not relate to their work (Stevenson 347). These are people who are always active tweeting or posting on the social network when they should be working. However, a person needs to devise ways of working with a slacker because they can be annoying and a letdown in the teamwork (Bakker 28).
In summary, workaholism is also propagated by the type of content people watch in movies, TV programs, and commercials. Sports and music do discourage people to be workaholics as physical exercises make one to reorganize his or her thoughts in line with the prevailing work conditions and the general routine of life.
Works Cited
Bakker, Antony. “Workaholism and Relationship Quality: A Spillover-crossover Perspective.” Journal of Occupational Health Psychology 14 (2009): 23-33. Print.
Griffiths, Mark. “Workaholism: A 21st Century Addiction.” The Psychologist 24 (2011): 740-744. Print.
Killinger, Barbara. Workaholics: The Respectable Addicts. Toronto: Key Porter Books, 2004. Print.
Stevenson, Angus. Oxford English Dictionary, London: UOP Oxford, 2010. Print.