21st century workaholism - how to counter worker exploitation?

2024 Author: Seth Attwood | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-16 15:55

It is one thing to work hard and in good faith; it is quite another to voluntarily sacrifice every aspect of life for the sake of work. How to define the line between hard work and pathology.

We figure out what deep problems are behind workaholism and why being a workaholic is not very productive, no matter how it seems the opposite.

The habit of working overtime and at the same time being dissatisfied with ourselves leads us, on the one hand, to the risk of burnout in the long term, and on the other, to the inability to plan a vacation: we tend to deprive ourselves of positive emotions in our free time in retaliation for allegedly unfulfilled standards.

A workaholic, in fact, included in only one known race - not very easy to communicate, but socially encouraged type - responsible, ready to help and root for his cause. Staying late at work and staying on top of your career on weekends, putting everything in your self-development box seems like a good trait. Let's see what is behind this.

Problem 1. A workaholic fixes managerial mistakes

A healthy work environment can be calculated on several factors, one of which is the absence of overexertion as the main value of the employee. In a harmonious team, people are not inclined to work en masse at the limit of their strength and do not encourage destructive striving for perfection. Having a strong love of work and doing it all your free time are different things, no matter how hyperresponsible and anxious behavior is encouraged by management.

Sooner or later, with workaholism, a person ceases to develop distance in relation to work, professional and personal identities are blurred, and in the long term, the global picture also disappears - work motivation, understanding of the industry and relationships in the team, a sober view of work as one of the possible (and not the only one) of the meanings of life.

Workaholism often fixes ineffective management and poor teamwork. For example, instead of transparently prescribing the responsibilities of each member of the team, managers find several responsible and self-blaming employees who, through simple manipulations and tricks, are dumped unpleasant duties and collective responsibility. Instead of skillfully delegating responsibilities and resolving crisis situations, the habit of using several people working for wear and tear. Instead of optimizing the process of meetings and negotiations - delays, constant communication at inopportune hours and on weekends. Instead of a transparent system of distribution of vacations, there is a complex and hierarchically confusing mechanism of intrigue and misunderstandings, where to say directly is always offending: in ineffective waiting environments, you need to voice hints and between the lines.

Are you actually working alone for a few people while others are skimming the cream off your work? Does your boss not know what exactly you are doing? Or are you your own boss and are used to taking on all the mistakes of your subordinates and are afraid to delegate power, teach and give freedom of choice? Or are you three trying to do what eight or ten people should do? How long have you taken on this and when will you run out of patience?

Behind any systematic and massive overwork lies a lack of understanding of authority and boundaries, an unspoken distribution of responsibilities, the impotence of HR managers, inexperience and, most importantly, a disrespectful attitude towards people. If peers and bosses don't care about overtime, it's a painful learning and career environment. The best possible form of growth in this case is to constantly clean up the problems of others and work in panic agony.

© andrew neel / unsplash

Problem 2. The workaholic gets away from household problems

“And I plunged into work” or “I decided to make work my priority during this period” - we hear such phrases often: they denote a shift in focus from the area of internal interests and relationships to career achievements. Of course, no career can take place without a big investment of time and a strong leap, but often the long-term imbalance between workaholism and the world at home means that partnerships are no longer a priority, and the person runs away to drunken work to hide from the dissatisfaction with the existing relationship.

Is it pleasant for you to see a loved one at home? How does your day start? How is everyday life and life together? Do you have common rituals and interests? Can you discuss the difference in views without irritation? Or, on the contrary, you have not had exciting and happy events for a long time - and work seems to be a more rewarding investment of time than wasting yourself on the problems of another person? A reluctance to be at home, a tendency to flee at the first opportunity to messages, mail, negotiations and work duties often accompany a long crisis. Workaholism gracefully masks the fact that people live with each other as neighbors, and not as partners, but due to fatigue and accumulated contradictions, they do not fundamentally discuss the relationship so as not to break the shaky status quo. A family crisis, of course, will not disappear from inaction and lack of communication, and bouts of overwork caused by conflicts at home can lead to overachievements, but these successes will be with a double bottom.

Problem 3. The workaholic flees social isolation

Parting with old friends and problems with making new ones sometimes push us to spend more time with the work collective, the more often we are in one way or another with him for eight or nine hours five days a week. Constant communication with colleagues, meetings, negotiations and correspondence create the illusion of strong social inclusion - especially through social networks, virtual communication and group chats. A sign of corporate loyalty is to arrange holidays for employees, add each other on social networks, support and comment on every action, come up with general leisure and vacation plans. Until then, however, until we leave to work in new teams, where already new people begin to communicate with us in a similar way. Social etiquette can easily be mistaken for friendship and even friendship, but such connections are tested by trials, conflict situations, and requests for help.

Most often, the information noise of collective chats, correspondence, general meetings, birthdays and Friday gatherings that clothe workaholism in a digestible shell masks the sad truth: except for work and the social circle that it has gathered, there is almost nothing in our life. In a “friendly team” it is easier to work over several hours, you do not need to ask yourself questions about your leisure time, plan risky hobbies and go out to meetings with strangers, carefully feeling the world around you. For a large number of people, their work collective becomes a second or even first family.

However, communication only with colleagues and only about work most likely signals a lack of external experience and a loss of connection with a diverse and complex world around, which does not obey calendar notifications, communication of corporate solidarity and team spirit.

© kelly sikkema / unsplash

Problem 4. Workaholic corrects low self-esteem with work

Bargaining with the inner perfectionist is a constant part of the workaholic's reality. We seem to be not good enough by default to be satisfied with the finished result, plus incorrectly voiced criticism makes many run headlong and redo what has already been done, especially if our mentor or critic has authority in our eyes.

Regular overwork, the habit of starting and ending the day with nervous calls and checking mail, frequent and fruitless meetings, procrastination or the habit of taking over the work for several people - only on the one hand, the process is not standardized by the manager. On the other hand, you always need a hardworking employee who desperately tries to prove to himself and to others that he is a) irreplaceable, b) qualified, c) useful, d) motivated and e) responsible. There can be a myriad of reasons for workaholic perfectionism, from parenting “Don't go out until homework” and negative reinforcement to ambition and a desire to influence the lives of others. The symptoms of such a workaholic are almost always the same: the inability to separate oneself from the result of one's work and constant dissatisfaction with the results - something can always be done much better.

Work is a really great way to train many skills at once, from stress tolerance to strategic thinking. But celebrating your achievements, correctly calculating your strength and seeing the progress of today in comparison with yesterday is necessary in order not to turn into a dissatisfied workaholic. If new victories, contacts and monetary compensation are taken for granted and for granted, if it is difficult to find moments of joy and inspiration in the work routine, and work is closely connected with the mechanism of self-flagellation, then workaholism will most likely not be an effective way out. This may be coaching or therapy, depending on the degree of depression.

Problem 5. The workaholic does not want to make choices and decisions

To pull out a difficult project on yourself, and in your free time from work to build a summer cottage for your parents and help the children with their studies. To take on the help of several people who find it difficult to refuse, and at the same time take on self-education or professional development. Trying to work on several projects at the same time to the detriment of sleep and rest, when it is clear from the very beginning that it will not be possible to harmoniously combine these several works. To devote every free minute to caring for others. Sound familiar?

Workaholism often reflects our fundamental inability to make choices, prioritize, and adjust work tools (technology, meetings, daily routines) for several different work tasks, sometimes opposite.

In recent years, multitasking has been debunked as a myth, but the combination of several jobs and parallel activities often leads to the need to alternate between opposite activities: meditative and demanding quick reactions, social and solitary, emotionally costly and mechanical.

A lot of work is always a lot of responsibilities on different fronts, and besides, the inability to say "no", to identify interests and determine what is important at the moment for you. It is normal to change in work, to alternate classes is normal, to improve different skills is normal.

Problems begin when a hobby turns into a session of efficiency, personal relationships - into competitions for the title of an ideal couple, communication with friends and acquaintances - into finding new contacts and opportunities. Workaholism is a frequent face of the publicly approved fantasy “I can do everything,” which has never been and cannot be. Perhaps to our common happiness.

© stil / unsplash

First and main steps

A few simple steps to reduce work addiction overlap in many ways with tips for getting rid of burnout.

Firstly, it is a clear regulation of working and non-working hours, when work affairs and contacts are separated from rest, weekends and personal time - time only for oneself and one's interests. It is very useful to set free time as opposed to work. For example, if the work is associated with active meetings and constant communication, it is advisable to compensate for the state on the weekend with meditative exercises, field trips and conversations only with the most beloved and close ones. If the work is sedentary, create a weekend mood for outdoor activities, walks and movement, or even come up with a hobby in this direction.

Secondly, it is very useful to learn how to enjoy doing nothing and a free schedule - to feel the time in its moment, depending on the chosen process: with pleasure to lie and stretch out in bed, leisurely cook food and have a snack, learn to listen to silence or leave the house for a walk without specific action plan.

Thirdly, it never hurts to learn from others about your talents that are not related to work. What do you do better than others? Why do they love you? How do other people think you are special? Answering these questions can reinforce your self-confidence and open your eyes to non-obvious talents and activities where you can show them, as well as raise your value in your eyes outside of work communication.

And of course, in the event of a long career crisis, coaching and psychotherapy is a step in the right direction, if you yourself have been confused for a long time, do not understand what is worth trying, and according to the reviews of colleagues, managers and friends, it is not possible to collect a picture of an ordered life not with the last of your strength.