For many organizations, as the immediate threat of COVID-19 has receded, its huge impact on the mental health of workers has moved into the spotlight. Work-related burnout is a widely recognized consequence of unhealthy working habits that the unprecedented distancing imposed by lockdown conditions has exacerbated. It is now so common that one commentator has dubbed it an āepidemic.ā
Many organizations are making significant efforts to safeguard employee well-being against the threat of burnout. One major contributor to low mental health at work and burnout specifically is workaholism, with an estimated prevalence of 15%. However, workaholism often remains under the radar and is even confused with positive job engagement, thus leaving many organizations unaware or confused about the role of workaholism to burnout.
Confusion about whatās problematic points organizations in the wrong direction when it comes to developing effective solutions. It may also cloud leadersā ability to understand the potentially damaging nature of their own behavior and self-care strategies, unwittingly setting unhealthy standards for their teams. In either case, the development of an effective approach must start with an appreciation of the distinction between āexcessiveā and ācompulsiveā working.
Excessive working is defined as working long hours that eat into our personal time, preventing us from being with family or friends, or pursuing hobbies.
In the short run, excessive working need not be harmful. Individuals may choose to āsacrificeā personal time because they are passionate about their work. They may overwork at a particular moment in time to meet deadlines on an important project. This is not necessarily harmful and could even enhance wellbeing in the short term by adding excitement and a sense of purpose and satisfaction to oneās work. However, even if when the stress is subjectively positive, if it continues over the longer-term, it can lead to problems by preventing us from engaging in activities that allow us to recover and replenish our energy levels. Under these conditions of accumulated stress and lack of recovery, even the most resilient and passionate worker may eventually become exhausted and which can lead to subsequent burnout.
Compulsive working, in contrast, is defined as feeling obliged to work long or hard, even if one stops getting enjoyment out of it. Compelled to work, compulsive workers often feel emotions like frustration, shame, or guilt when taking a break, or when not working. The sense of obligation overrides considerations such as personal wellbeing and the need to find a sensible work-life balance. This constant sense of pressure and sometimes negative, unrewarding relationship with work, can feed into burnout through to both increasing exhaustion and cynicism.
This inner drive to work compulsively can arise from multiple sources. Employees can be more or less inclined given particular personality traits (neuroticism, perfectionism, obsessive-compulsiveness). However, compulsive workaholism may also be learned through behavior reinforcement and role modeling. It might have been learned in oneās family of origin, or, it might also be learned in oneās working environment. Importantly, compulsive (and excessive) work can be exacerbated by organizational culture and the attitudes and behaviors of leaders.
Though the capacity to sustain overwork varies from individual to individual, everyone will hit their limits at some point.āÆIf long hours consistently eat into recovery time, over the long run the individual will lose productivity, and find themselves with insufficient resources to recover. As the workerās concentration levels waiver, mistakes are made, increased input no longer yields commensurate output, and personal dissatisfaction grows. Working in a high stress state, they might find that theyāre apt to become physically ill as soon as they take a few days off. In short, we become exhausted, which is the first step into burnout.
āThus, these data suggest that targeting compulsive working will likely have a stronger impact than targeting excessive working when we want to curb burnout scores among our workforce.ā
In our recent survey among 117 employees from executives to medium and entry-level workers, we found positive correlations between workaholism and burnout. Generally speaking, the higher an employee scores on overall workaholism, the higher their risk of developing burnout.
Importantly, however, when we take a closer look and examine the separate contribution of the excessive and compulsive dimensions of workaholism to burnout, we find that compulsive working predicts burnout more strongly than excessive working does, independent of job level.
Thus, these data suggest that targeting compulsive working will likely have a stronger impact than targeting excessive working when we want to curb burnout scores among our workforce. This may not be surprising, because, as we are getting at the heart of the problem, addressing one of the root causes ensures more lasting solutions than targeting over-work at the symptom level.
Leaders set and reinforce the culture, and if leaders themselves are prone to compulsive work, this role modelling is likely to be contagious to others.
While general strategies that aim to prevent excessive or āoverworkā, like tracking and discouraging working over hours (e.g, by limiting email servers or times) can help people to manage their energy, they can be frustrating to those passionate workers or those who are on a short term productivity boost. More effective strategies are likely those that address compulsive working.
For this we must trace back the behavioral roots that lead to compulsive working. These lie within our internalized values or work ethic, which tie personality traits with the work environment. In general, the environment can attenuate or exacerbate the expression of traits. For example, people who score highly on neuroticism or perfectionism may have a predisposition to work compulsively, but will do so less in a supportive work environment that values work-life balance or sustainable human performance.
Thus, it is important that leaders understand that their words and actions can intensify the psychological receptiveness to workaholism in those they manage. Leaders set and reinforce the culture, and if leaders themselves are prone to compulsive work, this role modelling is likely to be contagious to others. In addition, recurrent comments from leaders that downplay the negative effects of long hours (āWell, I work hard too, and I donāt complainā) or that cheer the sacrifice of personal time or health to work (āThanks to Sue, who worked day and night to make the project happen!ā) can lead employees to internalize these values and develop a compulsive work attitude. This can inadvertently add an unhealthy layer of social pressure to others to go beyond their personal achievement limits and can make employees feel guilty and inferior. Of course itās important to recognize employees for their effort, but ensure as well to recognize those who engage in sustainable working hours.
The spread of compulsive working can be curbed by recognizing that not everyone in an organization needs to work the same way, or work over hours all the time. We all have different values and personal circumstances that affect our relationship with work. Equally important in this context is that we have different responsibilities with respective salaries. A C-suite executive with a significant compensation package might reasonably be expected to act upon different views about working to a junior team leader.
Senior leaders have significant influence over the development or reduction of burnout in their organizations. Hereās how they can manage it:
1. Role-model a healthy attitude to work: It is crucial that leaders understand the powerful influence that their own attitudes and actions can have ā for the better or worse. How a leader behaves can send an even stronger signal than what they say about working hours. This is particularly true of effective leaders: a leader who cultivates strong feelings of followship in their teams can have a significant positive influence on team membersā behavior. By the same token, if team members see their leader working excessively, they may feel compelled to follow suit.
2. Challenge toxic behaviors: Leaders convey expectations about work norms and expectations that individuals will rapidly internalize. Senior leaders should make it clear that it is unacceptable for team leaders to behave in ways that exploit workers or encourage unhealthy behaviors ā deliberately or otherwise ā such as by setting goals that are impossible to attain within normal working hours, or by making pernicious comments about an individualās commitment to their job while on vacation.Ā
3. Support employees to set healthy boundaries: Leaders and managers need to empower others to establish healthy norms and boundaries around work, and recognize them for doing so. A healthy approach need not involve blanket bans on working late or doing long hours. However, leaders should ensure their workers take time off or take a slower pace once the deadline has been hit. Leaders should adopt a nuanced approach that considers the differences between excessive and compulsive working behaviors and by looking for the root causes (unrelentless passion, feelings of guilt or inferiority to standards). Organizations should ensure that managers are given training to help them understand the impact of their language in conveying expectations.Ā
4. Take a proactive approach: Effective action starts with a commitment from senior leaders to proactively preventing burnout. Leaders must learn to recognize the symptoms of burnout (e.g., exhaustion, cynicism) and learn what contributes to it (e.g., excessive and compulsive workaholism, as one factor of many). Such vigilance is essential to maintaining the health and wellbeing of individual workers and, by extension, of the organization as a whole.Ā
5. Track working attitudes: Data can offer leaders a clearer view of how people are working over a longer time and across the organization, as well as in particular corporate divisions or departments. Consider adopting proven, validated tools for measuring workaholism and burnout. While a track record of long hours is not alarming, the absence of compensatory downtime is. Above all, monitor whether each team member is receiving recognition for their achievements and feel that they are a valued member of the organization. The sense of obligation towards work comes with responsibility of course, but it is not incommensurable to getting enjoyment from work.Ā Ā
Burnout is a very real problem and one that organizations cannot afford to ignore or misinterpret as a proxy for productivity. Leaders should take the time to understand the potential causes of burnout in their workforce (such as workaholism), and adapt a nuanced, targeted approach to dealing with it. Setting a healthy corporate culture is key to influencing a positive mindset in your entire workforce. Taking note of individualsā vulnerabilities to workaholism, leaders do have a crucial part to play in managing these and mitigating the negative effects of workaholism on burnout. They will find that this benefits all members of the corporate community, enabling them to both enjoy their job and excel in it.
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