You May Be a Workaholic If
Nancy Rothbard, a professor of management at the University of Pennsylvania's Wharton School, draws a distinction between workaholism and working long hours. She explains the health consequences of being addicted to your work. She also gives practical advice for managing work addiction, whether it's you who's suffering, your direct report, boss, peer, or partner. Rothbard is the coauthor of the HBR article "How Being a Workaholic Differs from Working Long Hours — and Why That Matters for Your Health."
SARAH GREEN CARMICHAEL: Welcome to the HBR IdeaCast, from Harvard Business Review. I'm Sarah Green Carmichael.
Have you ever wondered if you're a workaholic?
Researchers at the University of Bergen came up with a test to help you figure that out. It's called the Bergen Work Addiction Scale.
The way it works is, you react to seven statements. And if you say that you often or always do at least four of these things, then you might be a workaholic. So, I'm going to read the seven statements, and just keep track of how many times you're saying, oh, I often do that or I always do that. I will keep note as I go along, too. And then we can see how we compare.
No. 1, you think of how you can free up more time to work. No. 2, you spend much more time working than initially intended. No. 3, You work in order to reduce feelings of guilt, anxiety, helplessness, and depression. No. 4, you have been told by others to cut down on work without listening to them. No. 5, you become stressed if you are prohibited from working. No. 6, you deprioritize hobbies, leisure activities, and exercise because of your work. No. 7, you work so much that it has negatively influenced your health.
So, for me, I scored "often" or "always" on four of those. How did you do? Well, if you, like me, got four or more, the researchers say you might be a workaholic.
Now, you, like me, might have noticed what's not on that list: the number of hours you work. Because, as it turns out, working long hours and being a workaholic are not the same thing.
And our guest today is here to talk about the difference, as well as the health problems that come with work addiction — and how even if you're only working 40 hours a week, you might still have a problem.
Nancy Rothbard is a management professor at The Wharton School who has studied workaholic tendencies.
Nancy, thank you for talking with us today.
NANCY ROTHBARD: Thank you Sarah. It's a pleasure to be with you.
SARAH GREEN CARMICHAEL: So, I thought we could just start by maybe illustrating how being a workaholic is different from, say, working long hours. So, first just give us an example of the typical work week of someone who works long hours.
NANCY ROTHBARD: Bascially, long hours are 50 hours a week or more. So, there are some people who work a lot but they can turn off. They might even work once they get home, but if something is demanding their attention at home or if they, you know, need to go to the gym or they want to hang out with friends, they're able to do that without ruminating on their work.
SARAH GREEN CARMICHAEL: How is workaholism different? What is that person's typical week look like?
NANCY ROTHBARD: So, I think that what's really important in terms of the distinction between working long hours and workaholism is that working long hours is a behavioral aspect of extreme hours at work, you know, spending a lot of time at work.
Workaholism is really a more cognitive aspect of that. It's our attitude towards our work: how we think about our work, whether we dwell on it, whether we feel guilty when we're not working. When you're a workaholic, the work really looms large in your mind, and it can be really difficult to turn it off, even when you're not actually working. Actually, I think that what's also really important to note is that there's a strong correlation between working long hours and being a workaholic. So, I mean, you can be a workaholic without working long hours, but typically if you're a workaholic, you are also working long hours.
SARAH GREEN CARMICHAEL: So, what are some of the sort of signs that you might be a workaholic, even if you're not working long hours? Are there sort of red flags that people should notice or questions they should ask themselves?
NANCY ROTHBARD: Sure. The questions you might want to ask yourself, and these are the questions that we asked in our study: I find myself continuing to work after my coworkers have called it quits. I feel guilty when I'm not working on something, or I put myself under pressure with a lot of self-imposed deadlines when I work. Those are the kinds of things that a workaholic will answer strongly agree to; yes, I always do that. Whereas, if you're not a workaholic, you might work long hours, but you might not be feeling guilty when you're not working on something or you might not, you know, self imposing deadlines or putting pressure on yourself. You might be working long hours because that's what's required of you.
SARAH GREEN CARMICHAEL: Mhm. Yeah. I think that the point about feeling guilty when you're not working, that's one that sounds pretty familiar. What do you think causes that?
NANCY ROTHBARD: So, there's a lot of thought about where that comes from and you know, some of it is that there's a personality aspect to that, and some of it is that people start to develop patterns of behavior. Some of that may be because the environments that they're in, the organizations that they're in, kind of foster that feeling that you should always be on, that you should always be working really hard and thinking about the organization. And you know, some people will really buy into that, and some people will resist that, you know, that expectation.
SARAH GREEN CARMICHAEL: Mhm. If this sounds like a portrait of yourself, you know, what should you be worried about in terms of how it might be affecting your health?
NANCY ROTHBARD: So we actually found a really interesting pattern, which is that workaholism was related to risk of metabolic syndrome. And risk of metabolic syndrome is basically a suite of a cardiovascular diseases. What was really interesting about that is that it was only the case for a certain subset of workaholics. It wasn't the case for all workaholics. And it wasn't related to working long hours alone. Now, as I said earlier, working long hours is related to being a workaholic. So, those two often go hand in hand. But if you work long hours and you're not a workaholic, you seem to have a buffer against some of these negative health consequences.
SARAH GREEN CARMICHAEL: So, this is a topic that I am super intrigued by in part because this is something I really struggle with. So, we are talking on a Monday, and on Saturday this weekend I could not stop thinking about work. And it was a beautiful day, and I just kept saying to myself like, why — you're basically in the office right now in your mind. And then Sunday I woke up, and, like, it was fine. Didn't think about work at all. And like to me it's because I don't understand sort of what my brain is doing there, I find it difficult because of course I would have rather had both Saturday and Sunday not thinking about work, but in the end I only got 50 percent of my weekend it feels like. So, why does sometimes the brain gets stuck in those loops, and is there anything we can do to, to stop it?
NANCY ROTHBARD: I mean, that's — I think that's a great illustration and, and I think that what that suggests is the fact that you were able to stop on Sunday is a good sign. Because a person who's a workaholic would have a lot of trouble stopping ruminating even on Sunday. Right. And so, I think it's really normal and natural that sometimes we're ruminating about our work. Maybe there's some stressor that we should be paying attention to. Or, you know, sometimes we're thinking about our work because we like it and it's interesting to us, and that's not a problem either, actually, because if it's something that gives us joy and something that we enjoy doing, that can also be an opportunity for recovery. It doesn't have to be draining to us.
SARAH GREEN CARMICHAEL: What about if you are really having trouble with the kind of cognitive boundaries in place? You know, you continue to have these unwanted thoughts about your work sort of throughout the weekend or into the evening. Do you have any advice for someone who struggles with that?
NANCY ROTHBARD: I think that that's a great question because we all struggle with that, of course, in various forums. One thing that is really important for managing the cognitive boundaries is that you want to sometimes actively engage in something else. If you're leaving a lot of blank space, the obsessive thoughts about work are going to be filling up that space. Whereas if you're doing another activity, you're engaging with friends or family, you're going to the gym, you're actively doing something that is filling that space. That provides an opportunity for recovery.
SARAH GREEN CARMICHAEL: So, I have heard some people say, well, I'm a workaholic, but I love my job. Are those people just kidding themselves, or are they actually in a healthier place?
NANCY ROTHBARD: Well, actually that's, that's exactly what we found in the study, which is there are people who are workaholics; they are really obsessed about their work; they think about it all the time, but they also love what they do. And we actually found in our study that those people were also actually had a lower risk of metabolic syndrome, just like the people who weren't workaholics at all. And so that engagement with the work allowed them to really recover as well and to not be as drained from the more obsessive aspect of being a workaholic.
SARAH GREEN CARMICHAEL: I'm wondering if the problem of workaholism is something that you think is getting worse over time as our technology and devices make it more possible for us to be always connected to work and in a way it seems like it should make it be less stressful because you know, we can kind of leave the office and not worry about whether we finished everything or if we're unavailable. But in some ways it just means that our offices are always with us all the time. And I'm just wondering, you know, if you think that that constant connectivity is having a positive effect or a negative one.
NANCY ROTHBARD: I mean, I think that's a fascinating question. I've been wondering about that same question for many years now, and I've done some other research on that as well. But what I would say is that I think that technology allows us greater connectivity as you say, and that can be a positive and a negative and I think that what it is doing from a workaholism perspective is it's enabling workaholics to stay connected and to continue to obsess, and it makes it harder for them to disconnect. However, I think that for people who are engaged and are, you know, have, have a lot of positive feeling about their work but who are also workaholics, that may allow them to stay connected in positive ways and not be worried.
SARAH GREEN CARMICHAEL: If engagement can help us buffer against workaholism and the negative effects of workaholism, I'm wondering if there's a way in which specifically we should focus on that. Because in some ways being highly engaged in your work and a lot of meaning and purpose in it, in some ways might be heightening your workaholism if you think it becomes really wrapped up in your sense of self and identity. I could see it having a negative impact, too. So, how do we make sure that we are engaging in the right way so that it makes us feel good about our work and not like if we mess up, we're messing up our whole lives?
NANCY ROTHBARD: So, that's a great question. I mean I think that one of the worries we often have when we think about engagement is, is that, as you say, is it making workaholism worse? But actually what we find is that it really doesn't. Couple of things I think are really interesting. So we, we did some comparisons in our study between nonengaged workaholics and engaged workaholics as well, as well looking at just engaged employees who are not workaholics and then people who are not engaged and are not workaholics at all. When we looked at them, we were able to look at what was different in terms of the ways that they approach their work or the ways that they experienced their work and also their non-work lives. And so, what we found was at work, people who are engaged, workaholics, we're really similar to engage employees in that they had more personal resources that they reported, so they reported having better time-management skills. They reported having better communication skills and communicating with other people in more effective ways. They reported having more intrinsic motivation in terms of their jobs, so they found their job more interesting. And so, being engaged really allowed workaholics to mimic these engaged employees in these very positive ways, and they had more of these resources than the non engaged workaholics and the non-engaged non-workaholics.
They also reported having more autonomy, more coworker support, and better supervisor support. So, it's possible that what was allowing these engaged workaholics to approach their work with a more positive attitude was they felt more supported at work by other people. So, that's something from a practical standpoint that we can think about doing in the workplace as managers.
SARAH GREEN CARMICHAEL: What if someone listening to this has recognized, not themselves, but maybe someone that they care about in this description. So you are a manager, and you've noticed one of your employees maybe falls into the category of work, obsessive workaholic, or you're listening and you think, gosh, that describes my spouse. Is there anything that you can do as a bystander to help someone that you care about get better at this stuff?
NANCY ROTHBARD: Yeah, I mean I think that there a couple of things. You know as a, as a manager, if you recognize that somebody is not really turning off and seems to be burning out as a result, that's not going to be good for you. Right? And so you don't want that person to get into a really bad pattern. And so trying to offer supports to them, trying to offer them opportunities to turn off, maybe not sending them the email at 11:00 PM might be a good start.
As a family member, offering ways to connect with them is really critical: ways that are engaging, ways to get them off their phone or get them out of the house and doing something active with you or with other members of the family or with friends, you know, those kinds of opportunities. Building opportunities to engage with other people can be a really effective strategy as a family member who cares about somebody who seems to be obsessing, but also to recognize that not all obsession is equal, right? If somebody is obsessing and they're really enjoying what they're doing to pull them away from that might not be what that person wants or needs.
SARAH GREEN CARMICHAEL: Say more about that.
NANCY ROTHBARD: Well, so I think that for people who are, you know, thinking about their work and they're just, they're getting fired up about it and they're really excited about it to say, you know what, stop thinking about that right now; you know, we need to do something else — that could be really frustrating to that person over time. Right? And so again, you can do that sometimes, but if it's not having a deleterious effect on them, then it's only a problem. If it's having a negative effect on your relationship and that may be and if that's the case, you need to act on that, but that's another story.
SARAH GREEN CARMICHAEL: Yeah, so, so switching gears and going back to the manager example, you're a manager and you have an employee — you are lucky enough to have an employee who is super enthusiastic about the job, who has a huge capacity for work, and they're always kind of taking on more projects at the same time. They're taking on more than they can reasonably handle, and you want to kind of protect them from ultimately burning out, or you want to create a company culture where people aren't working that long, and you kind of realize if one person's doing it, other people are going to start to feel like they have to do it. Is there a way that you can get that employee to back off without sending a message that is ultimately a negative or demotivating one?
NANCY ROTHBARD: I think that's a great question and it's one that is really hard to manage because most people, if they've got somebody who's enthusiastic and who's doing a lot and is willing to do more, you know, they, they jump on that person. They're like, yes, that's, you know, that's the ideal worker and they are very excited about it. And so, you know, being able to be vigilant enough as a manager that, that could have long-term consequences both in terms of the culture but also potentially for that person is really is the, is a very self-aware manager. Um, but I actually think that the bigger issue from what we have found is that for that person, they might be OK personally because they're enthusiastic and they're loving it. But if it creates a culture where there's a larger expectation that everybody is working, that's more of a problem quite frankly because not everybody might be engaged and they might just get the expectation to work long hours rather than the enthusiasm and excitement about doing so.
And so then that creates an atmosphere where workaholism may be more of a problem culturally in the group. And so for a manager to think about, how do you forestall that, I think that starting with yourself as an example is really important. So, showing that you can shut off at times, showing that you take weekends, showing that you're, you know, willing to put the out of office on your email and not respond immediately when somebody emails you. I think that's a really important signal culturally for other people in the organization that it's OK to do that because people will pay a lot of attention to those signals from their boss. And so that's step number one. Step number two is thinking about providing opportunities for people to, you know, take flexible time to, to be able to shut off when they need to and to reward that and encourage it when people ask. And to do that very visibly and publicly. So that it, again, you don't have the cultural problem that can be more of an issue.
SARAH GREEN CARMICHAEL: Are these things that as a manager you can and should be trying to do, even if you're the enthusiastic workaholic, you know, you have this huge appetite for work, but you realize that if you're sending emails at 11:00 PM, just because you're so excited about the project, that might send a weird signal to your employees. Like, are there things you as a manager can do to protect other people from your workaholism?
NANCY ROTHBARD: I think that's a great practice, actually. So, even if you yourself are a workaholic, you know, send that email and put it on delay so that it gets sent at 7:00 AM or 6:30 AM, not at 11. Right? So that, you know, people don't feel like there's this pressure hanging over them.
SARAH GREEN CARMICHAEL: What can you do if there's someone that you're working with or working for who just will not stop kind of handing you stuff at 5:00 PM on a Friday and saying, oh, you know, you can read this over the weekend or emailing you late at night and then first thing in the morning being like, oh, did you get my email? Are there things you can do to protect yourself?
NANCY ROTHBARD: I mean, that can be really hard if it's your boss because there are very strong expectations that we're responsive to our bosses. Right? Which is why I think there's more onus on a boss to be vigilant about that and about the effects that — the inadvertent effects that they might be having on other people. I mean, if you are an employee who was a good relationship with your boss, you could have a conversation with them where you say, look, I'm an early morning person. I go to sleep early. I get up early, so when I don't respond at 11, I'm asleep, but I'll be on it right first thing in the morning. Don't worry. I think you could say something like that, but again, it depends on the quality of the relationship you have with your boss and how your boss is known for receiving that kind of information.
SARAH GREEN CARMICHAEL: What if it's a peer? Because I have occasionally worked with some people who will — they work all the time, and then they kind of expect that you also were working all the time, and that can be difficult to kind of try to set a boundary with someone who's not the boss of you, but who has these expectations that you don't share.
NANCY ROTHBARD: That's actually where you have a lot more autonomy and leverage is with your peers. Because as you say, we all have different working styles, and a lot of times they may not be aware that there are kind of putting that style onto you and that it's a burden to you. So, I think having that conversation with a peer in a respectful way can be very effective. So, talking to them and saying, look, I get it that you're enthusiastic. I am too, but I just have a different way of working and I have a different working style and I promise you I'll be on top of it, but we got, we got to work something out that's going to work for the both of us.
SARAH GREEN CARMICHAEL: Well, Nancy, I think this has just been a really helpful conversation. I know it's helped me. I hope it's helped some of our listeners, too. Thank you so much for talking with us today.
NANCY ROTHBARD: Thanks Sarah.
SARAH GREEN CARMICHAEL: That's Nancy Rothbard. She is a management professor at The Wharton School. And she's the coauthor of the HBR article "How Being a Workaholic Differs from Working Long Hours — and Why That Matters for Your Health."
Thanks for listening to the HBR IdeaCast. I'm Sarah Green Carmichael.
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