Table of contents:
- epidemiology
- Concept
- Risk factors and causes of work addiction
- Symptoms of work addiction
- Types of workaholics
- Consequences of work addiction
- How to prevent work addiction
- Treatment of work addiction
By Lic. Fernando Mansilla Izquierdo. March 21, 2018
Many people come into contact with various chemicals for sensation seeking, as an alternative to stress or for other problems and are said to be addicted to drugs or toxins. But it has also been noticed that an increasing number of workers develop a type of addiction without substance, which has been called work addiction.Being a worker is a virtue, but being so in excess and having a high commitment to the company can lead to work addiction and therefore, a psychosocial risk. For addicts the value of work is higher than relationships with colleagues, friends and family. This obsession to take on more and more tasks generates conflicts between workers and in the organization (Del Libano and others, 2006). A peculiarity of work addiction that differentiates it from other addictions is that people are praised and rewarded for working excessively, this almost never happens with other addictions (Fassel, 2000). The English term that defines work addiction is workaholism, which links the concept of work with alcoholism, thus relating it to drug addiction.
In this Psychology-Online article, we talk about work addiction: causes, symptoms, treatment, consequences and prevention.
You may also be interested in: Internet Addiction Index- epidemiology
- Concept
- Risk factors and causes of work addiction
- Symptoms of work addiction
- Types of workaholics
- Consequences of work addiction
- How to prevent work addiction
- Treatment of work addiction
epidemiology
Work addiction, which mainly affected men, has spread among women in recent years and it is estimated that more than 20% of the world's working population has this addiction.
In Spain it is estimated that 10% of the population suffers from work addiction; Others have pointed out that addiction to work affects 11.3% of workers (Sánchez Pardo, Navarro Botella and Valderrama Zurián, 2004), and the ILO states that 8% of the Spanish workforce dedicates more than 12 hours to day to their profession to escape their personal problems and many of them end up suffering from cardiovascular diseases.
Concept
The work addiction that appeared in 1968, when an American religion professor, Oates, used it to refer to his own work and compared it to alcoholism. Later, Oates defined workaholism as an excessive and uncontrollable need to work incessantly, affecting a person's health, happiness, and relationships. Work addiction is made up of various dimensions (Flowers and Robinson, 2002) such as:
- Compulsive tendencies related to hard work and difficulties in relaxing after work.
- The need to be in control, as the worker feels uncomfortable when he has to wait or when things are not done his way and are beyond his control.
- Communication poor interpersonal relationship, it is more important what the worker himself does than relationships with others.
- Inability to delegate tasks among subordinates and to work as a team.
- Self-assessment focused on work, since more value is given to the results of the work carried out, than to the process by which those results have been achieved.
The workaholic or laboradicto is one who dedicates more time to work than is required by the circumstances. But in addition, it is not only a quantitative question of hours of dedication, but also a qualitative one, those people who make work the central nucleus of their lives, to the point of disdaining other activities and not being able to have other interests. Workaholics are not able to take time off because the lack of activities immediately generates dissatisfaction and overwhelm.
Therefore, for the laboradicto, work is the only object of his life, since he shows disinterest in areas other than his work and because he is unable to stop working. The following parameters can be found in work addiction (Fuertes Rocañín, 2004):
- It occurs when the activity becomes an obsessive idea, occupying most of the worker's life.
- Usually it is not recognized by the worker, being the family who detects it, due to the excess of time dedicated to work and that remains for the family, and this ends up creating a type of life outside the addict.
Work addiction is characterized by an extreme work attitude (they work after hours, weekends or on vacation), by excessive dedication in time (there is a loss of control over the time spent at work), by compulsion and effort at work, due to lack of interest in other activities outside work, due to disproportionate job involvement, and deterioration in daily life (family and social).
Although there is no common definition of work addiction, it could be said that the workaholic is a worker who dedicates a large part of his time to work activities with negative consequences at the family, social and leisure level, who constantly thinks at work when not working and working beyond what is reasonably expected (Scott, Moore & Micelli, 1997) and working longer hours than normal workers, as they are satisfied with the job itself (Machlowitz, 1980).
Risk factors and causes of work addiction
Among the risk factors that lead to work addiction can be noted:
- Family economic pressures.
- The fear of losing your job.
- The enormous competitiveness that exists in the labor market, where those who leave everything for work are more valued than those who only comply with their schedule.
- The strong need to achieve success and the desired position.
- The inability to refuse to a boss on requests that may well be postponed until the next day.
- The fear of pushy, demanding bosses who constantly threaten the worker with losing his job.
- The lack of organization, which allows the accumulation and oversaturation of work.
- The problematic family environment that makes the worker not want to go home.
- Excessive ambition for power, money, and prestige.
- The inability to set priorities. The lack of personal affections that are supplemented by work.
- Family education that requires men to fulfill the role of provider for their family.
- The pressure of many women whose goal is only to raise their children.
- Pressure from society for children to be independent.
The so-called challenging demands ( challenge stressors ) and hindrance stressors , which can have positive effects on performance and work motivation, can also become potentiators of work addiction (Del Líbano et al., 2006).
Symptoms of work addiction
The addicted to work have some common features such as:
- The need for social recognition of their work.
- They are perfectionists and have low self-esteem. They don't like working in a team, they prefer to work alone.
- They long for power, although their motivation is not only that. Most workaholics are people with a position of responsibility and potential for advancement. But, there are also those who do not have a high-level position or opportunities to improve or change their situation. In general, we can say that they use work as a refuge to escape from other problems.
- They are narcissists, when they reach positions with power they become dehumanized, they do not take into account the feelings of others or companionship when working and expect their subordinates to fulfill a work schedule similar to theirs. They are very demanding with themselves and with others.
In addition, the most notable characteristics of workaholics are:
- Feeling overwhelming worries during the weekend.
- Being unable to take vacations or rest.
- Feeling the impossibility of leaving an unfinished job at the end of the day.
- Putting on new jobs to do during rest periods.
- Being unable to refuse offers of additional work.
- Experience that time passes very quickly when working.
- Be demanding and competitive in any activity.
- Look impatiently at the clock.
- Being accused by family and friends that you dedicate more time to work than to them.
- Experience tiredness and irritability if not working on weekends.
- Stay last in the company.
- Do not delegate and perform or supervise everything personally.
- Limit readings to work topics.
- Having trouble relaxing
- Work with tension.
- Communicate better in the company than outside of it.
- Emotional and social distancing.
- Have a feeling of guilt.
- Have a high level of anxiety.
- Have a need for admiration and obedience from others.
- Lack of financial motivation.
- Being unable to disconnect from your work activity.
Types of workaholics
For this reason, not only the variable time, although some have pointed out that dedicating more than 50 hours a week to work, can determine addiction. Although many professionals would be included within the addiction; Since it must be taken into account that there are people who enjoy their work, who are highly motivated with it and who despite that maintain a balance between work, family and leisure and free time. That is why it is necessary to clarify very well whether or not a person is a workaholic, which is difficult based on current research (Llaneza Álvarez, 2002).
Fassel (2000) states that the difference between addiction to work and working a lot is that the addict is devoid of an internal regulator that says when the worker has to stop.
Naughton (1987) distinguishes four types of workaholics oriented towards two types of behaviors such as obsessive-compulsive and excessive dedication or not:
- The strongly committed (scores low in obsession-compulsion; dedicates many hours to work, highly motivated by objectives; takes on challenges; is very satisfied with his work and pays little attention to other things).
- The compulsive workaholic (high score in dedication and obsession; tends to have difficulties in relating to colleagues and subordinates; they are very impatient people, full of manias or patterns, they understand that social and family activities are an anger and do not fit between the position they occupy and the hours they dedicate to their work).
- The compulsive non-workaholic (low score in dedication and high obsession; considers work as something to be done but obsessively engages in activities outside of work (hobbies, sports, etc.)).
- Not addicted to work (low score in both variables; he does not seek personal achievement through work, he ignores it when his established day ends; his motivation is found outside of work).
On the other hand, Scott, Moore and Miceli (1997) have proposed three types of behavior patterns in work addiction:
- The compulsive-dependent (is positively related to high levels of anxiety and physical and psychological problems and negatively with job and life satisfaction).
- The obsessive-compulsive perfectionist (positively related to stress levels, physical and psychological problems, hostile interpersonal relationships, and job satisfaction).
- Achievement-oriented (is positively related to physical and psychological health, socially proactive behaviors and job and life satisfaction.
- It should also be noted the 'pseudo-addicts' who do not suffer from work addiction, but have a very high work rate, and use work to climb positions and achieve economic and social improvements. The problem is that this type of behavior can lead to addiction very easily and without being perceived by the individual himself (Fuertes Rocañín, 2004).
Perhaps this typology can include what has been called 'executive syndrome' suffered by ambitious and perfectionist people, but sad and boring. These workers are very lazy when it comes to going on vacation, so they do not plan until the last moment and when they go out, they need a great activity to forget about work, which, instead of resting, they become even more stressed.
Consequences of work addiction
Work addiction generates negative consequences in family life, since it leads to isolation, divorce and the destruction of family life.
They can also develop health problems such as cardiovascular, gastric, hypertension, muscle disease, and anxiety. They can also consume toxic substances to increase work performance and overcome fatigue and the need to sleep.
How to prevent work addiction
Every worker has to take into account that:
- There are a lot of things to enjoy, not just work.
- In work tasks it is important and necessary to delegate.
- The working day is eight hours.
- Work to do at home should be the exception.
In addition, the psychotherapeutic approach to work addiction should be carried out with the same scheme as any other addiction, to regain work and personal balance in your life.
Treatment of work addiction
To carry out the evaluation, semi-structured interviews with the worker, colleagues, subordinates and superiors will be used, with exploratory techniques, active listening, which allows clarification, rationalization and reformulation and confrontation. You can also use the T est Addiction Risk Work (Work Addiction Risk Test) (Appendix 20) and orienting towards a psychotherapeutic approach.
It is also convenient to carry out:
- The socio-occupational history and affiliation data (sex, age, length of service in the company and previous companies)
- The analysis of the psychosocial conditions of the workplace.
- The chronological description of the relevant events for the current situation.
- Personal coping resources. The assessment of the consequences for the worker: personal, work, family and social.
This article is merely informative, in Psychology-Online we do not have the power to make a diagnosis or recommend a treatment. We invite you to go to a psychologist to treat your particular case.
If you want to read more articles similar to Work Addiction, we recommend that you enter our Addictions category.