Workaholism: Predictors and outcomes over time?

by Nicolas Gillet

More and more employees are devoting (too) much time to their professional activities. Work is becoming an increasingly important part of many employees' life, and is not confined to the professional sphere. Indeed, many people now work evenings outside their normal working hours, but also on days off (e.g., weekends) and during vacations. This tendency to work (too) intensively can be explained by the development of information and communication technologies, which enable employees to work even when they are not on their work site, and outside their working hours. Workaholism implies not only an over-investment in work, but also an inability to stop thinking about work, a permanent and uncontrollable need to work, and negative emotions (e.g., frustration, anger) if the employee is unable to work.

In this research, we showed that over 40% of the participants surveyed had high levels of workaholism. Furthermore, employees who tended to prioritize their personal life and were not prepared to sacrifice everything to succeed at work were less affected by these high levels of workaholism. On the other hand, employees who were confronted with significant pressure from colleagues to respond to job demands in their free time were more affected by these high levels of workaholism. Similarly, employees who felt a strong need to respond to work messages regardless of time, conditions or place, had high levels of workaholism.

These high levels of workaholism also had deleterious effects both for the individuals (e.g., high levels of burnout) and the organizations that employ them (e.g., low levels of performance), but also at the interface between personal and professional life. More specifically, we showed in this study that employees with the highest levels of workaholism felt guilty about not being able to devote enough time to their family. Conversely, the results revealed that employees with moderate levels of workaholism had the highest levels of satisfaction with their work, family, and life in general.

Such results invite us to propose actions aimed at sustainably reducing the pressure associated with job demands, while encouraging employees to distance themselves from their work in their free time and prioritize their personal life. More concretely, organizations should favor segmentation norms between work and family, and encourage their employees to adopt balanced lifestyles in which work does not occupy a disproportionate place. Employees should also be encouraged to recover well from the efforts made in the professional sphere, outside their working hours, in order to preserve their well-being. Moreover, particular attention should be paid to remote workers, who may be particularly exposed to the use of new technologies for professional purposes, and who could be at high risk of developing workaholism. More generally, even if many employees complain about the intensification of their work, organizations and managers need to take care of their employees and be attentive to their work-life balance. Too much investment in work generates more problems than positive outcomes for both individuals and organizations!

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Article Details
Nature, Predictors, and Outcomes of Workers’ Longitudinal Workaholism Profiles
Nicolas Gillet, Alexandre J.S. Morin, Claude Fernet, Tiphaine Huyghebaert-Zouaghi, Stéphanie Austin
First Published July 20, 2023 Research Article
DOI: 10.1177/10596011231189587
Group & Organization Management

About the Author

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Nicolas Gillet is Professor of Occupational and Organizational Psychology at the University of Tours (France). He is also a member of the Institut Universitaire de France (IUF). His research focuses on motivational processes in the workplace. He is particularly interested in the individual, organizational, and managerial factors that can promote or limit employees’ motivation, commitment, and workaholism. Implications in terms of psychological health (e.g., well-being, fatigue), attitudes (e.g., satisfaction, identification) and behaviors (e.g., performance, absenteeism, turnover) at work are also considered.