London - You might think that treating the office as your second home and working excessively hard can only bring you success and promotion.
However, a new study carried out at the University of Padova in Italy has shown that workaholism is detrimental not only to employees’ health, but also their performance in the office.
In addition to increasing psychological and physical strain, compulsive overworking decreased job performance and increased absence from work due to illness, the study showed.
A “workaholic” is defined as someone who both works obsessively and compulsively, with both characteristics persistently present at a high level.
Working overtime and taking work home, as well as dedicating too much thought space and emotional attachment to their job means workaholics have too little time for “recovery”.
The efforts you put in at work must be followed by an adequate period of physical and mental “unwinding” or “recovery” to ensure optimum health and functionality.
The team at the University of Padova looked at 322 workers in a private company over 15 months.
Each worker completed self-report questionnaires to establish to what degree they had workaholic traits, and their psychophysic strain was measured by a physician’s report, an appraisal of their performance by a supervisor, and the number of days taken off for sickness.
Workaholism was associated with psychophysic strain, which was in turn associated with poor performance and increased sickness absences.
So, though a workaholic may work harder and for more hours, the strain they put themselves under will reduce their performance – subsequently seeing them take more days off as a result. – Daily Mail