The mood of workaholics – people addicted to work – is on average worse than the mood of other people, even when they are doing what they like most: working. This makes workaholism similar to other addictions, such as gambling or alcoholism.
This is what emerges from a study published in the Journal of Occupational Health Psychology, first-authored by Luca Menghini, a researcher at the Department of Psychology and Cognitive Science of the University of Trento. The study was coordinated by Cristian Balducci, professor at the Department for Life Quality Studies, University of Bologna, Rimini Campus.
"The more negative mood of workaholics could signal the higher levels of stress that they experience on a daily basis and therefore explain why these people are at greater risk of developing burnout and cardiovascular problems," says Balducci. "Besides, given that workaholics often hold leadership positions, their negative mood could easily affect that of colleagues and collaborators: organizations should take this seriously, and take action to discourage factors that lead to workaholism."
The addiction to work
Work addiction is now a well-known condition: workaholics tend to work excessively and compulsively. They have an obsession with work that has negative repercussions on health, psychological well-being and relationships with family and friends.
According to several studies, workaholics tend to experience negative emotions such as hostility, anxiety and guilt when they cannot work as hard as they would like. On the other hand, there are conflicting hypotheses as to how they feel when they are at work. Some studies suggest that workaholics experience a sense of well-being and satisfaction during the workday, while others show that these positive emotions soon give way to a pervasive state of irritation and depression.
Workaholism and emotional flattening
To investigate this aspect, the scientists interviewed 139 individuals, for the most part working full-time as back-office employees. They first administered a psychological test to determine the level of work addiction among the participants. Then they examined their mood and their perception of the workload with a technique known as experience sampling method. To do this, an app was installed on the participants' phones, which was used to send them short questionnaires approximately every 90 minutes, from 9 in the morning to 6 in the afternoon, on three working days (Monday, Wednesday and Friday).
"The collected data show that workaholics, on average, are in a worse mood compared with the others," says Balducci. "So the hypothesis that workaholic people enjoy work more than others does not seem to hold; on the contrary, the results seem to confirm that, as is the case with other behavioural and substance addictions, the initial euphoria fades into a negative emotional state that pervades the person even during work."
But there is more to it: the results show that, unlike other workers, workaholics are on average in a more negative mood throughout the day, without significant changes due to the passing of time or changes in the workload. This lower reactivity of the mood to external stimuli indicates a marked emotional flattening: a condition that characterizes other types of addictions too.
"An explanation for this – says Luca Menghini, researcher at the University of Trento and first author of the study – could be that workaholics are unable to adjust their investment in work, therefore they disconnect and recover from work less than they should and, in at the same time, continue to experience a negative mood."
Women and workaholism
The study also found that there are some differences based on gender. The relationship between work addiction and low mood was in fact more marked in women: women therefore are more vulnerable to workaholism.
The authors suggest that this could be because workaholic women have conflicting roles, as they have a tendency to over-invest in work and must endure the pressure coming from gender expectations that are still very much rooted in our culture.
Dangers and countermeasures
The results of the study highlight the dangers of workaholism. Addiction to work can have negative repercussions not only on relationships with family and friends but also on physical and psychological well-being. Overwork can even cause death; the caseload has increased in recent times.
"Employers must be clear on this subject, avoiding encouraging an environment in which working even outside working hours and on weekends is considered the norm," says Balducci in conclusion. "On the contrary, it is necessary to promote a working environment that discourages excessive and dysfunctional work, and promotes work disconnection policies, specific training on the subject and counselling."
About the article
The study "Uncovering the Main and Interacting Impact of Workaholism on Momentary Hedonic Tone at Work: An Experience Sampling Approach" was published in the Journal of Occupational Health Psychology.
Authors are: Luca Menghini of the University of Trento, Paola Spagnoli of the University of Campania Luigi Vanvitelli and Cristian Balducci of the University of Bologna.
For more information on the study: https://doi.org/10.1037/ocp0000365