Never Not Working

December 18, 2023
Workaholism is a “more pervasive problem than ever,” according to this simplistic debut study. Clark, an organizational psychology professor at the University of Georgia, traces how the commodification of time during the Industrial Revolution subjected employees to ever increasing workloads that reshaped the average person’s schedule and led to expectations for workers to prioritize “the interests of their employer over their own.” Surveying the toll of contemporary overworking, Clark notes studies finding that workaholics are more depressed than their colleagues, whom they often stress out by setting unrealistic expectations. She suggests readers might develop a healthier relationship with work by including personal needs (“eat a healthy snack”; “sleep”) on to-do lists and taking up a hobby to redirect the compulsion to keep busy. However, Clark contends such individual-centric fixes are merely “coping” and that ending employee burnout requires organizational change. Unfortunately, she doesn’t offer much support for her assertion that workaholism reduces productivity, and her focus on the health benefits enjoyed by employees with more downtime does little to address the profit motive’s role in driving companies to overwork employees. As a result, her recommendations for employers to “decrease work intensity and reset expectations on timelines” come across as naive. This biting look at the costs of overwork is unlikely to move the needle.