Being a workaholic isn’t as dangerous to your health as you might think

Workaholism, a defining characteristic of the career-obsessed professional who compulsively checks emails on the weekend and while on vacation, has always been painted as a negative trait. Studies have linked it to health issues like heart disease and diabetes, as well as depression and anxiety.

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But a study conducted by Simon Fraser University, in conjunction with the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania and the University of North Carolina Charlotte, found there is no evidence that working long hours will increase the risk of these disorders. It appears in the fall issue of the Academy of Management Discoveries.

The reason for this is that there are different types of workaholics: those who are engaged and those who aren’t.

“The general assumption is that being a workaholic is bad for you and will lead to a heart attack, but we found that only the people who weren’t engaged in their work had higher risk of metabolic syndrome, which is the overarching measure for cardiovascular disease and diabetes,” Lieke ten Brummelhuis, assistant professor of management at the Beedie School of Business at Simon Fraser University and lead author of the study, tells Global News.

In addition, she says, not all workaholics are driven by the same factors.

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“When we talk about workaholics, we’re looking at two different dimensions: those who work excessively and those who work compulsively.”

The difference is the former group works that way of their own accord, while the latter is driven by compulsion and guilt.

This isn’t to say that engaged workaholics are immune to what ten Brummelhuis calls subjective well-being indicators, like sleep issues, fatigue, stomach upset and headaches, but their engagement indicates an active mentality.

“These people will take action and do something about it, like re-evaluate the job and question if it’s right for them, as well as seek support to make sure things improve,” she says.

In order to determine engagement, the researchers asked participants to answer questions about how vigorous their job makes them feel, how enthusiastic they are about their job and how absorbing their work is.

“You need to be really honest with yourself about why you work and what the intrinsic motivators are,” ten Brummelhuis says. “Do you work because it’s meaningful or because you truly enjoy what you’re doing? If so, those are healthy drives. But if you’re only working long hours because you need the money to fund your lifestyle or you’re addicted to the status, those aren’t healthy.”

Tweet This Click to share quote on Twitter: "You need to be really honest with yourself about why you work and what the intrinsic motivators are," ten Brummelhuis says. "Do you work because it's meaningful or because you truly enjoy what you're doing? If so, those are healthy drives. But if you're only working long hours because you need the money to fund your lifestyle or you're addicted to the status, those aren't healthy."

To promote work engagement, researchers advise employers to provide employee feedback, encourage rewarding work relationships, and assign challenging and meaningful tasks. They also suggest implementing incentive systems that reward engagement and output quality versus staying connected to work 24/7.

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And although money may seem like the answer, ten Brummelhuis says it doesn’t always do the trick.

“Studies have shown that beyond $70,000 per year, money doesn’t contribute to happiness anymore,” she says. “It’s great at the beginning, but then we get accustomed to it and we just desire more with no satisfaction.”