Dive Brief:
- Being a workaholic offers mainly negative outcomes and a recent study linking workaholics with higher scores than non-workaholics on psychiatric symptoms including ADHD, OCD, anxiety and depression really drives home that point.
- According to Science Daily, an online research news outlet, a large national Norwegian study makes a strong case that working too much can be detrimental to mental health.
- With today's growing focus on workplace mental health issues and work-life balance, the study, even though completed in Norway, could have practical repercussions for U.S. HR leaders.
Dive Insight:
Researchers at the University of Bergen in Norway, working with researchers from Nottingham Trent University and Yale University, studied the connections between workaholism and psychiatric disorders among 16,426 working adults.
Results found that 32.7% of workaholics met ADHD criteria (12.7% among non-workaholics), 25.6% met OCD criteria (8.7% among non-workaholics), 33.8% met anxiety criteria (11.9% among non-workaholics), and 8.9% met depression criteria (2.6% among non-workaholics).
Of course, this is just one study, but it should provide some food for thought for HR leaders who are keeping close eye on those who log long hours. While it seems that there might be some connection, there are clear differences between workaholics and high performers, according to experts.
