Do we live to work or work to live?
M.S. RAO
With the snowballing global recession, employees across organisations
the world over are under pressure to work hard and are forced to become
workaholics. There is already work pressure at the corporate world due
to fierce competition.
With the American economy showing signs of recession, employees are
made to work long hours. It is reported that the average work hours per
person in America shows an increase of 36 hours a week of work. Due to
the apprehension of loss of jobs, they are under pressure to work extra
hours. Workaholism can be defined as excessive obsession to work at the
cost of personal and social life.
In the words of Spence and Robbins: “Workaholic is a person who
exhibits three properties: high work involvement, feeling driven to work
because of inner pressures, low in enjoyment of work.”
It is the habit of employees to work more than the prescribed hours
as they derive joy out of it. It is a type of psychological state where
the end result is either positive or negative, and predominantly
negative.
Competitive challenge For instance, it could be beneficial to the
organisations and problematic to the employees. If workaholism is thrust
upon employees it has adverse effects on them and the employers in the
long run.
It looks that the employee puts in extra efforts by working long
hours but when we look at effectiveness, it has no qualitative results.
It is more prevalent in the private sector than in the public sector.
There are six types of workaholics: work enthusiasts, work addicts,
enthusiastic addicts, unengaged workers, relaxed workers and
disenchanted workers.
The rapid growth of technology has thrown up many challenges. It has
given rise to the opening up of the information mine, thereby minimising
the secrecy as it used to prevail much before the internet technology.
Everything is made public. And there is constant innovation to stay
competitive at the corporate world.
Failure to do so results in companies getting obsolete over a period
of time. And the impact is felt on the employees who ultimately have to
perform or perish. Employees begin putting in extra hours of work.
The companies too treat workaholics as their assets. At times, the
employees like to set an example for others and boost their personal
superego as well.
The positive side of workaholism helps in quick career growth as it
offers recognition, apart from providing better pay and perks. Usually,
the goals drive the employees towards becoming work addicts. It leads to
professional success but adversely affects their personal and social
life.
Task-oriented leaders fall in this category. When viewed from the
other perspective, workaholism leads to psychological problems and
insomnia. Employees keep continuously thinking in terms of their work
and finally end up losing sleep. It also gives rise to cardiac arrest,
stress, depression, fatigue, etc., and adversely affects the immune
system.
The employees must be able to strike the right balance among their
personal, professional and social life. There is a strong need to take
time off their routine work.
They should plan for vacations or tours to relieve stress. At the
workplace too, the employees should take regular breaks after lunch, do
light physical exercises and talk to their colleagues. At home, it is
necessary to do yoga or meditation or physical exercises to ease their
stress levels so that they can go for work with energy and enthusiasm.
Courtesy: The Hindu |