Are you a workaholic or just a hard worker? With Malissa Clark, PhD

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Kim Mills (1:00)

It's five o'clock, and your work day is technically over, but you tell yourself you'll just answer one more email. Before you know it, two hours have passed, and you're still at your desk. Or you're supposed to be on vacation, but you can't resist reading work emails and responding every time your phone pings with a message from a colleague. In our always connected world, it's easier than ever to let work encroach on every hour of the day. But psychologists who study workaholisms say that compulsive overwork is detrimental to our physical and mental health, and perhaps surprisingly even to our careers. Today we're going to talk to a psychologist who studies workaholism about what it is and how to combat it. What's the difference between being a workaholic and just being a hard worker who's invested in her job? Is workaholism an addiction? How does it affect people's physical and mental health and their relationships? What can you do if you recognize workaholic tendencies in yourself or in someone you care about? And what can organizations and employers do to encourage a healthy relationship with work among their employees?

Welcome to Speaking of Psychology, the flagship podcast of the American Psychological Association that examines the links between psychological science and everyday life. I'm Kim Mills.

My guest today is Dr. Malissa Clark, a professor of industrial organizational psychology at the University of Georgia, where she directs the Healthy Work Lab. She's a leading expert on workaholism, overwork, and employee well-being. Her research has been published in top academic journals and featured in publications including Time, The New York Times, The Atlantic, and US News and World Report. Her 2024 book, Never Not Working, Why the Always On Culture is Bad for Business and How to Fix It, was recognized as a top management book by People Management, Management Today, and The Next Big Idea Club. She also recently spoke with APS magazine, Monitor on Psychology, for an article on workaholism and work addiction.

Dr. Clark, thank you for joining me.

Malissa Clark (3:04)

Thank you so much for having me.

Kim Mills (3:06)

I've seen workaholism go by a few different names, including work addiction and compulsive overwork. What term do you use in your research and how is this situation different from just working really hard or being very dedicated to one's job?

Malissa Clark (3:22)

I use the term workaholism.

To be honest, I don't love the term work addiction, but it is what it is at this point.

It's what is coined.

It's not a formal addiction in the DSM, and I'm also not a clinical psychologist, which is partly why I don't use the work addiction term specifically. But workaholism is multifaceted and a lot of people don't realize that. They think, okay, it's just someone who works all the time. But those examples that you pointed out really touch on how nuanced it is. And the way I study it and measure it is actually with four different components. There's a motivational piece where people feel like they ought to be working all the time. You probably have heard of a concept called intrinsic motivation, which is working because you love to work.

Workaholism is driven by introjected motivation. It's a concept that psychologists know. It's working because you feel like you ought to. It's partially internalized values of society and things that you learn growing up. But it's not truly of your own volition, so it's this kind of controlled motivation. But I just describe it as pit in my stomach, feeling like I ought to be working. The second component is the cognitive component, where you're thinking about work all the time. And this is often not talked about enough, in my opinion, because it's this running dialogue about work in your head. It keeps you up, keeps you from falling asleep. It distracts you when you're talking with your family. What are you doing? You're thinking about work.