During an economic downturn, job uncertainty can lead to longer hours as employees try to appear indispensable. But too much work takes a physical and mental toll, says Dan Roberts The economic gloom may be lifting but it's still pretty murky out there. Companies are obsessed with cutting costs, which means paring budgets and staffing levels to the bone. And this, inevitably, means redundancies - especially in the hardest hit sectors such as advertising, publishing, construction and financial services.
As employees peer nervously over their shoulders waiting for the dreaded axe to fall, they are working ever harder and longer hours to prove their worth. If they appear irreplaceable, the logic goes, they'll avoid the chop. Many recent studies back up this tendency toward "presenteeism", where bosses want staff at their desks night and day, and the staff are only too happy to oblige. Research commissioned by the financial services company Callcredit found that nearly a quarter of British workers have increased the number of unpaid hours they spend in the office, a trend reflected in many countries around the world, including the UAE. The problem is especially acute among 45 to 54-year-olds (presumably because they fear redundancy more than younger colleagues), 27 per cent of whom have increased their working hours during the recession. And 50 per cent of this group have donated more time because their organisation has slashed staff numbers or because they feel insecure about their job.
Cary Cooper, a professor of organisational psychology and health at Lancaster University Management School, says this insecurity is gnawing away at workers across the globe. "People feel they have to arrive early and stay late to show 100 per cent commitment," he says. "They may not want to be there, but they're worried about their jobs and don't want to be hit by the second or third tranche of redundancies."
Cooper suspects that many firms, trying to claw their way back to profitability, are only too happy to have employees putting in longer hours. "Companies love it," he says. "And that's a real worry for me because there's a lot of evidence that if you create a culture of presenteeism, it has devastating consequences on people's health and well-being. The science shows that if you consistently work long hours you will get ill."
Ironically, Cooper says, the evidence also shows that long hours lead to a loss of productivity and impair quality of work, performance and decision-making. So, although bosses may encourage their workers to burn the midnight oil, it might actually damage companies in the long term. "If people feel so job-insecure that they regularly work early and late, it will make them less resilient and less vigilant. They'll make more mistakes and cause more problems than if they had a better work/life balance," Cooper says. "The ironic thing is that senior management should understand this because they know that if they persistently work 80-hour weeks it will have a damaging effect on their health and families."
This is a key point: it's not just browbeaten employees who are suffering because of the recession. Everyone from the chief executive on down is likely to be working silly hours. Outside the white-collar world, the risks can be even greater: many entrepreneurs, small business owners and the self-employed are working extra hard to survive the harsh economic climate. If you're self-employed and don't work, the bills won't get paid, so the temptation to take on an ever-increasing workload is great. Dr William Shanahan, a consultant psychiatrist and medical director of the Capio Nightingale Hospital, London, is currently deluged with people who find it impossible to say no to work.
"Recently, I've seen a big increase in people who give themselves over to their work too much," he says. "Some are employees anxious about losing their jobs, others are entrepreneurs who just cannot let go; they've put everything into schemes that looked solid five years ago but are now very wobbly." Of course, the line between overwork because of external pressure and workaholism is a thin one, but there is a difference. "Workaholics are addicted to work like gamblers are," says Shanahan. "That's very different from someone who overworks because they have to, and will often bitterly resent their workload."
Another often-quoted distinction is that hard workers sit at their desks dreaming of being on the ski slopes, while workaholics dream of their desk while whizzing down the slopes. It seems logical that the current economic climate is a fertile breeding ground for workaholism, but is that really the case? Gina Gardiner, a life coach and the founder of Recovering Workaholics, says that although this seems likely, there's no concrete evidence to back it up.
"It's hard to get figures about workaholism because organisations are happy for people to work long hours," she says. "Anecdotally, it does seem to be increasing, partly because the boundaries between work and home have become blurred with the advent of BlackBerrys, e-mail and mobile phones. Clear distinctions between work and leisure now don't exist, so people can work 24/7. I'm always hearing stories about people taking BlackBerrys and laptops to the beach."
Gardiner believes that there are four key drivers in people's lives, and the degree to which we have them determines whether we are an addictive personality (as prone to workaholism as substance abuse) or not. "The first is certainty: knowing we have a roof over our head and food on the table. That can lead to a strong need to be in control, so we may want to be in charge at work and making the decisions," she says. "Conversely, a little uncertainty is also important, which is why people ski black runs or throw themselves out of aeroplanes. Work can also provide that if you have a stimulating, fast-changing environment."
The third driver, significance, is a key one for workaholics, according to Gardiner, especially if they have a high status. So is the fourth: love and connection, which is often provided in the workplace, especially if you have an unfulfilling marriage or personal life. "If three or more of those needs are met through work, it's potentially an addiction," she says. Workaholism is insidious because it's deemed socially acceptable - certainly more so than blowing all your money in a casino or on a drug habit. But, as with any form of overwork, the impact on your physical and mental health can be catastrophic.
"The health risks are stress-related illnesses, high blood pressure, stroke and heart disease, plus burnout and nervous breakdown," says Gardiner. "In fact, the one thing that often forces workaholics to change is a heart attack or nervous breakdown." Shanahan agrees."Men especially don't listen to their bodies," he says. "They work far too hard and eventually develop psychosomatic symptoms. The body starts to protest and they get headaches, chest pains and rashes. They may also feel depressed, anxious, irritable or tearful."
As if that's not reason enough to rein in those working hours, one of the biggest dangers of overwork is the damage it does to those around you. As legions of long-suffering "executive widows" will testify, obsession with work doesn't leave much time for spouses and children. "Working to excess does huge damage to relationships," says Shanahan. "Often you find these people are riddled with guilt in later life because they missed their kids growing up and didn't realise it until it was too late."
So working crazy hours is clearly a bad idea. But if you or someone you love is doing so, what's the answer? According to Cooper, it's not sacrificing yourself, even if you fear losing your job. "What do companies really want right now? Effective performers. Your performance is much more important than just showing face time," he says. "So do your job really well, then go home and get re-energised with your family or do activities you enjoy so you'll come back the next day in better shape to do your job."
If you think you or a loved one may be workaholic, the solution lies in learning to say no and switch off, recreating the firm boundaries between work and home. "Remember, BlackBerrys have an off button," Gardiner says. "The key message for workaholics is that they have to learn to take time off and relax. That can often mean a ban on e-mails and mobile phones once they leave the office or, if they work from home, going for a long walk at the end of the day and coming back in 'off mode'," she says. "If you feel it's impossible to switch off then find something other than work to be passionate about - exercise is perfect because it burns off the cortisol and adrenalin that are secreted when we're under stress."
So ignore the seductively flashing light on your BlackBerry and remember that e-mails, business calls and memos can wait until tomorrow. Otherwise, there will be a heavy, and inevitable, price to pay.