Time Management
Workaholics unhappy with work-life balanceOne-third of Canadians identify themselves as workaholics, but a study released Tuesday says working more isn’t improving their quality of life. PAT HEWITT |
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 [ 2007-05-15 ] |
© 2007 Jupiterimages Corporation
TORONTO (CP) — One-third of Canadians identify themselves as workaholics, but a study released Tuesday says working more isn’t improving their quality of life.
Statistics Canada says people who admit they are workaholics are much more likely to be dissatisfied with the balance between their work and family lives than other employees.
The study, titled “Time Escapes Me: Workaholics and Time Perception,” found 31 per cent of Canadian workers aged 19 to 64 identified themselves as workaholics in 2005. That was unchanged from 15 years ago, despite the proliferation of cellphones, BlackBerrys and home computers that keep people connected.
Study author Leslie-Anne Keown, an analyst for the Statistics Canada publication Canadian Social Trends, said in an interview from Ottawa that she was a little surprised by that finding, but doesn’t know why the percentage hasn’t changed since 1992.
“But my sense of that is that it’s very likely because they’re defining themselves as workaholics in the form of a label or a perception or as a form of identity,” said Keown.
“And if that’s indeed the case, then it’s not tied so much to their working conditions or to changes in employment, it’s tied to their perceptions of themselves.”
Among workaholics, about 39 per cent said they usually worked 50 or more hours per week, compared to 20 per cent among employees who did not consider themselves workaholics.
“It turns out that workaholics, probably not surprisingly, tend to work more than 50 hours a week . . . They have a lower satisfaction with their lives overall and particularly with the time they spend outside work. And they tend to be stressed about the way they spend their time away from work,” said Keown.
Almost two-thirds of workaholics worried they don’t spend enough time with family and friends, compared to 45 per cent for non-workaholics. And more than half of workaholics said there’s no time for fun, compared to about one-third of other employees who felt that way.
“Workaholics were much less satisfied with their work-life balance. They worried more . . . that they weren’t spending enough time with their friends and family,” said Keown.
She said they also complained of more sleep problems and they were more likely to report that they were in fair or poor health compared to non-workaholics.
However, satisfaction with their jobs and financial situation was the same for both groups, suggesting it’s not money that’s driving people to log long hours on the job.
The study found time management was a problem for workaholics, as they were more likely to report they felt rushed, trapped in a daily routine and unable to accomplish their “to do” list during the day.
“If you ask them, workaholics versus non-workaholics, what they do if they can’t get everything done, workaholics are more likely to say ‘I cut back on my sleep or I’m stressed when I can’t get accomplished everything I want to do.’ So it’s like they’re trying to grasp and get everything done but that’s just not happening for them.”
The study found no significant difference between self-identified workaholics and non-workaholics in terms of their personal incomes, education, marital status, family structure, or place of residence.
But compared with non-workaholics, workaholics were more likely to be managers and tradespeople including plumbers, electricians and welders and less likely to be professionals.
“We suspect that may be due to the fact that many of them (tradespeople) are self employed, as well as there’s high demand for trades and so more work than people to do it,” said Keown.
The study also said it is possible that professionals accept that working longer hours is an integral part of their professional role.
The study, which is based on 9,700 respondents, is published in the May online edition of Canadian Social Trends.
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