The work hard, play hard adage has been floating around for decades, jokingly perhaps, but ultimately a testimony of the importance of a work-life balance. But for some — roughly 15% of the global workforce — the motto is work hard, work harder. What may start as a noble work ethic may distort itself into an obsession and then into an addiction.

Where do you draw the line? Logging some overtime out of dedication or enthusiasm is a sign of an engaged worker, not a workaholic, says behavioral scientist Toon Taris. Pulling the odd all-nighter during busy season or a big project doesn’t ring any alarms either.

The red flags: What gives workaholism away is when your motivations, thoughts, emotions, and behaviors are influenced by and/or revolve around your work, says psychologist Malissa Clark. An “inner compulsion” to work, being preoccupied by work, and experiencing negative feelings during downtime are not markers of a healthy relationship with your job.

It could happen to you. Human resources specialist Jack Hassell interviewed self-diagnosed workaholics, and found that the issue spans across all fields and identity backgrounds. “The patterns of workaholism are essentially the same,” he said, “But they arrived there in completely different ways.”

But people who share similar traits or roles may be more prone to workaholism. Some personality types — like perfectionists, extroverts, and people with Type A personalities, are more likely to slide down this slippery slope. One surprising commonality was that low self-esteem didn’t seem to be a factor in the making of a workaholic, meaning that it was unlikely for it to come from a feeling of inadequacy or having to prove one’s self.

Your employer might not want you to get better. In fact, they may try to exacerbate the proclivity to fall into that trap by stoking competitiveness in the workplace and normalizing long working hours, as was reported in the 2024 Annual Review of Organizational Psychology and Organizational Behavior.

Workplace technology might be adding fuel to the fire too. Applications like Zoom, Slack, and even just email phone apps make workers easy to reach 24/7, and make it difficult to create boundaries between work life and personal life. Receiving work-related notifications outside of working hours may pressure employees to respond promptly to demonstrate their commitment to their job.

Add the shift to the WFH model to the pile. Creating a workspace inside of your living space has also blurred the line between working hours and downtime. A physical distance between your office and your home creates a psychological detachment that boosts your ability to recover from work. Without the material and mental distance, it becomes harder to gear up for work and harder to detach, aggravating the inability of those vulnerable to workaholism to “turn off” the impulse to work, creating a new group of always-on workers.

The kicker? Workaholism doesn’t make you better at your job… A 2016 study also conducted by Clark and her cohorts found no relation between workaholism and job performance. A study from the year before and one from 2020 confirmed these findings, showing that people logging excessive working hours received similar performance scores to colleagues who didn’t put in as much effort.

…In fact, it might make you worse. Taris noted that even though workaholics “create a lot of work for themselves,” their lack of recovery leads to burnout that increases the likelihood of making significant errors that may not just affect their own work, but ones that may be actively harmful on an organizational level. A 2018 study showed that most serious work-related incidents — which included harming patients, breaking equipment, or causing bodily harm to themselves — were more likely to be traced back to workaholics than regular workers.

All work and no play makes Johnny a dull boy. Workaholism doesn’t exist in a vacuum — the addiction has very real health effects outside of the workplace. Clark found that 89 studies conducted throughout the past two and a half decades showed that the higher a person scored on the workaholism scale, the lower they scored on life dissatisfaction. Work addicts also reported more health complaints than any other group of colleagues, especially a category of people who described themselves as work enthusiasts, who reported virtually no health issues at all.

Unfortunately, there are currently no scientific cure-alls for workaholism… Mental health experts say that people who “want to keep working beyond the point of no return” can’t be helped. All those concerned for their health can do is hope they see the light.

…But that doesn’t mean you can’t mitigate the symptoms. A study conducted in 2020 found that workaholics who practiced mindfulness exercises (you can check out our guide for some tips) were able to alleviate symptoms that affected their lives outside of the office. Work psychologist Nina Junker suggests planning recovery by scheduling breaks during work and downtime after working hours.

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