Overwork:The Socially Acceptable Addiction

"Hardwork can cross the line easily into overwork.And that overwork is a disease that causes havoc in one's personal life."
"The key is to recognise when the line between hardwork and overwork gets crossed."
"Hardwork is putting in effort to do your job the best you can-but without sacrificing your closest relationships."

In my opinion, there are two major reasons why workaholics do not mind sacrificing their personal relationships for work. One, work is seen as a responsibility. This often applies when the person is the sole breadwinner in the household or he belongs to the lower or middle class income group where contiuous work is a must for survivor, there is no luxury of time to rest or spend time with family. Two, the sense of satisfaction when one is rewarded and praised for his work offsets the need for spending time with family.

For the former, i would illustrate an example. Take for instance, there is this family with three children living in a four room flat and both parents are not educated, without even primary school qualifications. Both parents would have to work, not one, but two jobs in order to support the family and jobs they can do are limited to hawkers, drivers etc. due to their qualifications. Such work do not allow rest or taking of leaves. Or rather, the rest time would have been spent on the second job, of the same nature. Thus, if you put yourself in their shoes, would you see the need to take time off for the family when the survivor factor is at the top most priority? For this group of people, overwork is a need and not a choice.

For the latter, it would usually apply to the white collar workers, or even students,who are competing against one another for promotions, bonuses and many more rewards. For them, overwork is a choice. They want to build up their careers or academic achievements, to the extent of forgetting about their personal life. To them is then what we call addiction to overwork.
They feel that they can spend time with their family in the later years when they are 'more free'.But such workaholics will be addicted to overwork and will not escape the cycle even after they leave their current job, go into retirement or graduation(for student's case). This is because the nature of workaholics is such that they feel the constant need to work for the sake of working and panic, anxiety or sense of loss when not working.

In conclusion, overwork can be a choice or a need. But is it socially acceptable ? It depends. It is subjective to how one priorties his work and personal life and how one views work as.
What's your view?

Kenny 31/08

Souce: The Straits Times Friday 23/5/08