Working too hard? Does that overwork make you feel like you’re trapped in the mischievous jaws of burnout? Well, keep going, as it won’t negatively affect your well-being, but it can actually be good for you if you love your job.
So says research from the ESCP Business School by Argyro Avgoustaki, Associate Professor of Management and Almudena Cañibano, Associate Professor of Human Resources Management.
The crucial distinction comes from the motivation behind why individuals put in those extra hours: whether it’s because of an inner desire or external pressure from above.
To find out why people work long hours, the researchers said they surveyed more than 500 professionals who work in the Spanish subsidiary of a major global consulting firm, chosen because these types of employees have bargaining power and autonomy, but it is not unusual for them to to make long days.
To forgive El reg‘s cynicism, but the popular perception of consultants is of long lunch takers – and lest we forget that the tradition of the siesta still continues in Spain, so perhaps that was why those days were longer for the people surveyed. Maybe not.
Unsurprisingly, Avgoustaki and Cañibano found that when people were forced to work longer hours by their bosses, it affected their well-being.
In other words, when individuals work long hours due to external factors, such as to obtain rewards, they are more likely to experience well-being problems, such as stress and depression. It is not the lack of choice that seems important, but the reasons why they chose it. to work overtime.”
Intrinsic motivators were “satisfying,” she added, and thus “associated with more positive emotions, attitudes and well-being.”
Well-being can thus be preserved when long hours are a conscious decision based on a propensity to learn for its own sake, a desire to develop relevant knowledge and skills, or to enjoy a sense of achievement. .
Yet the two different motivations reinforced each other: working overtime indicates to the bosses that an employee has a “desire for promotion” and that is compatible with “striving for growth” as a person.
“In addition, they found that the association between intrinsically driven work effort and well-being was more positive with higher levels of overtime work, while extrinsically driven work exertion reduces well-being regardless of the amount of overtime,” the study added.
So the upshot is that if you love what you do and want to work your hours, it might not be bad for your physical and mental health. But when that work is put on you by a manager or business owner, people can get angry, stressed and maybe depressed.
Software engineers and security professionals who often complain of feeling stretched and worried about burnout can find some points to consider in the paper Motivational Drivers of Extended Work Effort: Are Long Hours Always Harmful to Well-Being?. ®