Is is possible to be workoholic anymore?

August 23, 2012|employees, Employers, Interesting Facts| No comments yet

The death of the workoholic may be upon us. This was a term that used to describe people who couldn’t seem to peel themselves away from work for very long. They preferred work to just about anything else in their life. Granted, they were a rare breed, but now they may be almost a dead breed.

There are two main problems for the workoholic individual. The first is all of the modern technology that the world offers. It is very difficult not to be distracted by some of it at some point. If you have that electronic gadget that keeps taking away your attention from work, then you are slowing becoming less of a workoholic. There are so many things other than work that could fill up your time now. It is hard to imagine how there is still anyone out there who would rather work all the time.

The second big problem for this breed is that there are fewer jobs to go around. This simply means that many are not able to be workoholics even if they wanted to. If they cannot find a job, then they are just sitting at home doing nothing like the rest of us. It is actually something that bothers certain people greatly. When they are not able to find a job, many of this type of person feels that he or she is not contributing to society at all. That is a tough thing to deal with.

The question must be asked. Should we be cheering the vanishing of the workoholic or worried about it? That kind of depends on the person that you are and what you have done with your life. If you are an employer, then you may wish that these types of people were still around in your workforce. However, if you are the spouse of one of these types, then you are probably happy that this behavior is starting to go away. If you are or were a workoholic yourself, you may be very confused about how you are feeling. Some are very upset that they are not able to live the way that they once were, but others are starting to come to terms with it and look around and their life and try to find ways that they might improve it.

Is it possible that the workoholic could make a return? There is no reason to assume that it is out of the realm of possibilities. People could suddenly decide that this way of living is something that they want to return to. They might find a way to deal with all of the distractions of the modern world and start to work towards focusing back in on their work life. It is also possible that the economy could come roaring back and jobs become bountiful. These are all things that could happen. If they will or not is yet to be decided, but for the moment the workoholic is very nearly an extinct breed.