#48: #Work Martyr

 Work Martyr

 

            81% of salaried employees in the US report that they work outside of their standard work hours (~8hrs), with 29% doing it three or more days per week, according to New Study by Workforce Institute at Kronos.

A work martyr is defined as someone who feels a sense of shame for taking time off. They are driven to overwork out of fear that they're disposable or otherwise not valuable if they aren't burning the candle at both ends.

            How many of you have even consumed 50% of your annual leaves last year? How many of you went on holiday with your families and spent time with them? (this doesn’t include visiting your hometown for festivals). We all are in the same work-life balance predicament, which needs serious thinking.

Working too hard is a recipe for burnout. After the initial praise and recognition fade, can you realistically maintain the bar you’ve set? Have you ever felt like you couldn’t take time off work because nobody could do your job while you’re away? Do you drop all your personal plans to work late nights and weekends and feel guilty simply leaving the office on time? If any of the above sounds familiar, then you may be one of the growing numbers of so-called “work martyrs” who are drastically changing company culture and leading to a rise in cases of stress and burnout.

 

            It’s been found that young grads are much more likely to become work martyrs than their older peers at a rate of 43%, compared with an average of just 29% across all workers. What’s the future of our work-life balance if this is the mentality we’re fostering. Overworking is linked with numerous stress-related health problems, including depression, impaired sleep, and heavy drinking. Meanwhile, a new study found that those putting in 55 hours or more per week had a 33% greater risk of stroke and 13% greater risk of coronary heart disease when compared with their peers working a standard 40-hour week.

 

Studies have found zero correlation between time spent working and career progression. Quite the contrary, people, reach a maximum threshold. Even though they may be at the office longer — or are working longer hours — it doesn’t mean they’re producing any more than their peers.

 

The study believes bosses are often the biggest offenders of work martyrdom. So, management's role becomes crucial, to prevent this type of workplace behavior from occurring, they need to define personal employee goals and identify how people are to be judged around performance. Also, they/we need to create Work Heroes as against the martyrs. A work hero is someone who can come in, do a great job and save the day when something goes wrong. This person is usually results-driven, not time-driven, and may not even be cognisant that they are viewed as a hero.

So, we need to adopt a better Work-Life balance and move from being Martyrs to Hero’s and save ourselves. We have a responsibility towards ourselves; if we are happy or good, rest everything around us will be good.