Work Is A Danger To Your Mental Health

I owe, I owe, it's off to work I go, and go and go....no wonder we get depressed and suffer from increasing forms of mental illness. What is interesting is that it is wage slaves who are now suffering this disease usually associated with the salaried class.

workaholics are not a happy lot, according to the study, called Time escapes me: Workaholics and time perception. The study, in the latest online edition of Canadian Social Trends, reports that 31 per cent of Canadians describe themselves as workaholics. It is based on data from the 2005 General Social Survey on time use.

Nearly 40 per cent of workaholics reported working 50 hours a week and more. They feel rushed and trapped in their routine. They have trouble sleeping and reported more health problems than Canadians who aren't workaholics. They worry that they don't spend enough time with family and friends; that they just don't have time for fun.

And, despite all the time they spend at work, they are no more likely than others to love their jobs or be satisfied with their income.

Managers and tradespeople are more likely to report they are workaholics than professionals, a finding analyst Leslie-Anne Keown found puzzling.

"Perhaps professionals such as doctors and lawyers accept that working longer hours are an integral part of their professional role, whereas managers view these conditions as uncompensated but necessary conditions of their position," she wrote in the report. "As for the higher incidence of workaholics in the trades, an overabundance of work, coupled with a labour shortage in the skilled trades, might be a contributing factor to this phenomenon."

A country of complainers

We live in one of the richest, safest countries and the economy is booming, yet we are among the whiniest people on the planet.

Overall employee morale is highest in the Netherlands, followed by Ireland and Thailand in second place and Switzerland in third, according to a survey of work attitudes in 23 countries.

Canada is near the bottom of the scale on the morale index, sharing 18th place with Portugal.

The only countries where employee morale is worse are Poland, Korea, Australia, Germany and - at the very bottom - Japan.

Canadians are also big complainers when it comes to job satisfaction, the quality of employer-employee relations and work-life balance, according to the study by market research firm FDS International.

On all three indices, we're near the bottom of the list. We score lower on the job satisfaction scale than even Russia, China and Romania, for heaven's sake. Only the Germans and the Japanese complain more about employer-worker relations than Canucks.

And only the Portuguese, the Poles, the Australians and the Japanese are in more of a snit than us over work-life balance.

More than one-third of Canadian workers are dissatisfied with their pay, 29% gripe that they don't get enough holiday time and one-quarter of us are upset at the number of hours we work.

SEE:

Mirror Mirror On The Wall

Psycho Bosses Depressed Workers

Work Sucks

Which Is True

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