University College London (UCL) has found that those who spend more than 11 hours at work a day have a 67% increased risk of having a heart attack than those who work an eight-hour day. A second study by the Finnish Institute of Occupational Health found that those who spend over 10 hours a day in the workplace are also twice as likely to suffer from depression, with a 2,5% higher chance of having at least one adverse depressive episode after six years.
“Research on the topic is prolific, indicating just how serious and widespread the trend has become. Already South Africa is regarded as the 3rd most workaholic nation in the world, with a 2011 study by Ipsos Global and Reuters finding that a mere 47% of the country’s working population take their allotted vacation days,” says Professor Jacques Snyman, clinical executive of Agility Channel’s Zurreal4employers programme, an integrated human capital management solution. “With a growing body of evidence irrevocably proving the link between long working hours and potentially life-threatening health complications, it becomes clear that corporate South Africa must take an increasing amount of responsibility for the health of their employees.”
The solution, says Snyman, is simple. These workaholics need to be identified early and managed through an integrated, holistic and personalised employee wellbeing programme.
He adds that employees and corporates need to take into consideration that increased input almost never results in increased output. “Typically, your best work takes place between hours two and six of a working day. By hour nine, you’re working at a fraction of your capacity, and your productivity steadily declines with each passing hour as fatigue, and eventual exhaustion, set in. In the long term, you will get no more out of an 11-hour working day than you would from spending eight hours in the office.”http://longevitymag.co.za/a_health/work-%e2%80%93-the-death-of-you/
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