Number One Professional Development Killer: Workaholism
By Susan Smith Nash, Ph.D.

What is the biggest threat to a working woman's professional development? Surprisingly, it is not necessarily about raising children. Nor is the biggest threat being caught in the "sandwich generation" and thus taking care of aging parents as well as one's own children. Instead, what some studies have found is that the biggest threat to women's professional development via courses and/or the pursuit of a degree is the very job one wishes to develop and build upon.
How is that possible? How can one's job also be one's pitfall and career barrier? In many cases, it has to do with workload and work responsibilities. The sheer magnitude of the workload causes one to have to neglect one's life, and to focus on just doing the bare minimum in terms of family and personal life.
While one might assume that the workload has to do with the rate of change in the workplace and the unwillingness of corporations to take on new employees, the reality is something else. The fact is, that researchers have found ridiculously onerous workloads tend to be a gender thing. Women, who have traditionally held roles of facilitators, moms, and superwomen, are unconsciously being cast in the same role today. Women, who are culturally conditioned to be accommodating, are easily converted into workaholics who will do whatever it takes to avoid conflict at the workplace, no matter what the personal cost or sacrifice.
The sacrifice can be very large, indeed.
The expectation of workaholism on the part of female employees, particularly supervisors and managers, means that, long-term, while their male counterparts are networking, taking courses, obtaining certificates and degrees, and generally getting ahead, the dutiful workaholic female manager is burning the candle at both ends, often arriving at work hours before the workday officially starts, and leaving long after the workday ends.
A recent study of women managers of university programs in British "modern" universities found the expectation of workaholism, 60-hour work weeks, and tensions between work and life. In addition, the author, D. Woodward, found uncovered several additional findings that could be useful to individuals. First, in this study, all the participants reported unmanageably large workloads, with some seasonal variability. The seasonal variability is a critical element because it could provide a starting point starting to require time for professional development and coursework.
Second, the study found that women were willing to take work home. This seems to be a universal in programs and with women managers. The main problem reported by women is that unanticipated urgent items would arise and would interrupt the normal flow, which would require work to be done at home, presumably because there was no one to offload or delegate work to. Lunch breaks were a rarity. Many women arrive early and stay late. They did so to avoid rush-hour traffic and to give themselves some quiet time before the majority of workers arrived. All the women interviewed worked in excess of contracted hours, and usually ended up with 50 to 60-hour weeks. Few women took all their annual leave, and when they did take leave, it was often used for childcare purposes.
Finally, the study found that women tended to have attitudes about work that were not commonly found in men. Women had different attitudes about work, which ranged from finding work enjoyable to seeing work as an all-consuming malign force.
Interestingly, flex-time and work-from-home schemes would not necessarily solve the problem except in cases when it might help with childcare issues.
For Woodward, the most useful finding was in organizational culture with respect to gender. Women are expected to be workaholics, concludes Woodward. For women to be able to dedicate time to family and continuing education, organizations must find ways to discourage negative work habits and workaholism. A woman who is mired in a culture that requires 60-hour work weeks just to manage the work flow is not given the opportunity to keep current with skills or knowledge, and will start to lose currency.
Reference:
Woodward, D. (2007) Work-life balancing strategies used by women managers in British "modern" universities. Equal Opportunities International. 26:1, pp. 6-17.