Never Not Working with Malissa Clark

Your Working Life with Caroline Dowd-Higgins

Malissa Clark is an associate professor of industrial and organizational psychology at the University of Georgia, where she leads the Healthy Work Lab. She is one of the world's leading scholars on workaholism, overwork, burnout, and employee well-being. In addition to serving as an expert consultant to many organizations on these issues, Clark and her work have been featured in outlets including the New York Times, the BBC, Time, Glamour, The Atlantic, HuffPost, and others. She is the author of the new book, Never Not Working, available now wherever you buy books.

Book: NEVER NOT WORKING: Why the Always-On Culture Is Bad for Business–and How to Fix It

University of Georgia professor and self-proclaimed recovering workaholic Malissa Clark presents a startling exploration of the phenomenon of workaholism. Supported by rigorous research and real recovery stories of Workaholics Anonymous members, readers will become empowered to face and fix their own issues with overwork. Clark, one of the world’s leading scholars on workaholism, gets to the root of the issue, encourages the first steps of recovery, and urges company leaders to mitigate the issue within their own organizations.  

Workaholism Myths and Realities: Clark builds the foundation with the facts – work hours are surprisingly not a strong predictor of workaholism. And it turns out workaholics are not the ideal workers and aren’t necessarily more productive. Workaholism isn’t the same thing as work engagement, and contrary to popular belief, there are no “good” types of workaholics. She ends this section with a look at the negative effects of the phenomenon on health, relationships, and work.  

Kicking the Habit: Full of assessments and exercises, Clark provides a roadmap every workaholic needs to begin to put an end to their workaholic tendencies. With matrixes built to redefine to-do lists and urgent matters, workaholics will feel able to approach the days ahead with more mental clarity.  

Are You an Enabler? This section serves as an eye-opening look at the outside forces that drive workaholism. Clark argues that if an organization is not actively discouraging the issue, they may be enabling it. She encourages a concerted effort to look at — and address — an organization’s cultural DNA to begin to undo damage and create sustainable change.  

Workaholics exist in every industry — they could be us, our friends, family, or direct reports.

Throughout NEVER NOT WORKING, readers will learn that the “work-above-all” mindset is not just a mindset but a serious affliction that can no longer be ignored. Clark’s blend of scholarly and personal research illustrates how the negative effects of workaholic behaviors will always negate any temporary positive results. It’s time to break free from the clutches of work obsession.

SOCIAL MEDIA:

LinkedIn -- https://www.linkedin.com/in/malissa-clark-0387991a/

Twitter -- https://twitter.com/clarkmalissa