Every 5th Pole meets the criteria of labourholism – according to investigation conducted by the educational platform of the Centre for Social Prevention. The phenomenon is affecting families – therapists increasingly meet patients who do not know how to live together after years of “marriage at a distance”.
Frequency scale
Studies conducted on a 1000 people from six professional groups show that 7.8% of Poles openly admit to dependence on work. But erstwhile scientists applied precise diagnostic criteria, it turned out that the real problem was already affecting 1 5th of employees. all 5th Pole meets the definition of workaholic.
Sources of labourholism
According to a sociologist, Dr. Mariusz Z. Jędrzejka, author of research, labourholism in Poland is primarily economical and aspirational. Among the surveyed were motivations related to the request to repay loans and leases, as well as the desire to keep a advanced standard of living. “The sources of labourholism are mostly material and economic. It is not only a mortgage or a lease payment, but besides a request for prestige and comparison with others," the investigator emphasized.
The most susceptible industries
The highest indicators of labourholism were found in medicine, law, transport and construction. More than half of the couriers work 11 hours a day on average, and in a group of construction competitions many single-man workers work 15-16 hours a day, besides on weekends. The same is actual among specialists – carpenters or mechanics – who say that "no 1 will do as well as they do." In show-business and media, the problem is equally real, though covered with the word "passion". It's frequently a smokescreen. It is about being visible, present, recognisable," said Dr. Jędrzejko.
Pracoholism and Drugs
As he noted, where chronic work appears, it is almost always accompanied by drugs. More than 70% of people from the planet of amusement – according to investigation – drink alcohol all day, among lawyers the percent reaches almost half. Doctors and lawyers talk about passion, builders and couriers – about loans, artists – about being the center of attention. Underneath is almost always the same: material aspirations and fears that “it will not be enough”.
Life Over Power
According to Jędrzejka, labourholism in Poland is not born from poverty, but from the desire to live beyond strength. A doctor making more than 100,000 a period takes another shift. The entrepreneur is chasing a collection of luxury cars – he already has seven, he wants eleven. It supports cocaine to withstand the pace. A carpenter, a large professional, works sixteen hours a day, his wife's gone, and he's inactive not slowing down.
High price of addiction
Many respondents proudly talk of their achievements. But the price, observed by the scientist, is high: health, relationships, household life. Children of specified parents spend time alone, seeing their father or parent only on weekends or on weekly leave. The therapists increasingly encounter thirty- and forty-year-olds with marital crises who do not know how to live together after years of "distance marriage". “This was 1 of the impulses to start researching workaholism,” said the expert.
Cultural background
Pracoholism – stressed Dr. Jędrzejko – is besides a cultural effect. – There was a saying in PRL: whether you stand or lie... Today, young people believe they can walk from a booty to a millionaire. They want to live like Germany or the Japanese, although we started from a different level – the sociologist explained.
Credits like a leash
Mortgage loans become a leash that leads to work beyond power. 1 surveyed individual pays off an flat in a luxury territory until his retirement – payments exceed the average national salary. “It is not a choice, it is simply a necessity,” the researchers hear.
How to result Workaholism
You can get out of workaholism, but it's harder than many another addictions.. Alcohol can be stopped. Credit – no. Therefore, researchers propose a "golden islands" method: cutting from the calendar even tiny fragments of time for regeneration. Walk, day off, weekend offline. Anything that stops the spiral.
A nation industrious but threatened
Sociologist pointed out that Poles are a hardworking and creative nation. They believe they can do it. Indeed, many are impressed with perseverance. But behind that force lies the silent illness. The day is only 24 hours old, and life is not just about work. Otherwise, as 1 of the drivers says, “a man drives, drives... and doesn’t really know erstwhile he fell off the corner.”
Test methodology
The survey was conducted by diagnostic survey and focus interviews on a group of 1003 respondents representing six separate professional groups and 18 professions in the period May – June 2025 in the large, average and tiny cities of Poland by the Centre for Social Prevention in cooperation with the Institute of Psychology of the Higher School of Vocational Education in Wrocław.
Subsequent stages of research
The next phase of investigation on the problem behaviour of Poles will be psychoactive substances, and the 3rd will be disorders related to the behavioral sphere. They are to check how much specified behaviour affects the quality of the household and whether workaholics form a group of higher hazard of substance addiction.
Mira Suchodolska (PAP)
Source: Science in Poland.p
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