Workaholics vs Work Ethic

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Work-life balance has been in the news lately. CEOs like Arianna Huffington are leading a worthy charge to get people to be more mindful of the way they live and work. She champions perfectly lovely and effective things like meditation, getting plenty of sleep each night—and her namesake company is known for its innovative ways to make working for the Huffington Post as balanced an experience as possible. (Nap room, anyone?)

For all the other companies championing work-life balance, there’s still a growing tension between older generations and millennials—who view this “balance” as an excuse for laziness and not working long hours when a deadline approaches, etc. In contrast, millennials typically see Boomers as misguided, unhappy workaholics. In my experience, I’ve never met a Boomer who lauds the supposed virtues of being a “workaholic,” nor have I met a millennial who tosses his arms in the air when asked to work late on a project.

What is this discussion missing?

Regardless of where we may fall in the generational spectrum: work ethic matters.

Here are four key differences I’ve observed in workaholics versus employees with good work ethic.

  1. Workaholics have an obsessive need to be working all the time. There are very few tasks that can entice them away from the corporation paying them a check every two weeks. Persons with work ethic take great pride in the work they do, but they’re also actively engaged in friendships, hobbies and exercise once their eight-hour workday is completed.
  2. Persons with a good work ethic incorporate balance into their day—they prioritize breaks, enjoyable lunch hours and conversation with colleagues. Workaholics are the colleagues who rarely stand up from their desks or interact with their colleagues unless their calendar pings them that it’s time for a meeting.
  3. When embracing good work ethic, these employees fairly access email, social media and their phones to be in touch with family and friends. (Tried-and-true litmus test: If you think you may be on Facebook too much at work, you probably are.) In contrast, workaholics consistently neglect communication with family and friends because there’s “so much” work to be done.
  4. People with good work ethic know when a late night is called for. They know when a deadline matters to a client—when producing an excellent product means giving a few extra hours. Workaholics tend to stay late on a regular basis because this is how they prefer to spend their free time.

There are plenty of gray areas in all of these observations—not one person is a tried-and-true workaholic nor a perfect angel of work ethic. What have you seen? What else should a good work ethic embody?

This post originally appeared here on LinkedIn.