3 ms·

Work aversion disorder

18 points by saurabh 15y ago

orthecreedence 15y ago
I'm not lazy, I have Work Aversion Syndrome!!!1 Right...
unicron 15y ago
I've seen this many times. Mainly due to burnout. Some of the more fast paced "big consultancies" in the UK tend to do this to their staff (I'd name names but I'd get sued) resulting in resentment towards employment. They literally beat every last drop of energy and life out of their staff every day, threaten their jobs constantly with outsourcing and then chuck them on the street when they get wise or ask questions (usually protecting themselves by threatening to sue them if they didn't sign a legal wavier). One outfit I had the misfortunate of contracting some work for informally described their team leads as "whipmasters". We had a couple of guys on from one of these outfits and they're doing well "in rehab" with us.
kruhft 15y ago
Well, there seems to be a name for every situation and condition these days. The problem is, with the coming unemployment due to increased automation and robotics, people may need actual diagnosable reasons to gain living subsidies from the powers that be so they don't starve. The world is changing and we will need to adapt somehow, and the idea of everyone working is going to slowly come to an end; I don't think Soylent Greens is really an option.
spelunker 15y ago
Is browsing HN in the middle of the workday a symptom of this? Guilty as charged!
dangrossman 15y ago
This is the type of article that should really be nominated for deletion from Wikipedia. Someone made this phrase up less than two years ago and tossed in a couple smart-looking citations to news articles and books that do not actually ever use the words "work aversion disorder" to make it sound credible. It belongs in Urban Dictionary at best. I don't know what the motivation for submitting this to HN was, but if there's a discussion to be had on feeling averse to working, I don't think this wiki page adds anything to it.
- ChuckMcM 15y ago
  I agree with you its silly. But as parody on the various 'syndromes' I think it is humorous. I had a manager at Intel who said "If it was fun it wouldn't be called 'work.'" which is both true and not true. Its true that work implies that there are things to do that are not something you'd rather be doing, but like going skiing which is 'fun', there is the drive up, the lift tickets, the planning. So those are elements that are 'not fun' that lead up to 'fun'. When you are working on something that either you are passionate about, or is really fun, then the 'not fun' parts can more easily be powered through.
Quadrupedalism 15y ago
Are you posting this because you think the article is rubbish, or because you think it applies to you? I guess it applies to me. But I never thought of it as an illness. Who would work in paradise anyway? It is rather the source of disease. The pressure of trying to be of worth to other human beeings combined with beeing unable to find motivation and commit to change is an unbearable combination.
- Turing_Machine 15y ago
  "Who would work in paradise anyway?" It depends on what you mean by "work". I would write code without pay. In fact, I'd very much enjoy being able to just write whatever I wanted, with no economic consideration involved. Now, if you're talking about cleaning toilets...

18 points by saurabh 15y ago

I'm not lazy, I have Work Aversion Syndrome!!!1 Right...

I've seen this many times. Mainly due to burnout. Some of the more fast paced "big consultancies" in the UK tend to do this to their staff (I'd name names but I'd get sued) resulting in resentment towards employment. They literally beat every last drop of energy and life out of their staff every day, threaten their jobs constantly with outsourcing and then chuck them on the street when they get wise or ask questions (usually protecting themselves by threatening to sue them if they didn't sign a legal wavier). One outfit I had the misfortunate of contracting some work for informally described their team leads as "whipmasters". We had a couple of guys on from one of these outfits and they're doing well "in rehab" with us.

kruhft 15y ago

Well, there seems to be a name for every situation and condition these days. The problem is, with the coming unemployment due to increased automation and robotics, people may need actual diagnosable reasons to gain living subsidies from the powers that be so they don't starve. The world is changing and we will need to adapt somehow, and the idea of everyone working is going to slowly come to an end; I don't think Soylent Greens is really an option.

spelunker 15y ago

Is browsing HN in the middle of the workday a symptom of this? Guilty as charged!

dangrossman 15y ago

This is the type of article that should really be nominated for deletion from Wikipedia. Someone made this phrase up less than two years ago and tossed in a couple smart-looking citations to news articles and books that do not actually ever use the words "work aversion disorder" to make it sound credible. It belongs in Urban Dictionary at best. I don't know what the motivation for submitting this to HN was, but if there's a discussion to be had on feeling averse to working, I don't think this wiki page adds anything to it.

ChuckMcM 15y ago
I agree with you its silly. But as parody on the various 'syndromes' I think it is humorous. I had a manager at Intel who said "If it was fun it wouldn't be called 'work.'" which is both true and not true. Its true that work implies that there are things to do that are not something you'd rather be doing, but like going skiing which is 'fun', there is the drive up, the lift tickets, the planning. So those are elements that are 'not fun' that lead up to 'fun'. When you are working on something that either you are passionate about, or is really fun, then the 'not fun' parts can more easily be powered through.

Quadrupedalism 15y ago

Are you posting this because you think the article is rubbish, or because you think it applies to you? I guess it applies to me. But I never thought of it as an illness. Who would work in paradise anyway? It is rather the source of disease. The pressure of trying to be of worth to other human beeings combined with beeing unable to find motivation and commit to change is an unbearable combination.

Turing_Machine 15y ago
"Who would work in paradise anyway?" It depends on what you mean by "work". I would write code without pay. In fact, I'd very much enjoy being able to just write whatever I wanted, with no economic consideration involved. Now, if you're talking about cleaning toilets...