
It has become increasingly common for people to talk about how passionate they are about their work. But is this a good thing? As employers we certainly want hard working and committed individuals in our team. In fact, research evidence tells us that one of the best predictors of success in a job is hard work – what we as psychologists call ‘conscientiousness’.
However, what happens when people become too ‘conscientious’? When hard work turns into obsessive, defensive and compulsive behaviours at work. Recent research (Schellenberg & Bailis, 2015) suggest that having more than one passion, or something that we love doing, is better for us than having a single force or obsession in our lives.