Being a workaholic is too often portrayed as solely negative, a business expert has claimed.

Management-Issues reported that Rouen Business School academic Professor Yehuda Baruch has just had a report published that aims to offer a "balanced viewpoint" of a so-called addiction to work.

For permanent and interim managers who spend the majority of their time thinking about work, he suggested the rewards can be higher pay, stronger social skills, better self-esteem, as well as improved vigour and dedication.

Professor Baruch suggested workaholics are similar to chocoholics, saying: "Chocoholism does not hurt the environment, and only in certain extreme cases might it be harmful to an individual's health. Similarly, workaholism can be encouraged by intrinsic motivation and need, coupled with organisational identification and job satisfaction."

His article was published in the Career Development International journal and argued that people should be left to decide for themselves how much work they can handle, unless their health is suffering as a result.

Management Today's reporter Rebecca Burn-Callander claimed that there is a hole in Professor Baruch's argument, since addiction to anything "presupposes an extreme", which could mean a person is exhausting themselves.

She suggested that you would not say someone is addicted to something if they do that activity in moderation.

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