Learning about the psychology of individual differences and behaviour of individuals can enrich our understanding of work-life balance. For example, psychological theory concerned with aspects of personality can enhance our understanding of perceptions of balance. If you are a leader or manager in the workplace, an awareness of a person's attitude in terms of dominance, extroversion, patience and conformity can shed much light in explaining the approach of the individual in terms of work-life balance. This information can be gleaned from the P3 personality profile tool, an inexpensive personality assessment tool available from JobsDB.com.

Workaholics
Research on the character of "workaholics" has shown that they are individuals who choose to work long hours even when they may not need to do so. Furthermore, they tend to do so at the expense of other activities. In fact, workaholism may even be viewed as a disease similar to alcoholism. However, in reality it is more properly viewed as a form of extreme work involvement with little or limited regard for non-work activities. Recent research on workaholism has been linked to three relatively stable personality types, the achievement-oriented, the perfectionist and the compulsive-dependent.

'Over-workers'
We must distinguish workaholics are those who choose to work long hours and perceive some rewards from doing so, from 'over-workers' who may also work long hours but who have little choice in the matter and also those who do not believe that the returns they receive justify the long hours but continue to do so. 'Over-workers' work long hours simply to earn a little extra to meet their financial needs or simply make ends meet or maintain a standard of living and lifestyle that may not necessarily be an imperative. 'Over-workers' may also include individuals who feel insecure in their jobs and feel it as a way to establish their importance or relevance to the workplace.