Workism

Workism is a term describing excessive devotion to work ethic, so much that it defines a person's purpose in life. The term was coined by American journalist Derek Thompson, in a 2019 article for The Atlantic magazine.

Workism may come across as cult-like because of the burden being put on workists to present themselves positively, the use of groupthink, having work dictate their relationships and thinking, and the pursuit of an idealised outcome that may be unrealistic. Workism may be experienced as oppressive by both working and non-working people. Workist attitudes may develop in the context of a historically Protestant work ethic, or independently as a heuristic bias redeeming hustle culture, in which people try to justify the immense sacrifices they have made to maintain and advance their careers, rather than the reason they started making those sacrifices. It is also claimed that workism has trickled down from the top, for whom this disposition makes more sense.

Workism takes after, but is distinct from productivism and producerism. Producerism focuses on the merit of what is being produced, through any means, while workism focuses on the merit of accomplishing or earning something through work. Productivism is like workism, but more easily praises non-work activities, assuming that those non-work activities produce something of tangible value, or lead to it.

Work martyr
A person who puts work before their own time and health may be called a 'work martyr'. Work martyrs typically experience gratification from work and outperform others, but may be unable to delegate or unplug from work.