Lead vocals on the album are shared by brothers Hank Starrs and Hugh Barker.

The album received largely positive critical reviews upon its release and remains a cult favorite today.

[10] In a 5-star review in Record Collector magazine upon its reissue, Tim Peacock wrote, “Divorced from the hubris of the times, Workshy has grown in stature.” Danny Eccleston, writing for Mojo (magazine), described the music on Workshy as “literate, trumpet-assisted indie-pop for the left brain" and "shaggy-dog songs that concerned fleeting alco-epiphanies and dying pensioners."

He added, "When Starrs wrote a love song ('Madame Yevonde'), it would be to an obscure photography pioneer of the 20s and 30s.”[11] Allmusic noted the album's “individuality in a rock world that had gone Nirvana-mad on one hand and incipiently Britpop on the other.”[12] Workshy was remastered and reissued on limited edition deluxe vinyl in 2016 and deluxe CD in 2017, both via Elemental/One Little Indian.

These versions contain nine bonus tracks, two of which are rare, albeit previously-released, b-sides, while the other seven are demos for songs that were never previously released.