Many workers depend on overtime pay as a reliable complement to their regular salary. Managers at some firms condone the behavior because they see it as a way to keep productivity high even during peak periods. While on the surface this appears to be a win-win scenario, there are potential downsides to putting in excessive overtime for both the employee and the business. Read on to find out more.
Paying For Less Productivity
Although you might assume that the more people work, the more they’ll get done, this is not necessarily the case. The fact is that people cannot be productive for more than a few hours at a time, so when they take on overtime, they might not be getting as much done as you would expect or even believe.
This means you’re effectively paying people (often more than their base salary), but they are producing less with the time they have. If you’re going to be spending money anyway, it might be better to hire additional workers and have all the work done during productive hours rather than risk lower-quality work during overtime.
Employee’s Health
Not only are people less productive when they work long hours, but they can also get sick. This might be a physical illness because their immune systems are affected by too much work and not enough rest, or it could be a mental illness brought on by stress because, again, there is no time to rest.
As an employee, it is your duty to take care of your workers and ensure they are happy, safe, and comfortable. Not only is this the right thing to do from a moral standpoint – why would you do anything else? – but it’s the right thing to do from a business standpoint. If your employees are happy and healthy, they’ll be more loyal (saving you from having to spend the time and money on new staff), and they’ll be better at their jobs (ensuring your customers are happy and you can make more profit).
Too much overtime can cause the issues we mentioned above, which will eventually lead to employees taking time off or even quitting altogether. It’s far better to ensure they have the training, which should include your company’s processes and cyber security courses as well as training linked to their specific roles, to enable them to work more productively and do away with overtime altogether.
What Can Be Done?
It’s clear that avoiding overtime is the best option for most businesses where possible, but how can this be done, especially when you have been reliant on a culture of overtime in the past? We’ve mentioned better training above, and this is certainly an important consideration, as is employing additional staff if there is enough work for them to do.
Another option is to make sure you invest in the right tools. Do your employees spend more time than they need to on tasks? If so, look for places where automation and smart tools could save your employees time and let them work on more important tasks.
Old equipment and bad software that don’t work as well as they should are sometimes to blame. Replace or fix any equipment that isn’t working right, and look over your software regularly to make sure that the tools you’re using are really making you more productive. And whenever you give your employees new tools, make sure they know how to use them properly.
You can also make sure you schedule properly. During the busiest times of the year, do you rely heavily on your employees to work extra hours? Even though it might seem cheaper to use unpaid overtime than to hire more people, this is not true, especially in the long run.
As we’ve talked about, employees who are overworked and tired don’t do their jobs as well, are more likely to get hurt or make mistakes, and are more likely to get sick and need time off. Employees who are tired and have to deal with customers may also find it hard to give a professional service. Make sure you’re ready for seasonal business peaks, and plan your schedules ahead of time.
The next step is to figure out why this is happening. Many office workers have to work extra hours because they can’t get everything done during their regular shifts. Others may work extra hours in hopes of getting a raise or promotion. Talk to your team or give them a survey to learn more about what they think.
