Why overtime work

The US also recently introduced new overtime rules in increasing the legal salary threshold eligible for overtime pay. Obviously, working overtime can have a significant impact on employee health.

Serially front-loading your week with work is rarely sustainable, in contrast to scheduling a manageable, regular flow of work throughout. But there are other adverse effects. Spending too long in the office can cause employees to lose motivation and become disengaged. Aside from the problem of presenteeism , overtime has other adverse effects on the workplace. Similarly, if certain employees leave at the normal time but other employees stay late, decisions can be made that are not collaborative, leading to miscommunication and frustration.

Working overtime can also be extremely harmful for company culture. Even when people choose to stay late, and do so because they genuinely want to, it works to slowly normalize overtime.

Other people will feel obliged to stay late because everyone else does, brewing resentment… not an environment you want to spend extra time in! Good management recognizes and respects the importance of personal lives outside of work. Clearly overtime is far from a black-and-white issue, so how can you ensure your overtime practices stay positive, fair and responsible?

Tracking overtime also helps employees manage their working hours, either to balance out any overtime or secure fair compensation for it. There are a few different ways you can track overtime —ranging from basic to high-tech methods.

Automatic time trackers are ideal for those who want accurate overtime records with minimal effort. Keep on top of individual employee overtime patterns to ensure people are taking necessary breaks from work, and make space for quality rest. View our Privacy Policy for more information. Preferences Deny Accept. Privacy Preference Center.

Lack of resources during peak seasons is also a common cause for overtime. People prefer staying back in the office with colleagues rather than going home to an empty apartment due to the factor of loneliness. For some of us, overtime eases financial problems.

In general, we know that working overtime is bad for us. But how bad can it be? Let us see if numbers and statistics can help us see the actual effects of it. Organizations also do not want you working overtime.

They realize that overtime decreases the overall efficiency of the employees. Some organizations also consider it a liability because overtime needs to be compensated monetarily. This adds to the cost of the company. Overtime also hampers the work culture and negatively affects job satisfaction levels.

Employees may leave the company due to overtime and bringing in new people to fill the vacancy results in additional costs and efforts. Ruling out the chances of overtime may not be practical, but you can certainly take steps to avoid it. In dire circumstances, even if you work longer than usual, you can make sure that this does not become a pattern. There are no sure ways to eliminate overtime. Overtime is slowing killing us and we are foolishly surrendering to it.

Career, success, money, and fame may be important but everything has a price. And sometimes we realize this when the damage is already done. High overtime, especially when it continues for an extended time period, has several potential drawbacks:. When overtime levels are constantly high, employees may become dependent on that additional income as a source of their regular pay. They might buy another car, a boat or a house and rely on overtime to make the payments. Consistently high overtime levels also may attract a disproportionate share of new employees whose financial situation makes them completely dependent on overtime hours and pay.

Research on the relationship between long hours of work and employee safety and quality is inconclusive. Some researchers have found that long workweeks increase the risk of occupational injury and errors. Other researchers conclude that a person's underlying health, demographics e. Despite these mixed conclusions, there is no question that long hours of work result in less sleep and poor quality sleep.

According to the National Safety Council, 16 percent of workers surveyed reported at least one safety incident due to fatigue. When employees work lots of overtime, they do not get sufficient time off to recover or catch up on their sleep. This, in turn, can lead to fatigue and reduced alertness. Managers cannot ignore the possibility of increased safety and quality incidents under these conditions.

Reduced sleep from prolonged high overtime levels will eventually adversely affect employee health and work attendance. Numerous research studies have found long work hours to be associated with variety of health problems, particularly among older workers. Long work hours also appear to be linked to changes in lifestyle behaviors such as smoking, coffee and alcohol consumption, unhealthy diet, and lack of exercise.

Ultimately, these unhealthy choices will be reflected in the organization's absence rates. A number of studies have attempted to define the relationship between hours of work and productivity. Many of these studies have found that when high levels of overtime begin, marginal productivity slows. In other words, the total output increases, but the hourly productivity is lower than it was during the first 40 hours.

After a few months of high overtime, however, total output may be little more than that attainable in a hour week. This is believed to be caused by a combination of fatigue, poor morale, increased absences, work pace inertia, and rework due to mistakes and defects. The key point here is the duration of overtime. High levels of overtime may be tolerable in the short term, but they can become detrimental if they continue too long.

To avoid problems that can occur when high levels of overtime continue for extended periods, employers should regularly monitor overtime and absences. Employers also must understand the workload variations and take steps to improve the accuracy of demand forecasts. Periodically, HR professionals should review the organization's overtime distribution policies to make sure they are working properly.

See Practicing the Discipline of Workforce Planning. It is important to keep track of both overall averages and individual overtime hours. If the average overtime at a facility exceeds 10 hours a week, employers should determine whether it is expected to continue. If so, they should then evaluate the need to hire additional staff.

In cases of very high overtime more than 20 hours a week , HR professionals may want to consider tactics to reduce the overtime burden, such as new shift schedules or temporary workers. Another consideration is the consistency of overtime at the facility. Even with low to moderate amounts of overtime less than 10 hours a week , it is possible to create an overtime-dependent workforce with steady overtime.

Ideally, overtime other than that built into the work schedule should drop to zero from time to time. Even when overtime levels are reasonable, there can be wide variations among individual employees. It is not uncommon to find that 20 percent of the workers are doing 80 percent of the overtime. This is okay as long as the amounts are not excessive or long term.

If a few people are working too much overtime, employers should consider changing the overtime distribution policies. Some companies put a ceiling on the number of hours employees can work in a week, month or year. Others have procedures that ensure a more even distribution of the overtime. As with overtime, it is best to track both overall averages and individual absences.

To obtain organization averages, HR must understand the reason for the absences. Are they a result of vacations, illness, disabilities, training, employee turnover or something else? Second, employer need to look at the weekly variations. Are they spread out, or do they exhibit cyclical patterns? If there is a substantial increase in absences during the summer months because of vacations, an employer may want to consider implementing a policy that limits the number of employees who can take vacation at the same time.

Monitoring individual absences is also important. Employees do not appreciate co-workers who abuse the absence policies; they want the company to crack down on the few employees who are taking advantage of the system. See Tackling Excessive Absenteeism. Does the organization's workload fluctuate from week to week?

Does it follow a seasonal pattern? Is it linked to economic conditions and rises or falls accordingly? The key question is, do you know the causes of overtime in your company? We mentioned five possible reasons already, but there are three more reasons that can stand between you and an optimal schedule:. Track work hours, manage absences and generate payroll reports Learn more Test the powerful features with a free trial.

Cancel anytime - no credit card required. As you can see, unnecessary overtime work can be the result of many variables. The best methods to reduce it are the following:. The most effective way to implement the above measures is to digitize and automate the key parameters for effective time management.

Automation reduces unnecessary overtime and significantly shortens the amount of time you spend managing it. It takes into account the availability of employees, and their knowledge, certificates, and legislation. With an automated time management system like Dynamic Scheduling , you can quickly and accurately match employee schedules and fluctuating market demand.

Such a system can provide an answer to the question of whether or not to work overtime in a matter of seconds. Choose language Language. Blog Working overtime — the pros and cons for employers and employees. Tags: staff scheduling. What you will find out in this article Why do most people end up working overtime? How to reduce ineffective overtime work. Why do most people end up working overtime? Meeting overload Interestingly, the next most frequent reason for people to end up working overtime is being overloaded with meetings and other distractions at work.