Organisations worldwide promote productivity and extra working hours when required to achieve goals, but is this good? It is common for employees to work overtime and organisations to put extra hours at work for various reasons. Many businesses believe a few extra weekly work hours can improve productivity and help reach targets faster.

Mostly employees work due to pressure from authorities, leading to an impact on their work-life balance, making them stressed and depressed. Let us know what could be the possible reasons for working overtime and how you as a manager can control this while achieving targets.

People Often Work Overtime Due To Pressure From Authorities

Some studies have shown or defined “workaholic” effort as “bad effort” while work engagement is defined as “good effort”. Now you must understand whether a bad effort is running in your organisation or a good effort. There are many reasons to work overtime, but mostly the employees say that they do so because of the pressure from their superiors or the deadlines that made them do so. Understand the reasons for overtime working:

High Workload

A high workload can increase pressure by creating a feeling of being overwhelmed with too much work to complete. Deadlines to complete the given tasks can increase stress and anxiety. A sense to meet deadlines often impacts an individual’s mental and physical health due to the constant stress to perform at a high level while juggling multiple tasks.

Staffing Shortages

Staff shortage often leads to a workload on existing employees. They need to work overtime to accomplish goals and targets, leading to longer hours, increased stress levels and decreased quality of work. If a smaller workforce has to handle the same workload, it will lead to increased risk of errors, and employees might get demotivated to work and leave.

Last-Minute Demands

Last-minute demands of any assignment or project might lead to pressure and anxiety among employees. They will work overtime to accomplish demands, but it is not guaranteed that the quality of work will remain the same. The increased workload, stress and anxiety can lead to less productive work and be prone to errors.

Poor Planning

Planning is the brick of success for any organisation. Poor planning might shake the business and its success. If proper planning is not done, it can significantly destabilise the business and hinder its ability to reach its goals. A solid plan acts as a foundation upon which an organisation builds its success and without a proper plan the business can become unstable and fail. Employees might face disputes and unfairness, leading to pressure and a stressed team.

We have discussed how employees often work overtime and get demotivated to work. Let us move forward with the solution of this.

How You Can Manage Pressure And Overtime Within Organsiation: Emails And Meetings Need To Be Managed

Emails and regular meetings can be stressful to manage. Do give breaks and conduct meetings with scheduled timelines (not regularly). Here are tips for the authorities to manage overtime and lead a better team:

• Establish A Company’s Policy For Overtime

We suggest the organisation must establish a company policy for overtime. Team leads and managers agree on the hours of overtime needed and it should not exceed legal limits to manage stress and pressure.

• Set Clear Expectations

Being clear about what you want to achieve and what others are expected to do is necessary to decrease pressure. It would be a complete waste of time if employees are investing time on something that is less important or isn’t needed. Discuss your goals and expectations. Conduct meetings on time to stay updated. You can avoid regular meetings by getting feedback through text or call, or emails can be hectic sometimes.

First, be clear about yourself and the company’s objectives, then discuss the entire procedure with the team leads and employees. Let them handle and work then accordingly.

• Identify High-Priority Tasks

Identifying high-priority tasks is crucial for effective time management and project success. Employees will know where exactly the efforts are needed and they will invest their time according to the priorities. It lets you focus your energy and resources on the most important tasks first, eventually leading to maximised productivity and less pressure.

• Offer Flexible Work Schedules

Offering flexible work schedules can significantly benefit a company, improving employee work-life balance, boosting productivity and increasing job satisfaction. Employees will feel heard and respected, leading to less pressure and more focus and dedication.

Time and attendance management software can help manage employee schedules and data to provide insightful feedback and manage working hours.