{"id":1979,"date":"2015-05-14T15:14:14","date_gmt":"2015-05-14T05:14:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.sctechnologygroup.com.au\/?p=1979"},"modified":"2023-11-20T10:02:22","modified_gmt":"2023-11-19T23:02:22","slug":"why-youre-killing-yourself-working-overtime-and-how-to-stop","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.sctechnologygroup.com.au\/why-youre-killing-yourself-working-overtime-and-how-to-stop\/","title":{"rendered":"Why You’re Killing Yourself Working Overtime and How To Stop"},"content":{"rendered":"

Written by: Cathy Caprino<\/a><\/p>\n

Throughout my 18-year corporate life, I would find myself staying late in the office more often than not. If I\u2019m brutally honest with myself, I did it for two reasons \u2013 to try to stay caught up with what I felt was a massive workload, but also, to show management that I was a very hard worker. One day, a senior vice president who noticed my habitual late hours said, \u201cIf you\u2019re staying late so often, Kathy, you\u2019re just not prioritizing and managing your work effectively.\u201d And boy did that make me mad.<\/p>\n

At that time, I didn\u2019t see myself<\/em> as the problem \u2013 it was my boss and the never-ending chaos on my plate each day that was the culprit. Today, in coaching emerging women leaders to build great, rewarding and balanced lives and careers, one of the chief complaints I hear is, \u201cI simply cannot balance my other life priorities with the number of hours I have to work.\u201d It\u2019s truly an epidemic.<\/p>\n

To understand how we can turn this around, both in corporate and other workplaces, I caught up with Joe Staples, chief marketing officer at Workfront<\/a>, a cloud-based Enterprise Work Management solution designed to help enterprise teams\u2014from IT to marketing to company leadership\u2014eliminate the typical chaos of work and gain greater visibility company wide. In his role, Joe focuses on helping teams eliminate the unending chaos of work that kills productivity, drains motivation and stifles creativity.<\/p>\n

Kathy Caprino: <\/strong>Joe, how many Americans work overtime, and what are the key reasons for it?<\/p>\n

Joe Staples:<\/strong> A recent Gallup poll<\/a> found that the average American workweek, which has traditionally been 40 hours, now spans more than 47. That means each week on average we end up clocking an entire extra day of work. Salaried workers are hit the hardest, with a full 25% saying they log a grueling 60 hours per week, which equals working 12-hour days from Monday to Friday, or slightly shorter weekdays with much of the weekend also on the clock.<\/p>\n

What makes today\u2019s workplace successful, however, is not the total number of hours worked: instead, it\u2019s about getting the job done. That means there are days when 10 hours are required. There are also other times with 7 hours are all that is needed. The problem is that many companies focus only on the \u201chours worked\u201d component, and that\u2019s not the best metric for productivity.<\/p>\n

Still keeping in mind that the focus should be on the work to be accomplished, not the hours worked, this move toward working longer hours has several contributing factors.<\/strong><\/p>\n

1. Employees often believe that working longer hours means they\u2019ll get more done.<\/p>\n

2. As managers arrive at the office earlier and depart later each day, their employees will mimic their schedules because they believe working longer hours is necessary to gain approval.<\/p>\n

3. Employee-fostered culture often dictates that those who work longer hours are going to be promoted more quickly for \u201cworking harder.\u201d<\/p>\n

4. Employers do not effectively communicate work-life expectations, so employees default to prioritizing work over life outside.<\/p>\n

5. Finally, managers don\u2019t have complete visibility into each employee\u2019s workloads, so they continue assigning additional work without considering existing projects and responsibilities.<\/p>\n

Caprino:<\/strong> What do employees feel about this overtime work and how is it actually counter-productive?<\/p>\n

Staples:<\/strong> I think 20 or 30 years ago, work was much more time-driven. People were expected to arrive at 8 am and felt free to leave right at 5 pm. Any request to \u201cstay late\u201d was viewed as an imposition \u2013 as if the employer was encroaching on the employee\u2019s personal time. Nowadays, however, the attitude has changed. Schedules are more flexible and employees are required to get their work done and hit reasonably set deadlines \u2013 not to simply punch an imaginary clock. What that has done, however, is made long hours the norm for some. And for some industries \u2013 such as finance, tech or marketing \u2013 overtime is almost seen as a badge of honor. If you aren\u2019t pulling 60-, 70- or 80-hour weeks, you aren\u2019t considered to be working hard enough and you could be replaced by someone else who will.<\/p>\n

Of course, loads of research<\/a> has proven \u2013 beyond a doubt \u2013 that excessive overtime does not, in and of itself, increase productivity. The small bump in extra output you might achieve by burning the midnight oil is oftentimes more than offset by your decreased energy for the rest of the week. We all know that the occasional overtime crunch session is necessary to make a deadline or deliver a product on time, but the sustained reliance on excessive employee overtime is really a reflection of poor management and isn\u2019t sustainable by employees.<\/p>\n

Companies today need to shift toward flexibility on the part of both the employer and employee. The focus needs to be on getting the work done, not on clocking a certain number of hours.<\/p>\n

Caprino:<\/strong> How do some of the top brands in the world \u2013 such as Cars.com, Cisco, Comcast, Schneider Electric and Trek \u2013 streamline their office work?<\/p>\n

Staples:<\/strong> Here\u2019s what we\u2019re seeing:<\/p>\n

Visibility<\/strong>
\nManagers must have insight into their teams\u2019 bandwidths. They also must collaborate across departments to ensure that resource allocation is optimized \u2013 and, specifically, that some employees are not overtasked.<\/p>\n

Culture<\/strong>
\nCompanies that proactively discuss work-hour policies and expectations with their employees tend to work more efficiently and also avoid burnout. Managers should foster a healthy work environment where asking for help on a project is not seen as a sign of weakness but is instead viewed as a strategic move to best complete the task at hand.<\/p>\n

Communication<\/strong>
\nRegular internal communication about workloads can help managers spread tasks across their team so no one feels bogged down by a project.<\/p>\n

If the employer needs an employee to work on a Saturday to hit a certain deadline, that\u2019s acceptable because the employee also knows that taking off an afternoon to go see his son play a little league game is also viewed as acceptable. The strict \u201chow many hours are you working\u201d view offers no benefit to either party.<\/p>\n

Prioritization<\/strong>
\nThis one sounds obvious, but managers need to better prioritize how their employees spend their working time. A primary problem that is too often overlooked, and in my opinion might qualify as the number one time waster, is meetings. Companies need to view meetings \u2013 especially those with more than five to six people \u2013 as a last resort. In-person meetings should not be the go-to collaboration tool that they\u2019ve slowly become. We\u2019ve all seen it: a meeting with 10 people that lasts an hour, with each person giving a few minutes of updates while they spend the rest of the time on their phone. Your company just lost 10 hours of work and, more importantly, your employee just lost a sizeable chunk of her day that she could have spent accomplishing real work.<\/p>\n

Caprino:<\/strong> What are the top six tips for employers and for individuals, to stop the overtime while increasing productivity.<\/p>\n

Staples:<\/strong> Here are tips that we\u2019ve uncovered during the 15 years we\u2019ve spent helping large enterprise companies learn to work more efficiently.<\/p>\n