The businesses today are battling with overtime and paying a hefty price for the extra hours. Can overtime be completely ruled out from your life? Maybe not! See how you can avoid overtime with some simple tips and tricks.
All of us know someone for whom working late is a routine. In fact, you may also work overtime often. We have been conditioned to connect overtime to performance and productivity. To say that overtime is an epidemic will not be an exaggeration. Today’s workforce regularly battles with overtime knowing very well that the damage is irreversible.
Overtime is not always a choice you make consciously. There may be some unavoidable factors forcing you to spend more hours than you wish. For instance, working overtime is closely linked to peer pressure and performance. If your colleagues are working late and if you leave early or on time you are often seen in a bad light. People working overtime are given rewards and recognition sending a wrong impression on the employees. 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. But, let’s look at some tried and tested tips that have helped employees avoid overtime to a large extent.
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.
People around you will find this shocking initially. You may be criticized or even blamed for avoiding work but take a stand. Put your 100% in your work and let it speak for itself. An organization is interested in the results you give not the hours you spend in that chair. You may not be able to avoid overtime out of your life but you can limit the amount of overtime. With just the right technology and attitude, you can get over with it in no time.