Are Your Overtime Hours Causing Burnout?

Overtime happens in the business world. Depending on the way your company is organized, the industry you’re in, and even the season, overtime is hard to avoid. And while most companies take steps to avoid it, or at least keep it under control, there are still going to be times when certain employees tap into overtime hours:

• Maybe employees need to take on extra shifts to cover for sick co-workers.
• Or your business is busy during the summer months, so you need people to cover the overflow work.
• Or perhaps you’re pushing toward a product launch, or a website update, and there’s no getting around the fact that certain team members need to log more than 40 hours during a workweek.

For employees, working overtime can provide a nice boon to their bank accounts.

Some workers come to see overtime as a given, and might even need overtime to help make ends meet. And, in the minds of some employees—and company leaders for that matter—working more hours can be a sign of being a productive, dedicated worker…a “true team player” who’s always ready to jump in and take on an extra shift.

But overtime can be frustrating and costly for a business, especially when it’s left unchecked.

For starters, when employees exceed a certain number of hours, the quality of their work can go down:

• They might begin rushing to finish their work.
• Tired from the long hours, errors can begin to show up.

Employee Burnout Can Result from Overtime

• Spending more time at the job can cut into their work-life balance, leading to stress, fatigue, and the possibility of absenteeism and tardiness in the near future.
• The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention states that overtime can contribute to poorer general health, increased rates of injury, and more illnesses.
• What’s more, other research shows a correlation between working too much and issues related to depression, body aches and pains, and the ability to maintain relationships and actually enjoy time off from work.

Are you able to project overtime hours before they happen? Or do they consistently catch you by surprise at the end of every pay period?

Like most companies, you want to invest in your people. The more tools your people have at their fingertips, the easier it will be for them to contribute. And this includes having a powerful, easy-to-use time & attendance solution.

Your time & attendance software can help you see the amount of time employees spend on projects or tasks, so you can determine where they’re spending their time most efficiently and effectively.

When you accurately track jobs and tasks, and have a better view of everyone’s schedule, you can start to see where your company is maximizing resources. You can also more accurately project overtime before it happens.

stratustime brings real-time scheduling into the fold, which is vital when trying to control overtime costs.

• Set specific benchmarks to help keep you up-to-date on estimated and anticipated hours, and make sure your teams include the right mix of skills for different times.
• Review data from past and current pay periods, and build schedules that meet anticipated workflow needs.
• Give your people new ways to access their time & attendance info, view each other’s schedules, and even swap shifts.
• stratustime lets employees log into the scheduling module from their phones.

With access to everyone’s schedule, you can make sure you have the right number of employees when you need them. And you’ll also have a better sense of which employees can cover shifts without working overtime.

Plus, with an advanced scheduling solution, you and your workers can proactively plan schedules, customize shifts, and see who’s available at different times. These insights can help make sure people aren’t working too much, or running the risk of burning out.