Sometimes we have to work overtime in order to get a rush job completed or put the finishing touches on a priority project. But if we work overtime on a regular basis, we seldom gain the productivity return that we expect. In fact, the law of diminishing returns takes over, and every extra hour of work brings increasingly less than an equivalent hour of results. Here are five examples of how productivity can be hampered by excessive amounts of overtime:
1. The probability of making an error is usually greater. And If the overtime is consistent, quality of work could suffer. If you’re working “on your own time”, it’s easy to justify mediocre performance.
2. Long hours can lead to increased stress or burnout as well as emotional problems due to conflicts with family time, feelings of guilt about missing children’s events, etc.
3. The fact that overtime can become habitual, whether it is needed or not, takes away the productivity gain that accompanies an occasional burst of extra energy.
4. Interruptions increase if people are also working overtime; they seem more apt to socialize when the clock isn’t running. Excessive overtime can also become a smoke screen to hide inefficiencies.
5. Productivity may decrease during regular hours, since you have the option of finishing it later. It may also encourage procrastination.
A deadline to work towards, such as 5 p.m., always makes people more productive; if there’s no “quitting time”, there’s no deadline.
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