The business consequences of excessive work
They are many reasons people leave their jobs. Here are some
reasons; Number one; negative work environments, Two; high stress and pressure work
load, Three; lack of engagement and challenge, Four; luck of recognition and
benefits. Today I am going to talk about
above the topic, business consequences of excessive work. I studied relevant journals, articles, research reports regarding the
topic. During the studies show that 85% of people’s world-wide, hate their
jobs. Considering the average person spends over 90,000 hours at work in their
whole lifetime. I think this is important to talk about. Today, we get so busy
making a living that we forget to make a life. Most of us killing our self for
a job that would replace us within a week if we drop dead. There is no way that
we were bone to just pay bills and die. Most of us are working till the end of
week. Just so we can live for the weekends. Now we can see these things very
closely from our country (Maldives) too. Let’s see our capital city, grater male’,
people die for paying their bills even it an accommodation, food education
health etc... It feels they were bone to paying bills. And it kind of effects parts
of our lives without us even knowing it. Couples in relationships where one of
the partner spends 10 or more hours at work on average in total are more likely
to get divorced twice as much.25% of employees say that work is their
number one cause for stress, and 40% of peoples say that their jobs are just
extremely stressful. This totally blew
my mind.
In Japan, over 10,000 people drop
dead at their desks every year because of working consistent 70 hour work
weeks. The phenomenon is called “karoshi”. Translated as “overwork death”. And
on top of all of that, just to make matters worse, we spend 100 hours a year
commuting. But at the same time we all had experiences and moments where even
the toughest things don’t feel challenging, don’t feel negative. Sometimes when
even we have been up all night but we don’t feel stress. There’s times when we
have been working consistently for hours, days and months. But we feel happy. I
feel how does that happen? Think about this about when it happened for you. Maybe
you were planning a birth day party, maybe you were creating a website or blog
or instagram page or else Facebook page. Maybe you even making video for YouTube
or Facebook. Maybe it’s a mix of those things or none of those things and maybe
it’s something completely different. The point is we have all been able to go through
stress, pain and pressure and come out totally fine and actually more excited
and enthused about what we have doing when that what we have doing, is what we
love. And that’s why Kelly McGonigal in her book “the Upside of stress”.
Says that when you are doing something that you love. Something that’s
meaningful, something that’s purposeful. You are able to go and experience greater
heights of stress than you ever have or thought possible. That means that you
can actually take way more stress and pressure than even you believe when you
are doing something you love. According a study by Glassdoor, a large
proportion of people, almost 50%, quite the job because of burnout and stress. Career
Builder released a study that revealed two out of five employees suggested
gained weight at their current job.
Most of the leaders are blinded, because above the 50% of them
wrongly believe the most people quite because of not enough money. But I just
want say that is not totally true. The truth is the company given extra task to
them which is unable to show their full potential at their work. The result they
get bored with the management as well as their job.
Daily overtimes lead to lower productivity and ultimately bring
losses to the company. However, in many companies, employees remain at work
until late at night, without receiving additional compensation from the employer.
The rush job is perhaps the best way to learn an employee and to understand
whether a person is willing to work under stress, make quick decisions and take
responsibility for them. The lack of time, as any crisis, shows the hidden
possibilities of man and his weaknesses. Therefore, employees who have
distinguished themselves in times of rush job can be considered as the most
reliable. Their motivation is not money, but the inside motivation, which is
going from the initiative and the desire to prove to all their usefulness, and
sometimes superiority at the right time. (Tan Shen Kian, 2014)
Rush jobs in business today are not the rarity. However, if about
10% of employees sit out the night in the office because of too much work, 90%
of the delays are due to the poor organization of work, incorrect distribution
of responsibilities in the company.
The
reason for rush jobs is located in the inability to clearly identify and
prioritize tasks. This problem is not the only problem of the leaders, but it
is also the problem of employees. Employees often do not realize that the chief
is the same man, like them. He also does not have the time and he makes
mistakes.
Even
when the sufficient number of staff work in a poorly organized company rush
jobs will always appear. They are inevitable, if, for example, certain work is
hanging out a month, and nobody makes it, simply because it is not clear whose
responsibility it includes. Problems cannot be avoided, and if the two
employees at the same time grab the same job. (Arnold B. Bakker, Evangelia
Demerouti, and Martin C. Euwema, 2005)
Excessive workloads cause fatigue, tiredness and stress, leading
to a higher risk of errors and accidents on the job. According to the Harvard Business Review,
stress is responsible for up to 80 percent of workplace accidents.
Features
Researchers agree that the
workaholic individual is more likely to suffer both psychological and physical problems as a result
of excess work. Typical problems referenced
are anger, depression, or general anxiety, as well as physical health complaints
Disadvantages:
- A Heavy Workload Affects Morale
High Workloads Impact Employee: depression and mental stress are all common workload problems. Employees who work long hours are more likely to develop heart disease, hypertension, joint pain, weight loss and tiredness. A heavy workload also affects their mood and behavior, causing poor mental focus, decreased motivation and difficulty concentrating on the tasks at hand.Working under pressure and dealing with tight deadlines can make your employees sick. These factors have been shown to double the risk of depression and anxiety in young people. In the long run, they may fuel destructive behaviors, such as drug or alcohol abuse. Excessive workloads increase stress, which in turn can lead to migraines, restlessness, irritability, mood swings and cardiovascular events.
3.
Conflicts and Poor Communication
An unbalanced or heavy
workload can lead to frustration, disagreements and poor
communication among employees. This in turn affects their
productivity and increases the likelihood of mistakes happening in the
workplace. It has a negative impact on teamwork, decision making, overall
performance and employee relationships. Furthermore, high workloads can
negatively impact employees' lives outside of the office
4.
Excessive Workload Contributes to Errors
Studies conducted on nurses
and health care providers show that a heavy workload increases the potential
for medical errors. Doctors who don't get enough sleep because of stress and
long working hours are more likely to prescribe the wrong medications. These
factors also affect their ability to counsel patients and make accurate
diagnoses.
Yasir Aftab Farooqi on Apr 20, 2018 from
his research (study effect of work overload on Job Satisfaction
and effect of job satisfaction on employee performance and employee engagement.)
the data he was collected with the help of questionnaires. The questionnaires he
distributed among the sample
size of 207 employees of
Public Sector University of Gujranwala
Division
including teaching faculty and non-teaching
staff. He said his research abstract- that the study is
important to overcome the
problem of work overload which affects
the job satisfaction
which ultimately affects employee performance and
employee engagement.
From table 5 showed the results of the regression analysis for his hypothesis from his research:
work overload and employee performance. The value of R2 is 0.027
which means that
2.7% variations in Dependent Variable (Job Satisfaction) is explained
by the Independent Variables (Work Overload). The value of F is 5.347 and
P-value=0.022 in ANOVA indicates a significant Importance of the model. Whereas,
the t and p-values in coefficient table shows that Work Overload (t = -2.312; P
= 0.022) have significant relationship with job satisfaction and hence prove
his hypothesis stated above. The value of ฮฒ coefficient for overloaded is -.163
indicating negative relationship.
The empirical results of Pearson (2008) and
Bozkurt et al. (2012) regarding workload imply that work overload is negatively
correlated with job satisfaction. Mansoor et al. (2011) and Ali and Farooqi (2014) also find
that work overload and stress-or workload have significant negative impacts on
job satisfaction.
Above I
studied overall negative impacts on job satisfaction because of due to work overloaded,
but I would like to turn the focus to the benefits of a low-stress work
environment. Here are the some tips I drop;
· Strong company culture: employees have a major role in a company’s
culture. Healthier employees operating under manageable levels of stress will
be happier and more positive, helping to maintain a strong, healthy workplace
culture that’s conductive to creativity and productivity.
· Less sick days: stress is one of the leading
causes of absenteeism in the work place. Not only will less stress in the
workplace result in less “mental health days” but it will also reduce the
amount of sick days taken be employees due to a weekend immune system as a
result of excessive stress.
· Employee retention & talent acquisition: employees who aren’t stressed are
much more likely to stick around, and prospective employees are much more
likely to work for an employer that promotes a low-stress work environment and
takes the initiative to help keep their employees healthy.
· It shows you care: actively working to reduce stress
through measure like stress management programs and policy shows that you care
about your employees and their health and happiness.
Conclusion
from my study i found almost all the researcher agreed with that, Stress can’t be entirely eliminated, and a
healthy amount of stress leads to productivity and creativity. i also agreed with it too. But there’s a fine
line when employee become overly stressed, it takes a toll on both them
personally and the overall health of the company. To ensure you have happy,
healthy and engaged employees, stress management in the workplace is a must.
Managing employees' workload can result in
lower turnover rates, improved performance and higher revenue for your
business. Sure, there are times when you need to get things done as efficiently
and as quickly as possible, and that's perfectly fine. Just make sure it
doesn’t become a habit.
Try to cut meaningless work and streamline
time-consuming tasks. For example, if you’re marketing team is spending hours
crafting and sharing social media posts, consider outsourcing this task.
It's a good way to free up their time so they can focus on more important
things, such as customer acquisition and market research. Depending on your
industry, you can purchase more advanced equipment to automate certain tasks and
reduce the burden on your staff.
More Ideas for Managing Employee Workload
Schedule the
workload in advance based on your business cycles. A product launch or sales
event, for instance, requires meticulous planning and long working hours. As a
manager, you should plan things
ahead instead of waiting until the last minute. This will
allow your employees to work at a more relaxed pace, achieve better results and
anticipate potential issues before it's too late.
Also, encourage
team building, workshops and other social
activities. These events help your employees bond and reduce
their stress levels. If one of your staff members shows signs of fatigue and
stress, team him up with another employee. Encourage them to collaborate and
distribute their workload evenly.
References:
