Really, overtime is a lose-lose situation for both employers and employees. For employers, they end up paying time and a half for each hour spent working. For employees, overtime can add stress and upset their precious work-life balance. So, what’s the solution?
If you want to reduce overtime in the office, the best way is to re-evaluate the day-to-day workings of the office. What’s going on around the office that’s enabling overtime? Below are 3 tips and tricks to eliminate employee overtime as much as possible.
Make Sure Your Team is Equipped to Succeed
This really goes without saying, but we’d like to encourage a “work smart, not hard” mentality. Your team can not succeed if you don’t invest in the right equipment and resources. Of course, you’ll want to set your team up with fast internet and desktops that perform well before anything.
Also, consider this. Manual and administrative tasks used to be unavoidable, but nowadays, that’s simply not true. One of the best ways to reduce overtime is to automate or make daily processes easier. From sending emails to interacting with potential leads, there is software out there that can help your employees work more effectively. You just need to equip them with the right tools.
Treat Overtime As An Exception
If you treat overtime as something normal, so will your employees. A work environment that relies on overtime suggests a high level of disengagement and employee burnout. As a whole, this is detrimental to your entire business. So, it’s important that you start treating overtime as a last resort, not your first.
Notice overtime at an all-time high around the office? This warrants a conversation. In fact, it’s the very first thing you should do. We recommend holding a meeting and addressing the problems at hand. Remember, employees want to alleviate overtime just as much as you do.
Keep Flexible Work Schedules
COVID-19 hybrid and flexible work schedules might actually be here to stay – with good reason, too. That’s simply because the best work isn’t confined to the 9-5 work day. In fact, a FlexJob’s survey reveals that over half of employees believe they would get more done if they worked from home. This would make employees more productive while saving money for employers.
We understand that flexible work schedules aren’t suitable for every business. Still, we recommend at least experimenting with telecommuting or flex time before dismissing the idea.