How can employees avoid working overtime?

There has been a major societal shift in how we work. What was once a job that paid the bills, has become a much bigger part of people’s lives. More people are working, a large number of people are doing work that they love and many are working overtime. In fact, a new survey from Morgan McKinley shows that two-thirds of professionals in Ireland are working overtime.

Not so many years ago, overworking was seen as a badge of honour. Professionals were clamouring over one another to talk about how busy and stressed they were. But with the shift towards employee wellness programmes and the increasing discussions around the effects of burnout, overworking is becoming less of a badge of honour and more of a cause of concern.

While this shift should be considered positive, the statistics can’t be ignored. The latest survey shows that 65% of people work for longer than their contracted working-hours. So, what gives?

The truth is, there are a few factors at play, but accessibility and flexibility are two major issues that need to be addressed. “Flexibility shouldn’t mean the same thing as constant availability,” said Jane Gormley, director of nationwide recruitment. “With enormous and very recent changes in working arrangements, it’s of high importance to get some control and boundaries around when you are in and out of work.”

With summer holidays in full swing, it’s important to remember that people genuinely are away from their desks, and down time isn’t being interrupted. However, Gormley added that the punishment of coming back to thousands of, what were at one point, crucially important emails can actually be more dread-inducing than just checking your phone every second day for something that it likely important and easier addressed immediately. And with our work emails at our fingertips, the temptation to stay “always on” can be strong. In fact, a report earlier this year showed that more than 40% of employees feel compelled to reply to managers’ requests while on holidays.

But overworking can lead to detrimental health effects, starting with burnout, so it’s vital to find a balance around avoiding overworking and keeping your time off sacred but without dreading what awaits you upon your return. With this in mind, here are Gormley’s top tips.

How to keep your time sacred

1. Turn the out-of-office on. A lot of people don’t bother, but this just leads to confusion. Make sure you include a direct alternative contact in your out-of-office and of course, double-check your dates are correct.
2. Inform your alternative contact that you’re using them and give them a handover document. While this may seem obvious, it’s often an overlooked step. Don’t assume everything will wait until you come back and risk leaving your colleague without any direction. If you have a receptionist, tell them too who should be taking your calls.
3. If you absolutely need to keep the lines of communication open when you’re not at work, do so at a set time, for a limited time period and let people know you will have limited availability. Again, it’s important to have a back-up in your workplace who can coordinate anything that happens on the ground.
4. Respect your own time. It’s of enormous importance that time away really is time away. If you have a work phone, turn it off or leave it in a drawer. You’ll be surprised what people can actually get done without you.
5. If you’re a manager, agree on a proactive, prearranged check-in where certain issues or questions can be run by you. Don’t encourage over reliability of people being allowed to constantly interrupt your non-work environment.
6. When you come back, book an hour in your diary on your first morning back and try an include your ‘alternative contact’ person. This will get you back up to speed in a manageable way.

“Outside of holiday times, there remains the question of where the professional boundaries are with all this flexibility,” said Gormley. “Deciding what’s reasonable and manageable in your mind is something that all employees need to think about.”

If the latest statistics have shown us anything, it’s that not only is the Irish workforce doing a lot of overtime, but they’re not being compensated for it either. Since overworking can have a negative impact on both their productivity and more importantly, their health, it’s vital that they take the necessary steps to reduce overwork as much as possible and protect their time off.

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A version of this article appeared on Silicon Republic.

 

Woman on laptop photo by Victoria Heath on Unsplash