If you consider yourself a very hard worker and you haven’t been feeling quite yourself for a while or for a long time now, you may be suffering the impact of long working hours.
As human beings, many of us live day to day and do our best to go to work and try to accomplish goals set forth by our employers. Even if you are self-employed, you’re doing the same thing for yourself to make your business successful.
The whole idea is to generate revenue for the company so it can continue its forward progress and be profitable, and to be able to pay its employees what they deserve. It is a nonstop cycle that virtually forces every employee to come in, do their time, then punch out on the time clock while making sure they have worked at least eight hours a day or more.
For salaried workers, you’re often expected to work well over 40 hours a week because, for the company, you are on salary, not an hourly wage. And you need to get the job done no matter how long it takes!
However, there is a price to pay.
The effects of long working hours include sabotaging our personal lives in more ways than one.
Long Working Hours Definition
Long working hours are defined as anything past 35 to 40 hours of work a week. Everybody’s response and tolerance is different to the effects of working long hours than the normal 40.
So where one person can work 35 hours and feel completely fine, another one may suffer if they work up to 40 hours a week for an extended period of time.
We all have our own lives and different responsibilities away from work. A work schedule that works for one employee is not very convenient for the other.
Imagine a female homemaker who works a full-time job and comes home to clean the house, feed the children, cook dinner for her husband, and many more chores.
Can you imagine the stress of working a 40 hour work week and coming home to work a few hours more? If you put all the hours together of how much this woman works, you would be talking about 70 to 90 hours of work every week!
Add to that the so-called work it takes to maintain a healthy marriage with her husband, and you’ve got a tragedy on your hands!
Disadvantages of Working Long Hours
The pitfalls of being a slave to your job are way too many. After taking a look at these examples, you may march right up to your boss and say you never want to work over 40 hours ever again!
Here are a few ways we can be affected negatively:
- our physical health can suffer
- mental health can take a big hit
- relationships with our spouse or loved ones can suffer
- professional goals can be sabotaged due to excess stress
- the likelihood of getting injured on the job becomes greater
- it can hurt your career opportunities throughout your life due to poor performance
- work productivity becomes affected
- you neglect to have a social life outside of your work
If that list of examples is not enough for you to wake you up and stop you dead in your tracks, maybe nothing can change your mind. Maybe you are too focused on the task at hand at your current job and you’re not ready to make a change.
However, if you feel like you need to make a change right now, continue reading this article to see if anything jolts your brain enough to make you think differently.
Effects of Long Working Hours on Productivity
It’s amazing how so many employers don’t see the fact that overworking their employees results in less productivity. It’s even worse seeing how many employees who are burned out, continue to place themselves in harm’s way by accepting any overtime that comes along.
At some point, you have to ask yourself, “Are the positive effects of working overtime such as more money in my paycheck and the ability to get ahead financially, worth the risk I’m taking?” It’s difficult to turn away an opportunity to make more money for yourself or your family.
However, would that even mean anything if your health was suffering greatly as a result?
Overworking employees typically results in higher turnover rates. It’s obviously bad business but it seems a few employers Actually do something about it.
It’s the ultimate mismanagement! How can it make sense to make your employees work long hours so they can suffer from all kinds of stress and health-related problems and, at the same time, make your company suffer because of it?
Sometimes, we as human beings, do so many things that make little to no sense. Employers and self proprietors become so focused on work productivity that they fail to realize the negative impact of working long hours and placing emphasis on “doing whatever it takes to get the job done.”
Make no mistake, working for long hours reduces productivity!
When employees work too much, here are a few things that may eventually occur:
- they become tired much quicker and are more likely to make mistakes that can cost the company a lot of money over the long run.
- motivation eventually decreases, substantially
- mental and physical health suffers greatly, and they can become a liability to the company
- they are more likely to hide from their bosses for extended periods of time in order to catch a break and refresh themselves
- loyalty to the company begins diminishing
- they begin to look for employment elsewhere
How Does it Affect Your Health?
The effects of working excessive hours as it relates to our health have been long documented as being extremely negative. Many controlled studies have documented this fact.
When our stress level rises, our blood pressure can shoot up. This places undue stress on our arteries. The heart takes quite a beating eventually if the stress level is maintained for a long period of time.
People who work way excessive hours carry a much higher risk for a heart attack or stroke.
Think of it this way. If you work 60 hours a week, what time do you have left to engage in some type of physical activity for your health?
Working 60 hours a week doesn’t even leave you enough time to go take a brisk walk outside for 10 minutes.
Overworking yourself may cause fatigue and for some people, it severely affects their sleep cycles.
Abnormal heart rhythms and diabetes have also been linked to excessive work hours. Women, especially, are prone to coming down with diabetes, probably because they generally work less physically-demanding jobs than men.
So, when women become chronically stressed in a non-physical work environment, it puts their hormones out of whack and it raises their insulin resistance. This makes them more likely to suffer from diabetes.
The scariest issue when it comes to working long hours and health is how your mental health can suffer.
Long Working Hours and Stress
Continuous research on this subject proves that those who are overworked tend to experience sleep disturbances and more mental health problems than those who work less than 40 hours a week.
Never before has it been so important for employers and employees to be on the same page when it comes to working fewer hours and increasing productivity during those hours.
Aside from all the physical problems you can run into by overworking yourself when it comes to depression, it goes one step further to a place no one wants to go.
Depression has been linked to excessive work. This is especially true when the worker is forced to work on weekends, holidays, and any other days. Most workers would rather be spending time doing the things they love or with their families and friends.
Wouldn’t you?
How to Stop Working Long Hours
So, how do we all stop this madness? How do we limit ourselves to working just enough hours a day as opposed to killing ourselves to meet career goals and expectations from our employers?
As business owners, how do we balance the need for productivity with maintaining happy and productive employees?
The simple answer may be that we need to learn how to work less and enjoy life more.
As an employee, you need to realize there has to be a balance between work and your personal life.
As an employer, you need to see and accept that your employees have a life, plain and simple!
Here’s what you can do if you are an employee:
- Schedule a meeting with your manager.
- In that meeting, explain how you are very grateful to have your job and to be able to contribute so much to the company.
- Tell your manager that you are afraid you are at risk of being less productive and your health may suffer in the future because you are so overworked.
- Ask if there are any other alternatives, such as help from other employees in your division, to ease the load that’s causing you to work extra long hours.
- Drive the point home to your management that you are willing to go the extra mile, but that you would appreciate some relief so that you can stay as productive as you are.
Be aware that as an employee, you run the risk of having the wrong manager who has very little empathy for you. People who are not qualified to manage others are thrust into a management role all the time. Unqualified people who end up in powerful positions slip through the cracks all the time!
It doesn’t mean they’re ever going to be a good manager, but you must accept the fact that they have that position right now, and they hold the power.
By trying to shorten your hours or workload, the manager may retaliate and schedule you fewer hours than you can live with if you’re working an hourly job. If you are working a salaried job, the chances of this happening are far less but you still might face scrutiny.
How to Motivate Employees to Increase Productivity
If you are an employer, manager, or own a business, you face a constant challenge to motivate your workers. Oftentimes the solution is as simple as switching around a schedule or working with an employee to reduce their long list of responsibilities.
Sometimes, your employees are simply overworked due to the demands you place on them. You may think they aren’t being reasonable. After all, you’ve been through exactly what they’re going through, so you know what it feels like.
However, maybe you had different aspirations than the next person who just wanted to come in, do the work for 8 hours, and go home to a loving family to spend quality time with them.
Everybody has different ideas and goals in life. Respect that. It will work wonders for your business.
Here’s what you can do to place your employees back on track:
- Conduct a survey of your employees to see how they feel about the working conditions, including the number of hours and work they are responsible for.
- If the results indicate one or some are working too many hours and they feel the effects, it’s time to formulate a plan for more productivity and less stress for the employee.
- Take appropriate measures with employees one by one to reduce working hours or workload, and do it gradually.
- Reassess the results after a period of time you have predetermined, and continue making adjustments until you find that sweet spot.
- Remember to work with the employee and find a common solution in order to increase productivity.
The point is to get them all involved. Make working at your place of business a community, and even a family.
Listen to what they have to say. They are on the frontlines just like you.
In the end, the reward will be so worth it!
