Getting a handle on overtime within your team makes good business sense. Picture / Getty Images
Overtime increased in 28 per cent of organisations in New Zealand over the past year, according to recruitment company Hays.
It highlights a worrying trend for the fatigue management of staff, who need time out to recharge and keep productivity levels stable.
"Business activity is increasing in New Zealand and it's clear many employees are expected to do more to help organisations cope with expanded workloads," says Jason Walker, managing director of Hays in New Zealand.
More than 500 organisations in New Zealand were surveyed, representing almost 187,000 employees. Of these, just 5 per cent managed to reduce overtime over the past 12 months, and, where overtime increased, 37 per cent said the weekly increase was five hours or less.
For 22 per cent, the weekly increase was between five and 10 hours, while for 13 per cent it was more than 10 hours a week.
Good employees strive to meet their workloads, but even in the busy and demanding public relations world, companies are taking their staff's overtime quotas seriously.
For The PR Shop, it's about monitoring staff to make sure they're not working longer than the usual 9am-5pm work hours.
This is unusual in the PR world, where agencies can expect very long hours of staff.
"Over the course of a few days, we step in to check on staff who have very busy schedules and see what is causing the additional workload," says Sally Frewin, co-founder of The PR Shop.
"As we offer flexi-time, often people are working late, but this is usually because they've started work a bit later due to wanting to skip traffic or for a doctor's appointment."
Flexible working conditions are adding more difficulties for employees and managers on managing overtime as part-timers are often online for work on days off.
"For the PR Shop, employing some part-timers, one of their challenges is ensuring part-time staff are not working on their days off.
"We always make it clear that this is never expected of them," says Frewin.
"Inevitably, there are the odd projects that tip things over, so one or two team members have more work on than usual (or the odd weekend event to attend), but we always ensure we recognise this with a day in lieu."
The PR Shop's philosophy has always been that to do a good job at work, you need to have a life outside work.
"Time to relax, replenish, have some fun, be creative, be healthy," says Frewin. "In our own experience working incredibly long hours over a sustained period of time, you don't become an effective worker, but more of a shell of your own potential."
Not only does it make sense from a philosophical point of view, but a separate website poll by Hays of 578 New Zealand workers found 69 per cent would look for another job if overtime became excessive; 55 per cent would do so if the overtime was unpaid, while 14 per cent would do so even if they were paid for overtime.
The final 31 per cent said overtime was part of the modern workplace and even if it became excessive it would not prompt them to look for another job.
"Employers need to seriously consider the financial, physical and emotional impact extra work has on their people. Can overworked employees really perform at their best?" asks Hays' Walker.
Taking a step back and using planning software and modelling techniques can help businesses cope with workloads to identify areas where outsourcing may be temporarily needed, instead of loading up staff with overtime.
"Organisations can bring a temporary or contract employee into their team for a set period of time to help when workloads become too much for their permanent team to complete reasonably in a standard business day or week," says Walker.
It may be time-consuming to set up and train contract employees, but saves businesses in the long run when the backbone of the team experiences fatigue, which in a work context can be defined as a state of mental and/or physical exhaustion that reduces a person's ability to perform work safely and effectively.
Getting a handle on overtime within your team makes good business sense for managers, especially to help the most productive or conscientious workers, whose burnout after excessive overtime will cost more to fix than to prevent.
Tools to stop overtime creeping into the office
* Communicate with your staff to identify where overtime is being spent and see whether outsourcing may be possible to restore the balance.
* Consider using time tracking apps with alerts for managers about when staff are reaching overtime thresholds.
* Keep track of time spent on tasks over a year to provide seasonal patterns and forward planning, for example so staff don't take time off during recurring busy periods.
* Cross-train employees who are always busy with those with less to do, so they can take on some of the burden and upskill at the same time.
* Develop time management skills within your team, such as turning off emails and social media distractions for portions of the day.
* Set a monthly cap on overtime, if possible, both for cost benefits and the health of employees.