Should you encourage employees to work overtime? Maybe

HR managers pride themselves on helping employees maintain a healthy work-life balance. Because you want employees to spend quality time with their friends and families in the evenings and avoid working on weekends, right?

And if they work late or on weekends, HR managers try to give that time back and offer an afternoon off or time in lieu. But is that the correct way to reward an employee for working overtime? 

New research suggests that these well-intentioned HR efforts can damage the morale of some employees, and lead to a higher rate of resignation and burnout.

Watercooler, a company that uses AI to detect performance anomalies and predict organisational burnout and training gaps, conducted some research that revealed something pretty unexpected.

Let’s take a look.

The data

The horizontal axis (x-axis) plots the percentage of overtime worked, and the vertical axis (y-axis) plots the burnout and resignation risk. 

On the left side of the graph, we see employees who rarely do extra work, maybe less than 10 per cent of weekends or evenings, are at a high risk of burning out or leaving your organisation because they are disengaged and uninterested. Why? 

Because they don’t care. 

And a lack of care is usually correlated with low motivation and an emotional connection to an organisation. These employees may view their role as a way to earn a wage rather than something they feel invested in. Disengaged employees typically:

• Lack enthusiasm and are less likely to go beyond what’s required 
• Show low initiative and don’t want to contribute 
• Avoid taking part in company culture 

This doesn’t necessarily mean that disengaged employees are underperformers or bad for your organisation. It’s important to remember that disengagement could stem from various factors such as lack of recognition, unclear job expectations, poor management, or even a mismatch between personal and organisational values so it’s worth exploring those factors.

On the right side of the graph, we see that employees who tend to do too much work during weekends and holidays are at high risk of burning out and eventually leaving your organisation. 

This is slightly less interesting because we know there is causation because employees:  

• Overwork themselves by consistently putting in long hours
• Show signs of exhaustion, decreased productivity and are irritable
• Are frustrated, stressed, and feel overwhelmed.

Without proper intervention, these employees are more likely to quit, as they reach a point where the job becomes unsustainable.

The insight

But the interesting insight lies in the safe zone. The best, happiest, and most engaged employees work on the occasional evening or weekend and enjoy it. 

Seems counterintuitive right? But the data suggests that people who work more are less likely to burn out and quit. Why? 

The reason is simple: they care deeply about their role. They like going the extra mile to help themselves, their colleagues, and the organisation stay on top of things. They also:

• Find fulfilment in their work
• Feel a sense of ownership and freedom over their work 
• Manage their workload in a way that fits their needs, leading to greater control and well-being

So these employees aren’t at risk of burning out or leaving your organisation. Instead, their care and commitment drive their occasional extra effort, helping them stay engaged and connected. 

The lesson

Steve Jobs once said you can teach people anything except to care. Caring will always be undervalued and over-needed.

If you try to protect employees and stop them from working outside of regular hours, you’re essentially telling that employee to stop caring. You're shutting them down. So the things that managers think are dangerous, may not be dangerous or damaging for employees. It can actually lead to job satisfaction.

Everyone has their own idea of what a work/life balance should be. So even with good intentions, don’t enforce a work-life balance. Empower employees to create their own version of it. 

If top performers want to do some work in the evening or on a weekend, and it makes them feel good, then rather than discouraging it, let them show appreciation for the extra effort. Focus on encouraging the extra effort and express appreciation for the dedication employees show. Being grateful to employees for giving up some of their time on nights and weekends to make the rest of our lives easier.

Acknowledging that extra work does more to boost morale and goodwill than trying to prevent people from working during their spare time.