Employment: How to Tell You Are Working Too Many Hours

Honey, I'm going to be late again. How often is that statement made to a frustrated spouse on the other end of the phone? Life does not run at an even pace. A time will always exist when something happened at the end of the day to create a crisis that has to be fixed before you can leave. Really, how often does that happen? Once a week? Twice a month? Five times a year?

No one cares if it's an unavoidable departure from the normal.

We will accept that and do what needs doing and move on. However, when the need to work overtime, especially for a salaried individual, begins to happen multiple times per week, the owner, manager, or company that does not address it does not care for their employee. For those non-exempt employees, it means overtime. Everybody likes a little extra on the check. Very few like to have to work it every week.

Overtime is a device that rewards the employee for extra work.

It also punishes the employer for not being more considerate of the family and life of that same employee. Employers are forced to pay 50% more per hour for the same person to do the same job. Cyclical companies have difficulty in hiring the correct number of people. So, they opt to overwork their employees a few months per year in exchange for not having huge training expenses for employees that will only work a few weeks and be laid off. It's a trade both employer and employee are usually willing to live with.

For the person who does not get overtime or even extra pay, long hours take a toll on job satisfaction.

The resulting burn-out is neither good for the worker nor the company. When a worker has to consistently work more than 45 hours per week, burn-out is almost inevitable. The smart and caring company will make sure that adequate vacation is provided and taken. They will also hire additional help to shorten hours and raise productivity. What looks like a boost in cost should be offset by increases in the effectiveness of good employees.

How much is too much?

It is also important that people learn that planning to work above 50 hours per week regularly will negatively impact their family quite quickly. If you want better hours, sometimes you have to tackle the problem yourself by bringing the situation to someone's attention. If they refuse to act, look for a new job.