The concept of working overtime is a tricky one. People have to balance their need for money with their responsibilities as family members, or with other parts of their personal life. Companies have to really look at what they can expect from employees, and what their overtime policies should be. Here are some things to think about when trying to determine overtime policy that may ask employees to work over and above their 40 hours per week.
Is Overtime Periodic or Regular?
There’s a big difference between a “once in a while” overtime opportunity and bosses who keep coming back week after week, pressuring people to work 10 or 20 hours of overtime in the evenings or on weekends. If overtime is just once in a while, there’s a good case to be made for encouraging employees to accept it. They can make time for these unusual requests. But if overtime is constant, a lot of workers will feel like they never have time to catch up, and the overtime will end up sapping their productivity, and could leave them discouraged and looking for a way out.
Was It Communicated At the Interview?
A large part of working with overtime needs involves making sure that you get the right workers coming in — workers who value additional overtime money and responsibility over time for their personal lives. After all, the idea of working overtime is personal. It depends on somebody’s situation – young, single people may relish the chance to get a whole lot more hours for more pay. But someone who has a new baby at home might not be able to accept the overtime, even if you’re she wants to. So communicating demands at interview make sure that people know what they’ve signed up for and it gives you a workforce that’s much more amenable to taking on the overtime work as it develops.
Employees and Family Status
As mentioned above, family status often makes all the difference. In some cases, managers can kind of “sound out” employees about whether or not they’re able to do the overtime, so that when the additional work needs to be done, people are on the same page. Whether or not a company can encourage for demand employees to take on overtime has a lot to do with who the company has hired, and the existing relationships that are set up.
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How is Overtime Compensated?
If the company is able to pay hourly overtime pay, that in itself is a good start. You’ll have more workers signing up for overtime — and that’s how they’ll explain it to their families. They’ll be bringing in more money when they work late.
On the other hand, if employees are salaried, asking them to work overtime is always going to be a struggle. It doesn’t matter how big the salary is — workers and their families will tend to see overtime requests as an additional burden and a nuisance. Every overtime request will have to be negotiated. Again, a lot of expectations can be made clear at interview, but by and large, hourly overtime pay is there for a reason – it gives people that incentive that helps companies adjust to dynamic demands.
About Full Steam Staffing
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