The Rand corporation has released the results of a new survey that indicates more than half of employees reveal that they work off the clock in addition to their regular working hours.
In an article that appeared on the HRDive.com website,Valerie Bolden-Barret reports that in addition to the number of employees working outside of business hours, more than one third of those surveyed said that they cannot control their own schedules and don’t have enough time in the day in order to perform their jobs completely.
Among the respondents, exempt workers aren’t paid for the time that they spend outside of working hours, whereas hourly workers have the chance to earn overtime.
In a study conducted by Marketplace, many employees within the U.S. workforce are working in high pressure, stressful environments even though more than half indicated their bosses are supportive and they have co-workers that they are often good friends with.
Employer Awareness
The heads of many organizations are simply not aware that their workers are putting in longer hours off the clock in order to get their work done. According to a study conducted by Kimble Applications, workers who bill out their hours to clients, for example, actually were submitting fewer hours than those that were worked and thus shortchanging themselves.
The reasons for this can vary. Some workers feel pressured not to go over budget or over the time allotted for a specific job or project. Submitting more billable hours that go over the quota can be viewed as a negative and would rather not document the real amount of time that was needed in order to complete the job for fear of having it reflect badly on their next employee review.
Technology: Convenient or an Encroachment?
While mobile phone apps and remote access options have proved to be beneficial for many workers in order to help them in their day to day lives it can also provide other avenues of encroachment into what might have been a worker’s off-hours. Being constantly connected or even bombarded by emails, text messages and other avenues of communications can have a negative effect on workers. Those workers who seem to be unable to get sufficient down-time are more prone to developing medical problems or experience burnout and absenteeism. Either result can also affect an organization’s bottom line in the end. HR professionals can look out for such signs of stress and help managers to keep an eye out for them as well. HR can be instrumental in helping adjust worker schedules and project milestones so that employees are allowed enough time to complete their projects and assignments during work hours.
At Einstein HR, we understand how important it is to create an atmosphere that encourages workers and management to be honest about how long it takes to reasonably complete tasks. Rather than feeling overwhelmed, workers should be able to feel that they are supported. Workers who feel valued and supported feel more engaged and are more likely to stay with such an organization. We are here to help you find the best people for open positions and to help you create an environment that both attracts and retains the top talent that you currently have.
EinsteinHR offers services in every area of human resources. We will be there to help you find and fulfill all of the HR needs from hiring to payroll, benefits management and everything else that can help you attract and retain workers for your organization. Contact us today at 888-981-3622 (emc2) to find out how we can help.