Why overwork is dangerous and how to keep workers from overwork

2024 Author: Malcolm Clapton | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 03:44

A little stress increases productivity, but only up to a certain point. If he is too strong, and we force ourselves to work further, overwork sets in.

First, we gather our will into a fist and work hard. It even seems to us that we can handle it. Day after day, we ignore danger signals and force ourselves to strain, trying to combine all responsibilities and have time to get everything done. But over time, overvoltage makes itself felt. The result is burnout, depression, illness.

Organizations now increasingly expect employees to take on tasks that go beyond their responsibilities. For example, helping colleagues without additional requests, staying late at work, responding to messages late at night and on weekends. This behavior is usually associated with high motivation and interest in work.

But this has a negative impact on physical and mental health, especially if one evening of processing spills over into two, three, five, turning into an endless marathon.

Overwork leads to depletion

This was discovered by scientists from the Bocconi University in Italy. According to their research, when a company puts pressure on employees to work harder than they should, they become overworked. Those who constantly feel the need to overwork have a 50% higher rate of fatigue than other employees.

This is due to two problems. On the one hand, we are expected to recycle and make additional efforts. If earlier this could have served as a reason for a promotion, now it has become commonplace. On the other hand, our main responsibilities have not disappeared, only now it has become more difficult to find time and energy for them. If you work in this mode for a long time, overwork accumulates.

In addition, researchers have discovered another side effect of recycling that affects our personal lives. Since we spend more energy at work, it takes us longer to recover from it. And at home we often get angry and break down at loved ones.

What companies can do

• Attract the attention of middle managers to the problem. They need to understand when to ask employees to spend more time at work, and when to give them more freedom. For example, an audit company may expect superhuman efforts from employees during the preparation of the annual financial report, but then give them additional days off to choose from.
• Introduce organizational policies that encourage employees to maintain a work-life balance. For example, in some companies, employees are unable to access work emails after 6 pm or on weekends.
• Focus on long-term results rather than evaluating employees on short-term performance indicators.

Recycling will not benefit anyone if it is followed by overwork and burnout.