Working overtime: exploitation or opportunity?

Working overtime: exploitation or opportunity?

Overtime can be an opportunity: something that people voluntarily commit to for additional compensation or greater schedule flexibility. But should workplaces always guard against it? Can overtime ever be a positive option for employees, or should it always be see as the mark of an unstable and potentially exploitative workplace?

The problems with working overtime

An overstretched workforce

Benefits of Working Overtime

Give workers the opportunity to earn more: Extra hours can mean getting paid time and a half, or even double pay

Track overtime

Employers can’t see how much overtime people work and protect against abuses or inequalities without tracking it

The issue of overtime pay

While some companies have clear policies on payment (e.g. “time and a half” or “double time”), others aren’t quite so clear… or quite so generous

Protect your culture

Actively work against a stay-late culture in your office to ensure people don’t fall into overtime against their will

Working overtime and employee health

Working too many hours can lead to burnout, fatigue and stress

The impact of working overtime on culture

It can hamper collaboration

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