Working late; showing dedication or lack of time management?

At an 8-5 job, your expected to work 8 hours, 30 minutes is given as lunch and two 15 minute breaks. My father had taught me “you arrive before the boss and you leave when he leaves”. Now, all bosses have different schedules. Some will be on the road, some will live in the office. When is it all right for you to leave and what does it say about you?

Many believe, if ‘I stay late, it will show my dedication’. Some reasons why people stay pass clock out time are; Completing tasks to make a project deadline. Customer can only meet at a certain time. Overtime. Catching up and tying loose ends. To help another worker. 

These are all acceptable and do show great initiative, in my opinion. 

What happens when staying late becomes a recurring pattern?

Harvard business review had posted a blog titled Should You Stay Late or Go Home? making the point “once you begin expanding your work hours on a regular basis, working “normal” hours starts to look like slacking off.” We are all given 24 hours a day, every day. Being busy is different from being productive. The hours that are set for you are set for a reason. You should be able to complete your tasks within your working hours. If your current setup isn’t working for you, change it.

What can management do?

The best way to offer help is by asking. Ask the workers that seem to stay late regularly, if there's anything they can do to help. It may be their workload, or maybe they are avoiding something outside of work. When you ask, you know better and can help with their success as well as the company. 

Why should management get involved?

In that same article posted by HBR, “those who regularly worked over ten hours per day were 60% more likely to suffer from heart disease”. It's no secret that people are more successful and productive when they don’t feel constantly stressed out. Every person handles stress in different ways and has different tolerances. Look for signs of stress in those workers who stay late and address the situation. They could have a fear of job loss or disappointing the employer which encourages them to stay late. Find ways to make their time more productive. With a vast world of resources available, incorporating IoT should be a common practice in your business. 

A week has 168 hours, typically, 40-45 of that is spent at work, that leaves 123-128 hours for everything else. Family may be understanding as to why you can’t make dinner or a soccer game, friends understand why you don’t have the time to put in, but your health, mental and physical, needs attention. Go home, recharge your batteries and find ways to improve the use of your time.

Remember, extended hours does not equal extended productivity.

By: Heather A Stevens

Disclaimer: The views and opinions expressed in this article are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of any agency. Examples of analysis performed within this article are only examples. They should not be utilized in real-world analytic products as they are based only on very limited and dated open source information.