Working overtime might actually be harming your worker’s productivity

4 November 2024, 13:31 published

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Working overtime could actually be harming the productivity of workers rather than adding to meaningful outcome, new research has claimed.

Pipedrive’s State of Sales and Marketing Report found more than two in three (69%) employees are working overtime, with 10% adding an additional 16 hours each week, bringing their total to more than 60 hours between Monday and Friday.

The study found senior workers are among the most likely to work over their allocated hours, including company founders and CEOs.

Overtime doesn’t help at all

Despite the misconception that spending more time on a job should lead to higher output, CRM firm Pipedrive found those working overtime are actually less likely to meet their KPIs. Two-thirds (66%) of employees avoiding overtime reach their targets, compared with 60% among those working up to 15 additional hours per week, and 58% for those surpassing 16 extra hours.

Spending more time at work doesn’t just affect the business, the report says – while 42% of workers who maintain standard hours claim to have a ‘very good’ work-life balance, only 12% of overtimers do.

In light of the findings, Pipedrive’s study found employees with managerial backing are 13% more likely to achieve their goals, but only one in three feel that they’re backed by their managers at the moment.

The CRM for small businesses company also explored technology’s role in helping work-life balances, with automation highlighted as a key time-saver. Pipedrive’s study is also one of many stressing that companies should consider the needs of their workers when deploying tech – 82% of employees who like the software they use hit their KPIs, compared with 62% of those who don’t get on with their software.

“With the UK’s productivity epidemic looming large we don’t need to be working more hours, we need to be working smarter and with a greater sense of teamship,” noted Pipedrive CEO Dominic Allon.

“Business leaders should be concerned when staff are frequently working overtime, it’s unlikely to have a positive impact on their business or their employee’s workplace happiness.”