How Long Work Hours Affect Employee Health And Wellness
We all know that when we get tired, our attention wanders and the quality of our work decreases. This however, is only one consequence of working long hours. Certain industries even have extended work hours so ingrained into their culture that peer pressure on the employee to do the same is huge. Consider the following effects on employee health long hours on the job can have.
Employees can:
- become exhausted, demotivated and dissatisfied
- produce less work and/or lower quality work
- develop an array of minor ailments and become more prone to illness increasing the likelihood of sick leave which can become a major drain on the business
- feel guilty if they don’t work long hours and so become distracted and dissillusioned
- develop symptoms of workplace stress, possibly leading to serious ill-health down the track
- not have enough time to spend with partners and children so their personal relationships and wellbeing can suffer
- feel forced into making unfair and unrealistic choices between demonstrating dedication to the job and giving to their families
- believe they will be perceived as lacking commitment if they ask for time off or will forfeit any possibility for advancement at work if they speak up and ask for a reasonable balance
- are unlikely to feel respect for their employer over the long term
- eventually give up and resign which can represent a loss of valuable talent for the employer and create more staff replacement costs.
Having a good look at all of these points makes us realise that having employees work more and longer hours does not necessarily result in more work or higher quality work. In fact, the opposite is likely to occur and employee health and wellness and the health and wellness of the organisation suffer accordingly.
What’s the best way around this? We have so ingrained into our culture and conditioning that working harder, faster and longer is better that bucking this belief may prove challenging. A way one local company has found it to give each employee a 15 minute “nap time” each day and a half hour “reflective time” each week. Employees are encouraged to simply do nothing, rest their minds and come back to work refreshed and focused.
