1. Listen up
First, managers should sit down with employees to ask him if they have any worries about overworking. Employees need to feel they can have an open and frank conversation where there concerns will be listened to and without fear that they will be viewed as a serial complainer. Managers should make it clear that they are asking the question in order to balance workloads for the sake of everyone’s wellbeing and productivity.
2. Get serious about workload management
It’s important for employees to know that managers are not just listening to them but that they are also prepared to take action. This means putting in place better processes and tools to accurately monitor and forecast work and align it to clear and accurate understanding of capacity. If these processes and tools aren’t available, managers should actively lobby their HR and leadership teams for investment in this key area of workforce management. Key functionality should include automatic flags when staff work unpaid overtime or skip holidays.
3. Leave no stone unturned to ensure fair distribution of work
With better understanding of capacity and individuals who are overworking managers can create a clear plan for a fair distribution of work. This is particularly important in today’s remote and hybrid working environments. According to our research, a third of employees say they are more likely to work unpaid overtime when operating out of the office. In many organisations much of this work currently goes unseen. Understanding this issue, as well as managing workloads around known peaks and troughs will help to ensure a fairer distribution for the benefit of everyone’s wellbeing and productivity.
4. Rethink reward and recognition
Many organisations have manager-led and peer to peer recognition schemes that reward employees for their work. This is a good thing. Employees want and need to feel appreciated. But managers must make sure that the system doesn’t add fuel to a culture of overwork and routinely reward people for working beyond their usual capacity. When people are nominated for recognition, managers should take the opportunity to investigate the circumstances and check that their distribution of work is balanced and realistic for the long term good of the team.
