Politics and Business

5 Signs That You Are Overworking Your Employees

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You want your employees to work hard, of course. After all, that is why you are paying them a wage each month. But are you being too hard on your staff? Are you giving them more work than they can handle? You might be, especially if you can spot any of these signs in your employees.

#1: Low productivity

Before you berate an employee for not working as hard as he or she should, take a step back. While it might be that you have a lazy employee on your hands, it might also be that they are overworked. Low productivity is sometimes a consequence of tiredness and exhaustion, so if your employee is working slower than normal, it might be that they simply can’t push themselves to work any harder.

#2: Emotional responses

When an employee is overworked, they will become stressed. And when they become stressed, you are going to be hit with the emotional aftermath. An employee might start to cry when they find their workload too hard to handle, for example. Or, when you speak to an employee with a word of criticism, you might be confronted with an angry or tearful outburst because of their heightened levels of sensitivity. Be prepared then, and respond to any negative emotion with a listening ear. 

#3: Hushed conversations

Your employees’ hushed conversations could be about the television programs they watched last night. Or they could be talking about intensely personal things that they don’t want you to hear. On the other hand, and especially if you see them glance at you when speaking, they could be talking about the iron fist of your leadership, and the misery that you are inflicting upon them with the workloads you impose. As discussed in the next point, you need to take steps to stop discontent growing amongst your employees, as they might leave you if you don’t. 

#4: Letters of resignation

When your employees come to you with a letter of resignation, there could be any one of a number of reasons why. They might simply have found a better-paid job elsewhere, or they might have decided on a career change. On the other hand, you might be about to lose an employee because he or she has simply had enough. Rather than work with you a moment longer, for the sake of their mental and emotional health, they might have decided that enough is enough. 

#5: An increased number of sick days

Thanks to the mental and physical effects of stress, your employees are going to suffer the consequences. With feelings of anxiety and depression, and with a lower immune system that can result in various infectious illnesses, you are going to receive a lot of phone calls from employees letting you know that they are sick. And why are they suffering from these stress-induced problems? It might be because they have been overworked!

Here’s what you should do

If you continue to overwork your employees, both they and your business will suffer. So, if you have related to what we have said in this article, you need to take action.

 In some instances, you might reduce your employees’ workloads by outsourcing specific tasks to other firms. You might also invest in warehouse solutions to reduce the workloads of those staff working on the production line, and pay for downloadable software tools to ease the workloads of the employees working in your office. You might also go easy on the deadlines and targets you set too, as if they are unrealistic, you are going to cause your employees mental and physical agony.

By taking these steps, you should notice positive changes within your business. So, look for the signs of overwork in your employees and take action if you know they are suffering.

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