4 ms·
I once heard it said that employee overtime was like morphine for employers, because it masks the pain of organizational dysfunction. It's important to let you
by lliamander 7y ago
I once heard it said that employee overtime was like morphine for employers, because it masks the pain of organizational dysfunction. It's important to let your employer feel that pain so that they can become aware of what is wrong and fix it.
- stronglikedan 7y agoIt's important to let your employer feel that pain Unless you're hourly.
- komali2 7y agoGive it enough time and your hourly wages will amortize to cover this - what should now be a 75/hr tier will have remained at 60/hr because everyone gets paid that, working overtime, to get some job done that probably doesn't need overtime to get done. Saw this in Oil and Gas industry among Engineers and Designers (the pipeline/wiring kind, not the UX kind), not sure if it's true for other industries though. Haven't worked contract in software yet to see for myself.
- DanTheManPR 7y agoMore hourly people need to realize this, that what seems as a marginal benefit of time and a half pay from constant overtime hours eventually just gets priced in as lower base wages. I think a source is thinking too much about gross pay vs effective hourly compensation. It doesn't "feel right" to switch jobs and take an effective pay cut, even if your effective hourly compensation in terms of benefits and wages is higher.
- walshemj 7y agoOh very traditional in heavy engineering, I know one industrial relations expert who told me, when a big turbine was due for delivery suddenly the tools and screwdrivers would get suddenly heavy and every one got very tired. Until of course the brown envelopes came out then as he said even the tea boy got a grand - this is mid 70's btw.
- fungi 7y agoAnd you move into higher tax brackets so take home a smaller fraction. I'm starting to see it as a loss, the additional time I may put in as overtime is subtracted from time I have for side projects and learning that is far more important to my career (as well as metal / physical health).
- sjg007 7y agoWell the idea of time and a half is that overtime should be painful to the employer. It probably isn't though or at least is budgeted for.
- sct202 7y agoWhen overtime starts getting budgeted the employer doesn't care so much. Usually they've done the math on if hiring people (with benefits, etc) is better than spreading the hours out as overtime.
- lliamander 7y agoThen they feel the pain through your overtime pay.
- maxxxxx 7y ago"I once heard it said that employee overtime was like morphine for employers, because it masks the pain of organizational dysfunction. It's important to let your employer feel that pain so that they can become aware of what is wrong and fix it. " One of my jobs in Germany had a strict 35 hour week. No overtime allowed unless paid 2x and even that was very difficult to do. Management was definitely much more decisive and we worked most of the 35 hours. With my current employer I am pretty sure I am working less productive hours but I am in the office more. Meetings, meetings, conference calls, more meetings and no clear decisions.
- earthboundkid 7y agoYes, many studies have shown that productivity is highest in Europe for this reason. America is in the middle, and Japanese productivity is low.