Nowadays people work a lot more than in the past. They get up early in the morning and often stay after hours. What is more, they try to do tasks before going to bed in the evening in the belief that it will raise their productivity. However, in practise working longer does not mean getting more work done. Why?

The results of research conducted by Ernst & Young demonstrate that 46% of managers in the world work over 40 hours per week, and as far as the 24% work even more than 50 hours. It is caused not only by the policy of many companies, but also by the superiors’ pressure and employees’ ambition, who want to show their commitment in that way. However, not everyone realizes that exceeding some borders does not influence raising the productivity and qualities of performed tasks at all, whereas the tiredness increases the amount of made mistakes. Time spent on reviewing and correcting mistakes leads to working more, which have a negative influence on the well-being and health. Instead of having time to rest, sharing time with the family and friends or pursuing a hobby, many employees sit at their desks and work convinced that it benefits the company.

Unfortunately, they are wrong. Only a rested and recovered employee is concentrated, motivated, creative and effective. The more tired we become, the less productive we are. Moreover, we start to come across issues with the accomplishment of even basic tasks. In addition, every day of being overworked brings the employee closer to the professional burnout. The treatment is simple- rest, sleep and have a good plan of a day.

According to varied examinations referring to the effectiveness and efficiency, it is possible to achieve the best productivity by working about 40 hours per week, in case of white-collar works, an upper limit is 35 hours. Moreover, regular overworking influences the drastic decrease in productivity and concentration. In reality, even 8 working hours with the best efficiency are very difficult to achieve, mainly caused by feeling tired. Research associated with time management shows that every day 69% of employees spend from 30 up to 60 minutes on conversations with friends, browsing social media, etc.

It results from the human nature- the accomplishment of many tasks at the same time distracts people and affects regaining concentration. Even if employees found a place with no distractions, they would not be able to force their mind to stop thinking about everything else, especially when they are worn out. It is safe to say that everyone is able to work with the peak performance for 7 hours per day. However, the 40 hour-work week seems to be an optimal solution because of the large amount of factors which distract employees and eat up their time. Planning a working day one should remember that 8 hours are the maximum time limit, whereas every consecutive minute is a waste of time and will not bring desired results. A proper plan for the day allows workers to achieve the best efficiency, accomplishment of all tasks and also have an extremely important rest.

Instead of being under delusion that working overtime makes us better employees, we should learn how to use every minute effectively. This will be certainly far more beneficial for both the company and us.

(Own study based on: https://medium.com/lifeform/oto-jak-d%C5%82ugo-mo%C5%BCesz-pracowa%C4%87-utrzymuj%C4%85c-maksymaln%C4%85-produktywno%C5%9B%C4%87-c862379a499f)