These days, more and more employees are devoting more time to their work than their family. This trend has some benefits; however, it has a lot of demerits as well. In this essay, I shall explore the pros and cons of working overtime.
On the one hand, working long hours accelerates a person’s professional growth. As a matter of fact, people who are willing to work beyond standard work hours are more likely to be promoted. They are also less likely to be laid off in the event of a downsizing. In this day and age when competition is tough working overtime is the only option for many employees to stay in their job. When employees are willing to put in more hours, the organization will be able to deliver projects on time and this in turn will improve their bottom line. Companies may also share a part of the profit with their employees by offering them higher salaries.
On the other hand, when people spend too much time at the workplace their family relationships suffer the most. Having little or no time for one’s spouse and children will lead to conflicts within the family. This will increase the stress levels of employees as well as those of their family members. Stressed out workers cannot deliver satisfactory performance at the workplace even if they spend too much time in the office. Another downside of this trend is that working long hours without taking a break will affect the health of workers. They become more prone to developing various lifestyle diseases like hyper tension, diabetes and cardiac trouble. This in turn will further reduce their productivity by forcing them to avail of more sick leaves.
To conclude, unrealistic targets and tough competition have forced many employees to work overtime. The main advantage of this situation is that it might improve their chances of getting a promotion or raise. The main disadvantage is that it affects their health and productivity by elevating their stress levels. In my opinion, it is important for employees to strike a work-life balance.