Edith Adhiambo works in a public relations office where she often clocks 10 hours each day.
Sometimes, she exceeds that. Depending on the number of tasks that her boss expects her to execute, Ms Adhiambo could work from early morning and still find herself hunched over her laptop, punching keys towards midnight.
By the weekend, she is drained and just wants to slump on her bed and take a rest.
"I am overworked. During the pandemic, several people were let go here and we have not had replacements despite the amount of work increasing to pre-pandemic levels," she says.
"I am unable to control it; I am one of the most experienced here and there is too much I am asked to do. I feel it could have a toll on my health."
This is the story of many workers. Some are forced to work extra hours by their companies, which want to maximise on their employees' energy and abilities. Others push themselves so that they may do more, thus earning more, especially the self-employed.
In either case, such people end up overworked. This could have a huge impact on their health, and their future productivity.
While work itself is responsible for millions of deaths every year, the first joint estimates from the World Health Organisation (WHO) and International Labour Organisation (ILO) showed that 1.9 million people succumbed to work-related diseases and injuries in 2016. Overworking could hasten your journey to the grave.
Safety Solutions
In a recent interview with The Standard, Onyimbo Kerama, Lead Consultant and Executive Director at Motire Occupational Health and Safety Solutions, said one of the main causes of stress is work-rest relationships.
"The work-rest balance is one of those things that we should have a big discussion about. Health topics are very important to the front as stress in the workplace leads to very serious consequences among staffers," he said.
Among the effects of burnout is depression, said Dr Kerama, which is sometimes seen in workers becoming very irritable.
He shared an interrelationship chart which shows that lack of rest and sleep leads to economic and mental stress, addiction, violence, promiscuity and thus diseases such as HIV/Aids, and poor nutrition and physical activity.
He insisted that workers who do not take leave from work and are always committed at work risk messing up their lives, with health issues that could impact their productivity at work in the future.
"By not taking leave, one will have a lot of imbalances with self and might incur serious mental diseases. People get burnout and the quality of work could fall from highs of 80 per cent and 90 per cent to between 10 per cent and 20 per cent," Dr Kerama said.
So what is one supposed to do when there is so much to be done that one cannot really escape?
Forbes says that one of the reasons some people overwork is mismanagement of time. This means they stretch work into odd hours when they should have already completed tasks and should be on another activity, or they should be resting.
"Overwork means two things: first, you are not utilising your working hours correctly, and second, you are not using your resources properly. In most companies, late-hour workers are darlings. This practice should be discontinued and workers who finish tasks on time should be rewarded instead," Forbes advises employers.
Sense of loyalty
Company policies, alongside employees' pursuit of recognition and commendation, may encourage some to overwork. This may, in the long term, hurt such employees' productivity as they gradually get worn out.
It is an employer's duty to understand why their employees are overworking and to readjust ways of operations to prevent burnout.
"Identify why your workers are prone to work more. Are they hoping to be seen as top performers? Was there a deadline that needed to be completed and they thought there was no wiggle room? How about if they feel a strong sense of loyalty to those who have asked for the work? Discover their motivations so you can set effective and healthy boundaries that get results and don't burn them out," Forbes says.
The traditional practice of companies somehow gauging employees' productivity based on the number of hours they see such employees in the office is faulty and could lead to people either overworking or underworking, either way shortchanging the company.
"We have to move away from looking at how many hours someone was working to checking out their productivity," said Monicah Karanja, head of Human Resource and Administration at Octagon Africa in an interview with Worklife.
Unfortunately, not many organisations have found a way to gauge productivity. The result is a workforce keen to clock in all the hours when giving just a fraction of what they are supposed to, especially if they can cheat their way into working other gigs that pay better while well inside their shifts.
Companies are encouraged to make sure they reward results as opposed to efforts, which could change the focus from quantity of output to quality of the same.
If possible, maximising quantity and quality is an ideal balance, which is only achievable once the employees are put to optimum use.
Forbes also advises bosses to set an example for their employees by themselves leaving work at the stipulated time and not seeming to overwork. This means that the employees will feel they have the liberty to leave the work premises when it is time to do so, rather than staying put with the fear their bosses might regard them as lazy or uncommitted.
Bosses can also show their employees that they also have commitments outside work, which makes employees not shy away from expressing themselves fully, and not shun their commitments to appear focused at work.
"Leaders should share their priorities outside of work. This can include hobbies, family commitments and travel. It is essential that employees see leaders pursue other priorities besides work. Secondly, it is important for leaders to discuss daily and weekly downtime as an essential part of a successful career," Forbes notes.
Delegation of duties is also a panacea to burnout. Where some employees can help an overburdened colleague execute duty, such a task should be delegated. Companies that want top-quality output would rather have many employees, each doing a fraction of a task rather than a few overworked employees, however good these might be.
Overworked employees end up messing up and might give the desired quantity that is devoid of the needed quality. But overworking is, itself, an ingredient of failure now or in the future.
