Business owners often need more from their workforce than the usual nine to five.
The answer could be to hire new employees or, you could put in place overtime for your present employees. The latter is the first option many companies choose. It would be brilliant to have a queue of workers willing to work overtime and push forward with multiple projects after hours, but that can be easier said than done.
Let’s face it, most people don’t want to stay in the office longer than they have to. What they want to do is enjoy their 8-hour workdays and go home so they can hang out with friends, cook dinner and relax.
Here’s how to incentivise more to follow their lead.
Worth their while
You can give the best pep talks, the best motivational speeches in the office, you can get people to clap and cheer to the reading out of sales stats, but in the end, money is the ultimate motivator. You cannot expect your workforce to be salivating at the thought of working overtime, without making it worth their while.
Thus, you really need to sit down with your accountant and figure out what the upper limits of overtime pay could be. Remember, it has to be feasible so don’t rely on the fact that projects will get finished sooner and thus gain the company a favorable payout from customers, clients and partners. Consider the longevity of overtime pay and if you can honestly afford it. Overtime should not be detrimental to your revenue goals but it has to be almost irresistible at the same time.
Caring about burnout
Employees might never say this to you, but they can sniff out an uncaring boss. Don’t act like you’re doing them a favour by supplying employees with more money for overtime. That’s totally to be expected. Asking employees to work hard for long hours, during the evening and even during the night, must always be done in a humble and grateful tone.
One of the issues is employee burnout. As the owner and leader of the business, you have to carefully manage employees and stop them from damaging their health too. As part of your overtime scheme, make an employee care segment whereby the mental health and fatigue levels will be assessed for those working overtime for many days in a row.
Freedom to access
Employees who work overtime might be put off from the endeavor if they can’t see their payment progress. This is why using an hr payroll software that’s integrated with other HR practices, is vital for morale. Employees have access to their benefits and payroll in one single portal. This self-service reduces the burden on your managers and increases freedom of access for employees.
Working overtime is a gift from employees all business owners should be thankful for. Make it worth their while and you will never have a shortage of loyal employees.
