Over the last couple of decades, American work hours have been dramatically rising. Studies have shown that between 1969 and 1987 the annual hours worked have increased by 163 hours for the typical woker. Work by itself is not harmful. However, the work overload that can result from this trend can be a very great problem.

Work overload occurs when job demand exceeds human limits and people have to do too much, in too little time, with too few resources. Work overload is characterized by (a combination of) the following conditions:

· Long and difficult working hours

· Unreasonable workloads

· Pressure to work unwanted overtime (paid and unpaid)

· Less breaks, days off and holidays

· Faster, more pressured work pace

· Increased, excessive performance monitoring

· Unrealistic expectations of what can be achieved with the available time and resource

· Additional, often inappropriate, tasks imposed on top of ‘core’ workload (more than one job).

When overload is a chronic condition, not an occasional emergency there is little opportunity to recover, rest, and restore balance. This relates to not only the amount of work, but also the capacity to do work. It is both quantitative and qualitative.

Many hours of a well-defined job in full concentration may do more good to your mental state than pure idleness. At the same time, even one hour of chaos can wreak havoc on your ability to focus, rest in the night, communicate with your peers, etc. When you get down to work, you subconsciously define a set of expectations for your working day. If these all go to ruin because of factors beyond your control, you end up with unmet expectations and stress.

We will attempt to look at the effects work overload can have, both on an individual worker and the company. The causes associated with work overload, can be used as ways to recognize and reverse the effects.

A True story of Work Overload

“The longer he waited, the more David worried. For weeks he had been plagued by aching muscles, loss of appetite, restless sleep, and a complete sense of exhaustion. At first he tried to ignore these problems, but eventually he became so short-tempered and irritable that his wife insisted he get a checkup. Now, sitting in the doctor’s office and wondering what the verdict would be, he didn’t even notice when Theresa took the seat beside him. They had been good friends when she worked in the front office at the plant, but he hadn’t seen her since she left three years ago to take a job as a customer service representative. Her gentle poke in the ribs brought him around, and within minutes they were talking and gossiping as if she had never left.

‘You got out just in time,’ he told her. ‘Since the reorganization, nobody feels safe. It used to be that as long as you did your work, you had a job. That’s not for sure anymore. They expect the same production rates even though two guys are now doing the work of three. We’re so backed up I’m working twelve-hour shifts six day a week. I swear I hear those machines humming in my sleep. Guys are calling in sick just to get a break. Morale is so bad they’re talking about bringing in some consultants to figure out a better way to get the job done.’

‘Well, I really miss you guys.’ She said. ‘I’m afraid I jumped from the frying pan into the fire. In my new job, the computer routes the calls and they never stop. I even have to schedule my bathroom breaks. All I hear the whole day are complaints from unhappy customers. I try to be helpful and sympathetic, but I can’t promise anything without getting my boss’s approval. Most of the time I’m caught between what the customer wants and company policy. I’m not sure who I’m supposed to keep happy. The other reps are so uptight and tense they don’t even talk to one another. We all go to our own little cubicles and stay there until quitting time…..No wonder I’m here with migraine headaches and high blood pressure. A lot of the reps are seeing the employee assistance counselor and taking stress management classes.”

Causes of Work Overload

In the last couple of years, overtime hours per week in U.S. manufacturing industries, have averaged 4.7 hours per week. The average overtime in the durable goods industry was 5 hours a week.. These figures represent all time highs in these industries. In other fields of business the numbers are on the increase as well. Americans are being asked to give 150% just to stay on their workload.

Performing at unrealistic workload levels will eventually lead to a breakdown. This is already occurring in some workplaces and is becoming obvious in some large public sector agencies.

Technology has been a major factor in the drastic increase in work overload and subsequent burnout. With the influx of cell phone, pagers, fax machines, and e-mail employees are frequently in constant contact with their work. They are unable to escape work and relax. At work they have the added burden of constant phone call to interrupt concentration on a specific project and distract the flow of a routine. This can be a major stress factor, since the quality of work time is considered to be as important as the quantity of work time.

Employees also must now find time for checking and returning e-mails and voice mails, staying current on fast moving technologies, and otherwise dealing with vast new areas of work. The AP reported in May 1998 that the average business manager receives 190 messages a day- - a perfect example of work overload.

The information technology field is a perfect model of work overload in effect. Work overload is cited as the leading source of stress for members of the industry in a report released by RHI Consulting in Menlo Park, Ca. Many jobs are unfilled, leaving already over-worked employees to shoulder the extra burden. “Companies are trying to do whatever they can with the least amount of staff possible” says Maria Schafer, program director at Meta Group, Inc.

One of the reasons for this increase in workload is that IT departments have been adopting systems from a variety of vendors, resulting in more complex projects, and greater difficulty in completing them. Added to this, is the need for many employees in large metropolitan areas to spend up to several hours a day commuting to and from work, making the average work day in all practicality, much longer than intended.

Other factors that contribute to work overload include

· Role conflict – having two or more tasks that are incompatible (ex. Theresa’s conflict between pleasing customer and boss in our case scenario)

· Long workdays

· Managers resisting organizational change, instead of altering the sources of job stress

· Unrealistic deadlines

· Low levels of support from supervisors

· Confusion over who’s responsibility a specific task or project is

Ultimately, these factors can and will combine to result in burnout, a condition that has negative effects on both the employees and the company

How to Break Free From Work Overload:

1. Employee

1. Health Effects

“Burnout results when individuals experience increasing amounts of negative stress” (Pg. 2 of www.employer-employee.com/Burnout.html) says Gary Vikesland. Stress: (1). a force that tends to distort a body (2). a factor that induces bodily or mental tension. (Dictionary definition) Stress from work overload leads to physical and psychological strain, and negative stress can result in feelings of:

· Distrust

· Rejection

· Anger

· Depression

· Fear

· A sense of working out of obligation

· Boredom

These feeling in turn can lead drug use and chronic smoking, and all the health problems they represent. They can also lead to numerous other health problems, including:

· High cholesterol

· Fatigue

· Increased heart rate

· Weight gain or loss

· Headaches

· Upset stomachs

· Rashes

· Insomnia

· Ulcers

· Fatigue

· High blood pressure

· Strokes

In extreme cases worker overload and burnout can even lead to death. The Discovery channel has reported on Japanese businessmen who have literally worked themselves to death, and simply drop dead of to much stress.

2. Family

Work overload not only effects and employee, but can also have an effect on the employee’s family. Changes in the roles of couples in work and the home are increasing the workload placed on them. As a result, married men and women are more likely to experience anxiety and depression than single men and women. (Nation campaign on work overload) This added stress has important ramifications on a family. There are two major concerns: First, the time couples should be spending with their children is time spent working instead. Second is the lack of time the couple spends developing their relationship as a couple.

When both parents work full-time, their children lose out on “quality time” they could be spending with their parents. Only parents can teach their children the traditions that lie within the family. The response children show when parents teach them to read, or assist them with homework is much greater than the response to baby-sitters or teachers. Without the time to spend with their children, families lack the closeness they should have. Married couples with children also suffer from the added stress of providing for the family.

For couples, work overload can be just as devastating. Divorce rates have been higher in the last few decades than ever. Couples lose that “spark” when they have to many things to deal with. The stress that work overload puts on couples relays back into their relationship causing tension and anger between them. This can be disastrous to the couple if not dealt with.

3.Company

We have seen the effect work overload can have on an employee. So what does this mean to an employer whose employee may be suffering from work overload and consequent burn out? Why should an employer care? There are four principle reasons.

The employees most likely to develop burnout are the company’s best employees. The superstar employees are more likely to feel burnout because they usually put more of themselves into their job, spend more time at work, and take work more seriously and personally. An employee that does not take their work personally will not experience burnout. (Www.employer-employee.com/Burnout.html)
The superstar employee who is burntout or heading for burnout is the last to see it. Furthermore, before they correct the problem, they will likely do all the wrong things to try to correct it themselves. They might increase the amount of time spent at work, become more personally involved, and increase the amount of effort they put into the job. Employees who attempt to outperform their stress usually end up feeling discouraged and quit at some point, causing the employer to lose one of their best employees. A high turnover rate is a clear indicator that a company may be experiencing a problem with worker overload. (www.employer-employee.com/Burnout.html by Gary Vikesland, MA
Employees who report experiencing a high level of stress are three times more likely to suffer from frequent illness. This can lead to increased absences from work for sick leaves, and in some cases, workman’s compensation or other medical expenses for the company. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, workers who must take time off work because of stress, anxiety, or a related disorder will be off the job for about 20 days.
The quality of an employee’s work can be greatly affected. The Journal of Applied Psychology has done several studies on the effects of stress prevention programs in hospital setting. In one study, the frequency of medication errors declined by 50% after prevention activities were implemented in a 700-bed hospital. In a second study, there was a 70% reduction in malpractice claims in 22 hospitals that implemented stress prevention activities. In contrast, there was no reduction in claims in a matched group of 22 hospitals that did not implement stress prevention activities. (www.cdc.gov/niosh/stresswk.html)

As you can see, work overload has a negative effect on the company, employers and employees. Which results in employee absentees and has a direct affect on the productivity within the company. Therefore, the need for work overload prevention is clear.

Dealing with Work Overload

Companies and individuals both have a number of options available to them for dealing with work overload and burnout.

Companies can take two major approaches, as well as implement several smaller plans of action. These two large- scale plans are providing stress management training and initiating organizational change.

Nearly one half of large companies in the United States are providing some kind of stress management program now. (www.cdc.gov/niosh/stresswk.html) These programs teach workers about the nature and sources of stress, the effects of stress on health, and personal skills to reduce stress. This plan has the advantage of being inexpensive and easy to implement. However, it has two major disadvantages:

· The beneficial effects are short lived

· It overlooks the important root causes of stress, focusing on the effect rather than the cause

In contrast, organizational change is the most direct way to reduce stress at work. It involves the identification of stressful aspects of workload, and the design of strategies to reduce or eliminate the identified stressors. The advantage is that it deals with the root cause. However, managers are sometimes uncomfortable with this approach because it can involve changes in work routines or production schedules. Often this change can be expensive as, requiring the assistance of a consulting firm. But there are some tips organizations use to affect these changes themselves:

· Ensure that the workload is in line with the worker’s capabilities and resources

· Design jobs to provide meaning, stimulation, and opportunities for workers to use their skills

· Clearly define roles and responsibilities

· Give workers opportunities to participate in decisions and actions affecting their jobs.

· Provide opportunities for social interaction

· Establish work schedules that are compatible with demands and responsibilities outside the job

· Create job diversity for employees that must perform repetitive tasks. This is not only good for the employee, but also for the company, as it creates a cross-trained work force.

· Make sure you are not trying to do too much with to little. It is okay to ask your employees to give 110% occasionally, but not every day.

Unfortunately, these are only guidelines. There are no universal prescriptions for preventing burnout at work. Each organization must evaluate its own situation. The following are examples of actions some real organizations have taken to combat problems of stress in their workplaces. (www.cdc.gov/niosh/stresswk.html)

While there are steps businesses can take to alleviate work overload, it is not always possible for a person suffering from work overload to rely on outside help in dealing with the problem. Some businesses are unwilling to go to the time and expense necessary to remedy work overload. Other people are self-employed or work at home, and so can’t look to a boss to solve the problems. Consequently people must some times consider what they can do to ease their own burnout.

The most important thing a person can do is to prioritize. Stephen R. Covey had said that “The essence of time management can be captured in one phrase: Organize and execute around priorities”

This means first of all, making home life and health a priority. The danger of allowing one’s life to be dependent on one’s career is that there are no other resources for satisfaction when the career is in trouble. Home life, social life, artistic and cultural activities, spiritual and religious life are all potential sources of and significant rewards. Balancing these aspects with work provides a more diverse network of social and emotional supports, allowing the individual to better weather difficulties. (Preventive stress management in organizations, pg. 224) Maintaining such a balance has been found to be a key factor among executives who remain healthy under high stress and heavy work demands. (J.C. Quick, Nelson, & Quick, 1990).

In order to maintain health, despite a heavy workload, there are several things an employee can and should do.

1. Be sure to leave enough time in everyday for sleep. Get in the habit of not letting anything get in the way of this.

2. Exercise. This is the key to enhancing your ability to convert stress to energy for optimal mental and physical health. Three hours a week spread throughout the week and including both aerobic and strength training is enough to meet the body’s needs.

3. Channel stress-engendered energy into positive activities such as prayer, mind/body techniques relaxation training, meditation, or biofeedback. Besides improving health, these will improve your attitude and moral.

4. Eliminate or restrict the intake of caffeine and alcohol. Both produce chemical stress on the body, which only makes the problem worse.

5. Increase the intake of potassium by increasing consumption of fruits and vegetables. Adequate potassium levels are necessary for proper adrenal functions.

6. Make full use of vacation and leisure time. Consider that vacations are the earned reward of working. If possible, channel vacations into frequent 3-day weekends rather than extended vacations which can be come sources of stress themselves. The use of this leisure time is also important – try to do something fulfilling without having to reach a goal.

There are also a number of practical things an employee can do on the job in order to minimize his workload.

1. Ask industry people, such as sales reps, consultants, clients, etc. to make appointments instead of dropping in and interrupting your routine. Set aside a regular block of time when you will be available for appointments.

2. (For the self-employed business person) If you don’t have extra hands and feel overwhelmed with your workload, rent some. Hire on some help to get you caught up.

3. Avoid excessive obligations. Learn how to decline in a diplomatic way

4. Turn on your phone only in designated hours or have your secretary heavily filter phone calls.

5. Prioritize e-mails and correspondence. Try not to succumb to urgency and deadlines. Reconcile yourself to the fact that some e-mail will just have to wait for its turn.

6. Learn to delegate. You cannot do everything for verify everything.

7. Break large projects into small steps, focusing on small goals rather than the larger ones.

When deciding how to shrink an overwhelming workload, ask yourself these questions:

1. Is it necessary to do this at all?

2. Is it necessary to do this task so frequently

3. What would happen if this task simply were not done?

4. Is there an alternative?

5. Could someone else do it?

In the most severe and unalterable situations, consider looking for a new job. Remember that the health and well-being of yourself and your family should be your first priority. If all else fails, and you find yourself still suffering from overload and burnout, remove yourself permanently from an environment which facilitates overstress. Although this is by far the most drastic, and for that reason probably the most difficult measure, consider the alternatives we have outlined. The effects of work overload, job stress, and burnout can have lasting effects just as dangerous as temporary unemployment.

Work overload is a significant danger in today’s society. As such it must be addressed seriously, and we must learn to give it the careful consideration it deserves.

Workload can vary by gender, age, occupational level, and number of children.

· Women have heavier total workloads than men

· Work stress peaks in the age range of 35-39

· Upper management has more control over workload

· Total workload increases with an increase in the number of children

Conclusion

As a cause of many work place problems, work overload must be considered as a major social concern in this modern age. Work place stress has spread to the home and is a problem common throughout the world. As the effects of work overload are studied, the causes and losses associated with it have become evident. The amount of overtime has consistently increased amongst workers throughout the developed world. Huge workloads are becoming more and more common, which are expected and accepted. Negative effects are found in the individual, family, and the company. Poor health, increased divorce rates, and reduced profits are all results. Workers are watching their task loads rise, their free time shrink, and their general health decline. Stress Management is an essential skill to deal with job stress and work overload. Corporate structures need to be reorganized, tasks need to be delegated, and job roles clearly defined. Such actions would produce a healthy workforce and keep global economies flourishing.