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Effectively managing overtime can represent the difference between accelerated expansion and stagnation. To grow, your business needs flexibility and the ability to absorb a sudden influx of orders. However, the tasks of coordinating and efficiently overseeing overtime can create challenges.

After all, customers don’t follow prearranged production schedules. When they need something, they want it immediately. To succeed, you must remain flexible, meaning you need to be able to ramp up overtime production whenever its required.

This can create a burden. For you, the added expense can quickly shrink your profit margins. For your employees, the extra work can wear them out and create tension in their home lives.

There are ways to make a system work, however. Here are a few steps you can take to effectively manage your overtime:

Create a Clear System

Overtime hours be both a burden and an asset. True, they represent additional hours an employee must work. However, they also represent additional dollars.

The way you distribute the overtime hours must seem fair. You want to find a fair way to spread out the opportunity to earn extra money, without overworking any individual employee. Otherwise, you risk creating bad feelings among your employees. To prevent that, create a fair and transparent system for giving out overtime hours.

Give Sufficient Notice

Surprise orders sometimes come in, forcing you to scramble to get things done. In these cases, you might have to request some emergency overtime. These kinds of things happen. However, as much as possible, try to avoid those last-minute changes in schedule.

Instead, try to give enough notice before an overtime shift. By letting workers plan around their overtime hours, you reduce the burden on them. This makes it easier for your employees to sustain the schedule for the long haul.

Don’t Overburden People

Your employees might welcome a certain amount of OT. It represents little means extra cash, earned without much impact to the rest of their lives. However, too much overtime can become dicey.

Forced into too much overtime, people start to miss out on their personal lives, which can make them resentful. Meanwhile, productivity can suffer. Working your employees too hard will sap them of energy and, pushed too far, eventually burn them out.

Communicate with Your Workers

Not everyone has the same opinion about overtime. Some people might relish that opportunity to earn additional dollars. Others might resent the time taken away from their personal lives. The only way to know an employee’s opinion is to ask them.

Keep in communication with your employees. Treat them as individuals. Don’t assume that everyone has the same feelings about the extra hours. Instead, ask them what they prefer and do your best to arrange a schedule that maximizes everyone’s satisfaction.

Offer Flexible Schedules

You can minimize the impact of overtime by offering flexible schedules. If you run into a heavy few days, requiring significant additional hours, offer your employees some time off during a lull to compensate. This also helps in seasonal situations, when heavy production is necessary for short, predictable bursts. This strategy can lower the financial burden on you while preventing burnout in your employees.

You can lower your need for overtime hours by building a hyper-productive team that can complete tasks in less time. A top-flight recruiting partner, like PrideStaff, can bring you the efficient, energized workers you need.

Contact PrideStaff today to find out how they can take your team to the next level.

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