Can Overtime Guarantee Your Company's Success?

As an employer, you have to make sure your pay structure is sound, along with overtime and incentives for you employees. Whether you’re hiring full-timers or interns, you need a cost-effective and sensible approach to rates and overtime.

Speaking of overtime,

Are there better ways to maximise your employees’ effectiveness other than paying overtime?

Short answer, yes. Long answer? Here it is:

Overtime is Not Enough

There are a few reasons why you should already be offering overtime payments:

• In Malaysia, those who earn RM2,000 and below a month are limited to 104 hours of overtime a month. As of writing, there are no provision for those who earn more than RM2,000 a month.

• If you have a deadline or unexpected demands, overtime work is necessary for your business operations

• Paying overtime means employee are less likely to feel you’re taking advantage of them, which results in a better workplace.

But this is not enough, paying overtime is not a guarantee to attract the best employees.

Overtime Does Not Equal Productivity

The truth is, paying overtime does NOT result in more high-quality work. Here’s why:

• If employees expect overtime, they may end up resenting all the hours they are working.

• Since overtime is usually paid at time-and-a-half, some workers may drag out work so they will have to work overtime and get a bigger paycheck.

• Unreasonable overtime will contribute to employee burnout.

Now we know overtime is not the answer. So, what is?

Help Your Employees To Work More Effectively

One of the biggest problems in business is waste:

• Wasted time

• Wasted effort

• Wasted labour

• Wasted materials

Most of that waste comes from inefficiency. You will need to optimise your business processes, train your employees, and create a good working system to increase your productivity.

Invest in improving on how your employees complete their daily tasks. They can then work smarter. Here are the benefits of working smarter:

• More engaged and positive employees who feel valued.

• Efficient processes mean more time spent doing other, value-added activities.

• It’s easier to scale your business upwards as demand improves.

Improve Your Business Processes

Enhancing the way your business is a large topic, but here’s a simple way to start:

1. Map and audit your business processes & look for areas of improvement.

2. Talk to employees about their frustrations with daily tasks

3. Measure efficiency and inefficiency in your business.

4. Make small changes and track impact on productivity, overtime, cost, and your bottom line

Paying overtime and expecting your employees to improve your business no longer works. You need a long-term planning to focus on the best interests of your business and your people. Invest in improvements over-time, and not overtime.

Having Problems Hiring? Our recruitment experts are at your service, just register at AJobThing.com to schedule your free consultation.

Source: Wonolo

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