Do your hardest workers cost you extra money?
We occasionally get thought-provoking feedback about the relative value of a “work comes first” attitude among employees. When some of our customers analyze employee time tracking on their projects, they sometimes find that certain people considered their hardest workers can negatively affect the bottom line. So, it may be a good idea to examine your time management strategies to ensure you’re creating the most productive and profitable environment. What are some of the factors you could consider?
The true productivity of projects
- Without real-time monitoring, workers can devote too many hours too soon on projects. This can lead to cost overruns, and limit opportunities to course-correct if original estimates were inaccurate.
- It can be surprising to analyze who is actually the best fit for a task. Sometimes a supposedly less-hardworking team member can perform certain tasks more efficiently.
- The factors above can lead to the need to reassess project staffing and scheduling.
Healthcare (and human) costs
- Fatigue, poor health, and stress can all result from overwork, and lead to more doctor visits and hospitalization.
- While some hard workers may take fewer vacation days, often the tradeoff is that they take more sick days.
- Overwork can also foster poor morale if “workaholics” are rewarded more than “less-dedicated” workers.
Vacation/PTO liability
- You may have to pay workers twice for their time, if they don’t take vacations or other time off.
- Workers can leave unexpectedly, or create production problems if they choose to (or are forced to) use vacation all at once.
You can analyze many of these factors with our Web TimeSheets. Reports can show you how efficiently people actually perform tasks. You can identify who is taking more-than-expected sick days and, concomitantly, whose work time-off balance may be unhealthy—and unprofitable—in the long run.
