Do long work hours translate into efficient work? Is not taking a day off an example of dedication? If leaders factor in either as a measure of good performance, it points out the need to reassess reward systems, where productivity doesn’t get quantified by the number of working hours.
Take the case of Rita, a professional who believes in physical and mental well-being. She prioritizes exercising and meditation every single day. Rita follows efficient processes to enable her priorities despite days when work could become demanding. However, recently Rita could not stop thinking that her colleagues were getting rewarded for working long hours. She wondered if having to work extra hours despite being able to complete her work within the work hours would get her more recognition.
More time doesn’t mean more value
Every employee experiences a learning curve when introduced to a new task. While some employees, though new to a task, may consume only half the time consumed by the rest. This is because that employee may possess some transferable skills.
The cost of selective empathy
The ability to empathize with people who share similar traumatic experiences is known as selective empathy or empathy bias. Leaders are prone to reward or celebrate employees who struggle with a task that their leader struggled with during their yesteryears. The leaders can empathize with their struggles in completing that task.
Organizations can address these issues by reassessing their existing reward systems.
Analyze existing rewards: Gather past employee data to analyze why they were rewarded. Were they rewarded because of the output or because of the time spent in producing the output?
Reward employees, who focus on overall well-being: If a person who consistently works overtime is rewarded, does that imply working overtime is the way to get promoted? Instead, rewarding employees who focus on their physical and mental health will signal the importance of overall health to the rest. It will lead to less burnout and higher productivity.
Address non-conscious bias: Non-conscious biases have been a compelling reason for wars in human history. If biases can create wars, one can imagine the damage they can do to an organization. It becomes imperative to address biases before it breaks teams. Training employees or bringing awareness is one way to do so.
Highly-skilled players or professionals manage to appear effortless because of the number of hours they invest in personal development outside their working hours. Getting better at a particular skill set requires practicing all the skills surrounding it. This is why children are encouraged to play sports because it develops and tests intelligence. However, unlike times when effortless working gained an appreciation, demonstrating the difficulty involved in completing tasks, working long hours, etc. are gaining recognition.
