Finally ditched my boss's "stay late" method for leaving on time and got more done

I used to stay 45 minutes late every night at my warehouse job in Phoenix because my manager said that's what "good workers" do. Started leaving at 5pm sharp last month and suddenly I'm finishing my picks faster because I'm not dragging myself through the day. My output went up 20 percent according to the numbers our system tracks. Anyone else notice that forcing overtime just makes people slower?

2 comments

2 Comments

wren_thomas166d ago

Think about what happens to your focus when you know you are stuck there no matter what. You start pacing yourself to fill the time instead of working efficiently because there is no reward for finishing early. Cutting the overtime forces you to actually plan your day and stop wasting small pockets of time that add up.

skylerm555d agoMost Upvoted

Three years at a place that had mandatory 50 hour weeks and I still disagree with you here @wren_thomas16. I saw people burn out way faster because they knew they couldn't leave so they just dragged through the day with zero urgency. The ones who actually planned their day were the ones who used that extra time to learn new skills or fix broken processes, not to "stop wasting pockets of time" like you said. Cutting overtime just means you get the same amount of work done in less hours and then go home more stressed because you know tomorrow you'll be behind again. I think the real issue is bad management making people stay late in the first place, not the workers pacing themselves on purpose.