How to Manage Work Overload: Strategies for a Healthier Workplace

We’ve all experienced the helpless feeling of work overload. What’s worse is that the perils of overwork are well-documented, yet we still find ourselves in situations that can compromise our mental and physical health. 

If you’re engaging in overwork (or overworking employees), consider that those working over 55 hours per week are: 

• 13% more likely to suffer a heart attack
• 33% more likely to suffer from a stroke 

Despite these health risks, we continually work long hours or incentivize employee overload. But why?

In this guide, we’ll explain work overload, how it impacts employees, how to manage employee overload, and more. Let’s get started. 

Understanding work overload

To truly understand work overload, we have to look beyond the health risks to see what possible benefits justify such a high workload. As much as I’d love to completely rule out the benefits of overwork before fully explaining it, there is one notable benefit: money. 

Data suggests that the earning potential of overworkers is higher than that of their counterparts with a healthier work-life balance. Harvard Business Review reports that 62% of high-earning individuals work over 50 hours weekly.

Now that you’ve seen the positives and negatives, you’re probably wondering what constitutes overwork. Let’s take a closer look. 

What is work overload?

Work overload occurs when an individual or team has more work to do than they are capable of completing. It usually occurs due to a lack of time, money, or resources that would otherwise keep workloads in check. 

Work overload is a simple concept, but it can’t complicate the day-to-day operations of an entire workforce. It can lead to decreased productivity, increased project spending, and burnout. It can also indirectly contribute to attrition and considerably increase the cost to businesses.

Common causes of work overload

Work overload is caused by several factors: 

• Lack of resources. Team members can find themselves trying to compensate for a lack of resources. Without the right tools, employees are then forced to work extra hours to overcome the inefficiency.
  
• Employee turnover. Layoffs, firings, and voluntary turnover can leave teams understaffed and overworked.
  
• Budget constraints. Budget constraints due to recessions and poor company performance often leave teams to grind through projects without adequate resources and personnel.
  
• Impending deadlines. When teams need to adhere to strict deadlines, they often pile on extra work and work longer hours to meet them.
  
• Poor time management. Sometimes, we are the ones to blame for work overload. Poor time management and excessive multitasking are just a few examples of how we can burn ourselves out. 

Effects of work overload on employees

Now that you’ve seen the causes, let’s examine the devastating effects of work overload. But first, let’s explore some symptoms managers can look for to determine whether teams are being overworked.  

Symptoms of work overload

Whether you’re diagnosing yourself, a colleague, or one of your employees, spotting the symptoms of work overload is essential. Here are a few symptoms to look out for: 

• Trouble unplugging. Employees who work late, aren’t using enough PTO, or are just generally struggling to maintain a healthy work-life balance are the ones to keep an eye on.
  
• Missed deadlines. If top performers suddenly start missing deadlines or turning in less-than-stellar work, it could indicate that they’re feeling overworked. Try setting up a one-on-one to talk through the issues they’re experiencing.
  
• Health issues. Health issues are a strong indicator of burnout. Employees suffering from depression, anxiety, and other health-related issues could be experiencing overwork. Burnout can also contribute to physical health issues and more sick days.
  
• Morale issues. If employees spread negativity, skip out on team outings, or show other signs of low morale, it could be linked to overworking. 

Impact on workplace productivity

If you don’t spot the symptoms in time, overwork can significantly impact workplace productivity. You’ll start to see issues like: 

• Decreased productivity. Overworked teams may struggle to produce at the same rate they’re accustomed to. 
  
• Burnout. Overworked teams are more likely to experience burnout, which can lead to health issues, missed work, and even exiting the company.
  
• Missed deadlines. This symptom of overworking can significantly impact employee productivity. When burned-out teams start missing deadlines, client relationships and profit margins take a hit.
  
• High turnover rates. Prolonged overwork can lead to turnover, which then costs businesses significantly. It also leaves teams shorthanded and creates a vicious cycle of overwork. 

Strategies to manage and prevent work overload

Legendary author Mark Twain may have summed up the ultimate strategy to prevent overwork with this quote: 

“The bane of Americans is overwork — and the ruin of any work is a divided interest. Concentrate-concentrate. One thing at a time.” 

Taking the advice of one of history’s most prolific authors is easier said than done. That’s why we’ve compiled some tips for managing and preventing work overload. Let’s take a look at a few different approaches. 

Time management techniques

As Twain says, multitasking makes people significantly less productive — and the stats back up his claims. Multitasking can hurt productivity by up to 80%. That’s why we’ve compiled a list of time management and prioritization tips below. 

• Eisenhower Matrix. Also known as a time management matrix, the Eisenhower matrix involves dividing your to-do list into four quadrants based on urgency and importance. This way, you have a clear trajectory of tasks to work on throughout the day.
  
• Pomodoro technique. The Pomodoro technique involves breaking work into 25-minute segments and taking a five-minute break after each segment (or Pomodoro). The goal is to eliminate distractions and reduce fatigue.
  
• Time blocking. Time blocking is a method that involves plotting specific tasks on your calendar and assigning them a finite amount of time to complete. It works great when paired with a calendar app. 

• Eat the Frog. This method actually stems from a Mark Twainism. To “Eat the Frog” means to get your most challenging task out of the way first. You can build momentum from there as each task gets easier throughout the day. 

Effective communication and boundaries

Preventing overwork starts with effective communication and boundaries. Creating a culture where it’s okay to ask for help or flat-out say no to work is crucial for avoiding overwork. Creating a culture of trust and transparency leads to better career development opportunities and, ultimately, better employee retention. 

Stress management tips

Stress management is also crucial for preventing overwork. Sometimes, it can stem from feeling overwhelmed at work, which leads employees and teams to fall even further behind. Here are a few tips to prevent work-related stress and keep workloads from piling up:

• Take regular breaks. It may seem counterintuitive as workloads pile up, but make sure to schedule regular breaks to give your brain a chance to recharge so you aren’t constantly stressed. Time management techniques like the Pomodoro Technique and the right time tracking tools can help. 
    
• Try meditation and mindfulness practices. Meditation and other mindfulness practices can bring us a sense of balance and peace to carry into the workplace. Meditation has been proven to increase productivity by 120% and reduce absenteeism by 80%.
  
• Maintain a healthy work-life balance. No matter how overloaded you feel at work, you can’t sacrifice your personal life to power through it. While this may work in the short term, it can hurt your relationships with friends and family and your overall mental health and well-being in the long run. 

Bonus tip: Provide the right tools

Breaks, mindfulness, and healthy work-life balance are crucial for preventing stress in the workplace — but they’re not the only methods. Using the right tools to track time, balance workloads, and gauge employee well-being can help. Enter Hubstaff. 

Hubstaff helps in-office, remote, and hybrid teams of all sizes balance workloads and reduce burnout with a versatile feature set complete with: 

• Time tracking. Track time and see real-time updates from the dashboard on how much time you spend on each task. Seamlessly convert tracked time to automated timesheets to reduce admin time and ensure accurate payments. 
  
• Employee productivity. See activity scores, website and app usage, and more to gauge workloads. Concerned employees are being overworked? Check the achievement badges feature to see hours worked, activity hot streaks, and other metrics that may signify burnout.
  
• Daily Stand-ups. Utilize the daily Stand-up tool to create asynchronous one-on-one check-ins. Customize the form with your own questions to identify blockers and reduce burnout for your team.
  
• Hubstaff Insights. Get more insight into how your team performs with Hubstaff Insights. Manage utilization, see time spent in meetings, identify productive and unproductive apps, and more to manage workloads effectively.
  

Work overload in the workplace

Examples of work overload

We’ve talked a lot about work overload, but you’re probably wondering about some examples of work overload. Here are a few to keep in mind: 

• Too many meetings. One of the most common examples is too many meetings. Did you know we waste 24 billion hours in unproductive meetings each year? Consider a no-meeting day to give your team more time to decompress and complete focused work.
  
• Lofty sales goals. Sales teams might experience overload if they’ve been hit with improbable goals. This might stem from poor company performance, high turnover in the sales department, or several other factors.
  
• Tight deadlines. There are countless industries that experience seasonal work overload that fall victim to harsh deadlines. For example, tax season is hard for accountants, and advertising agencies have greater job demands when rushing to finish annual campaigns on time.  

How to address work overload in teams

If any of the above examples hit a little too close to home, you’re in need of some strategies to address work overload for your team. Fortunately, we have a few examples: 

• Practicing effective time management
• Using the right tools 
• Establishing proper communication channels
• Setting healthy boundaries for work-life balance
• Offering company-wide therapy, meditation, and other mindfulness opportunities

Long-term solutions to prevent work overload

With a few of the methods above, you can address day-to-day work overload and improve employee well-being — but how do you work towards preventing it in the long term? Check out these long-term solutions to avoid work overload. 

Building a supportive work environment

Creating a culture of open communication is crucial for preventing work overload. That starts with creating proper policies and best practices that incentivize the importance of:

• Allowing employees to ask for help
• Helping each team member feel comfortable with saying no
• Establishing frequent one-on-ones and check-ins
• Prioritizing a healthy work-life balance

While some of these ideas are easy for middle managers to enforce independently, some changes require buy-in from the organization as a whole. 

Implementing organizational changes

Beyond basic culture building, it’s essential to create cross-team collaboration through company-wide initiatives, policies, and best practices. If you’re in a position to effect change, offering the right benefits package is one of the best ways to help employees feel valued and prevent overload. 

Providing health benefits, PTO, and other incentivzes helps employees rest and recharge so they come to work at their most productive. Happy, healthy employees are more efficient and less likely to leave the company. 

Frequently asked questions

What is an example of work overload?

An example of work overload is when a graphic designer has too many meetings on their calendar to complete their design work. A strategy to overcome this could be to balance meetings and focus time to ensure they don’t have too many tasks to deliver. 

What are the symptoms of work overload?

Symptoms of work overload to look out for include: 

• Bad work-life balance
• Missed deadlines
• Poor quality work
• Health issues
• Increased sick day usage
• Employee morale issues 
• Mental and physical health issues

Conclusion

Well, there you have it. By this point, you should understand work overload, why it happens, and how it can negatively impact your business. We’ve also shared many best practices to help prevent it and the right tools for the job. 

Consider these strategies if you or someone you know is burned out from work overload. If you have any of your own strategies to address work overload and complete tasks, we’d love to hear from you.