Employee Fatigue: Hurting Your Business Ethics?

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David Wagner,
User Rank: Strategist
9/16/2014 | 5:12:01 PM

Re: Employee Fatigue

@zerox203- Well said. I think part of the problem in IT is that perosn you mentioned working late on a Friday night is treated like a hero. I'd like to see a manager treat the people who go home on time like a hero. Sometimes we all have to stay late to finish something, but the real hero is the person who finishes their work in their normal time.

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David Wagner,
User Rank: Strategist
9/16/2014 | 5:07:42 PM

Re: fatigue and parenthood

@danielcawrey- I think the worst part is that many companies don't give employees a choice. The work load simply requires working past reasonable time. It has been show repeatedly that productivity in knowledge workers goes significantly after about 6 hours. Very few knowledge workers are capable of knocking off then, though.

Hiring more (good) workers and having them all work fewer hours is probably the best thing a company can do for itself, but the worst thing it can do for its stock. It is sad.

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David Wagner,
User Rank: Strategist
9/16/2014 | 5:02:27 PM

Re: HALT

@susan- I love HALT. I've never heard it before. Can't say I make too many decisions while angry or lonely. I probably make a large number of my decisions while hungry or tired. Maybe i'll need to reconsider. I wonder though if there is ever a point in my existence where I'm not one of those four, especially hungry. :)

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David Wagner,
User Rank: Strategist
9/16/2014 | 4:47:47 PM

Re: Hangry

@Susan- Do you get more like Betty White or Bobcat Goldthwaite? My favorite of those Snickers ads was always the one by the late, great Robin Williams.

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Technocrati,
User Rank: Ninja
9/16/2014 | 4:00:19 PM

Rest Restores

".... Even at the beginning of shifts when workers were fresh, only 42.6% were in hygiene compliance."

Talk about shocking results ? Seriously, this was a very interesting topic. It was fascinating to learn of the connection between rest and ethical thought . It makes sense when one really considers the question but still a point of insight to many.

This issue of rest and sleep unfortunately is not entirely the fault of companies - many people work endlessly and do not get enough rest.

But to the issue of taking breaks during the day - I am a firm practitioner of this - though companies act like they support breaks, I am not sure they really do.

But it does not matter to me, I will and people should take care of themselves first. Because that company will replace you anyway when you die as a result of the stress that caused a heart attack .- due in some part to your lack of rest.

Rest recuperates and restores - one is just asking for it if you don't listen to the signals.

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Todder,
User Rank: Moderator
9/16/2014 | 10:07:33 AM

Longer ours and the ethical company

That martyr syndrome of long hours, stress loaded staffers is a condition within the North American culture. Take a look at most European countries and the worker is legally limited to the number of hours they can work.

Next, tie this article with what we know about vacation time taken versus what's available. A large % of workers (esp in IT) don't burn all their allotted vacation. How come? Love of job? Doubtful. Demonstrating that you'll "bleed" for your company? Not out of love, but out of staying competitive versus peers in an environment where out-sourcing and off-shoring are a constant danger.

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SaneIT,
User Rank: Ninja
9/16/2014 | 7:49:42 AM

Re: fatigue and parenthood

The western society has built a culture of corporate martyrs. Being sleep deprived is a badge of honor, being stressed out shows that you care about your work. I think this needs to change before we start telling people to go home and get some sleep. I'm not all that surprised that people start cutting corners when they are tired but I do wonder what companies are going to do about that. Will they tightened down on the hand washing or will they encourage a shift in work life balance so that people don't feel the need to cheat in order to keep up? Personally I put limits on my office time because I'm never truly "off" of work. We have offices in every US time zone and they aren't shy about calling me late into the night. I try to balance the work hours by getting home early enough to take care of things before the end of day emergencies hit on the west coast.

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Joe Stanganelli,
User Rank: Author
9/16/2014 | 2:44:46 AM

Re: HALT

@Susan: I feel like I might not ever get anything done if I took that advice! :p

Seriously, though, I do definitely put off most communicative tasks if I'm in a bad mood -- lest I say something I shouldn't!

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zerox203,
User Rank: Ninja
9/16/2014 | 12:40:01 AM

Re: Employee Fatigue

This is very interesting, Dave. It seems like an obvious point in and of itself (more sleep = good, less sleep = bad), but it appears there's a lot of nuance there, and it seems worth exploring the specific effects in this kind of detail. After all, if it's still such an epidemic (and I agree that it is), then people must not see the tangible value and the consequences of insufficient sleep. Maybe some specifics and repeatable scientific outcomes are exactly the thing to sell the idea. I think there's an unconscious stigma against it; insufficient sleep is a "health" problem but not a health problem. Those italics are important!

There's a special implication when it comes to IT and other technology work here. We're talking about the people that design security frameworks, handle credit card info, and monitor hardware for safety and legal compliance. The room for error here is minimal and the consequences of making one can be dire. "Ethical" might not always refer to stealing candy from baby. "Ethical" might mean 'can I afford to leave this bug in the next build I put out? welllll........' and you're all too right it's not always that person's fault. If they're working at 8 or 9 PM on Friday, then they very well do deserve to go home and get some sleep. Now we know why.

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danielcawrey,
User Rank: Ninja
9/15/2014 | 10:03:38 PM

Re: fatigue and parenthood

I just do not think that I do my best work when tired. This is why I usually shy away from working when fatigued. My body and mind just seem to have a way of saying, "no".

I think everyone has this, but some people just ignore the signs and push through. I suppose there is nothing wrong with that when this is needed – but a lot of people are probably abusing their bodies' ability to properly recover. This is when the extended and more long term problems tend to set in.

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