According to a recent report by Pipedrive, an online CRM platform for small business, overtime work is not linked to better outcomes, but rather to worse ones.
According to the State of Sales and Marketing Report released on 4th November 2024, 69% of respondents said they worked overtime. One in ten reported working more than 16 hours per week. Despite this, working longer hours didn’t lead to better results. Those who worked more hours were 10% less likely to achieve their KPIs than colleagues who kept standard hours.
Data revealed that employees who work more than 16 hours per week of overtime often have a 60+-hour workweek. This is especially common for higher-level executives such as CEOs or founders. Employees in the United Kingdom, and the United States worked overtime more often than their global counterparts.
Despite the high rate of overtime, only 66 percent of employees who did not work extra hours met their goals. Comparatively, 60 percent of employees who worked up to 15 extra hours and 58 per cent of those who worked more than 16 hours exceeded their targets.
The number of hours worked also correlates with the satisfaction of work-life harmony. 42 percent of employees who do not frequently work overtime rate their balance of life as “very good”, compared to only 12 percent of those who regularly work extra hours.
Managerial Support Improves KPI Achievement
The report shows that employees who feel supported by their managers are more likely to achieve their goals. Only one third of employees who responded to the survey felt that their managers provided adequate support. Those who felt supported achieved their goals at a higher rate, with 63 % of them meeting their targets in the past year. The positive impact of supportive management on employee satisfaction was also found. Female employees who reported feeling supported achieved their targets at a rate 32 percent higher.
Effective management has a direct impact on goal achievement, and can also influence employee productivity and wellbeing. Pipedrive data shows that employees who feel supported by leaders perform better. This reinforces the importance of proactive, empathetic and proactive leadership in organisations.
Dominic Allon is the CEO of Pipedrive. He says: “We assume often that more input equals more output. So working more hours should naturally correlate with more value and greater business success. Our findings show the opposite. We don’t have to work more hours to combat the UK productivity crisis. Instead, we should be working smarter with a stronger sense of teamwork. “The right technology and human support are key to unlocking the best results out of employees.”
Role of technology in performance and satisfaction
The report highlights the importance of technology in reaching workplace goals, especially automation and CRM tools. Automation led to higher employee happiness, and an improvement of 6 percent in the work-life balance. Employees who used CRM software achieved goals 4 percent faster than those without it, which is a testament to the role technology plays in improving efficiency and employee morale.
Data also shows the impact that satisfaction with tools at work has on performance. Eighty-two per cent of employees who were satisfied with their software met their KPIs. This is a noticeable increase from the 62 per cent of employees that disliked their software, which represents a 24 percent difference.
Dominic Allon said that business leaders should be concerned about staff who work overtime frequently. It’s unlikely to make a positive difference to their company or employee’s happiness at the workplace. They should also spend time learning how their employees feel about their managers and tech platforms they ‘live’ in the majority of the day. Not only because it is the right thing to, but it also pays.
