How to Know If You’re Overworked
Generally, if you have to sacrifice your time and well-being to manage your workload, you’re overworked. Working too much means putting extra hours and effort into completing tasks beyond your physical or mental capacity.
Overworking might be caused by corrupted management or your own conscious decision. But either way, it has adverse effects on your health and can cause extreme levels of anxiety, depression, and aggression in the long run.
Unignorable Signs You’re Working Too Much
If you have four or more of the following symptoms, you’re overworked:
- You constantly work overtime.
- You respond to work-related calls/emails outside of work hours.
- You’ve been underperforming and feeling overly fatigued.
- You are thinking about quitting your job.
- You are assigned to extra tasks without being compensated.
- You experience abnormal physical pain after work.
- You experience brain fog and are more irritable.
- You’re afraid of losing your job if you refuse to overwork.
- Your work has caused interpersonal problems in your family.
- You don’t have enough time to pursue your hobbies.
- You don’t have regular vacations and days off.
- You can’t participate in self-care activities.
Here’s Why You’re Working Too Much
Overworking has two primary reasons: Lack of effective management or work-related stress. Corrupted or weak leadership often causes burnout through understaffing. And pressure pushes workers to work overtime and fear disconnecting from work outside the office.
But overworking might have understandable reasons as well. As David Lawrence Ramsey from the Ramsey Show pointed out, an emergency or seasonal overwork is nothing to be afraid of. Sometimes, businesses require extra effort to survive a specific period or fix an urgent matter.
Overworking is only an issue when it’s constant, unconsented, underpaid, unnecessary, and mandatory.
The Real Problem with Overwork & the Culture of Workaholism
According to the American Sociological Review, 70% of working Americans struggle with too much work. But the real problem is that our society rewards the workaholism culture, encouraging individuals to work non-stop.
Businesses, on the other hand, use understaffing as a coping strategy to cut back on costs and increase profit, not knowing that overworking their staff will have the opposite effect.
Here are some side-effects of working too much—both for workers and employers:
- Overworking decreases workers’ performance.
- Too much work causes absenteeism and disengagement.
- Burnout leads to mental illnesses and other health complications.
- Overloading the staff with too much work damages the corporation’s reputation.
- Chronic overwork increases the business’s employee turnover.
How to Stop Working Too Much
If you feel like you’re working too much, communicate your needs with your supervisor and let them know how you feel. Set boundaries and let your colleagues know you won’t be taking work-related calls outside of work hours. And always re-negotiate your salary before taking on new recurring responsibilities.
Analyze Your Work-Life Balance with the Overworking Quiz
Do you ask yourself, “Am I working too much?” If yes, take our overworking quiz to see if your work-life balance is healthy.
We used the primary symptoms of burnout to create an accurate quiz that determines whether you are overtasked at work or are becoming a workaholic.
Remember, overworking happens even if you have found your dream job. And the following questions help you identify if you’ve been a victim of that.
