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How do I motivate people to want to do OT?

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gorcorps said:
Yup

Lots of people have families that they actually enjoy spending time with. Time with people you care about means more than money. Try explaining to your kid that you missed their little league game because daddy's manager underestimated how many man-hours this project was going to take.
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Exactly. And how many of us have been in the position where we've had to work overtime (without ANY compensation) to clean up the mess created by an incompetent coworker or manager, just to see nothing happen to the guilty party and the "reward" being more work for us in the future? "Well, yeah, I know you're overworked, but I need to make sure this gets done CORRECTLY so I need you to do it in addition to everything else I've given you to do."
 
gorcorps said:
Yup

Lots of people have families that they actually enjoy spending time with. Time with people you care about means more than money. Try explaining to your kid that you missed their little league game because daddy's manager underestimated how many man-hours this project was going to take.
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Why doesn't daddy love their son enough to do OT? Son needs a new PS4 goddamnit.
 
Markbnj said:
I get it, and I don't envy you your position, but seriously, why the hell should anyone voluntarily pull long hours for a big corporation? You're not going to get shit for it. And if you show amazing loyalty and dedication they'll still let your ass go the minute the numbers say they should. Time is literally the most valuable thing I have. If you want more of it give me money, equity, or some trade in kind, or piss off 🙂.
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I provide exactly the level of loyalty to my organization that it provides to me. :hmm:
 
Ns1 said:
How much OT would lunch and a half day buy?
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Lunch and a half day of vacation/flex time might buy you 8 hours, tops. I have a two year old that I need to look after.

I thought that you were offering OT pay at time and a half earlier. What happened to that?
 
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Ns1 said:
I think it's clear based on this thread that there are 3 types of people with regards to hourly OT-

1) Those who are motivated by money
2) Those who could be motivated by something
3) Those who hate OT

I am going to focus my efforts on my staff who fall into categories 1 and 2 and hopefully that will be enough.
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This.

Most groups I've worked with of any size have all three.

I generally don't turn down the opportunity for OT, except when there is a special event or something. One exception though is after a hurricane comes through - 16 hr days 7 days a week tends to wear you down, and its mandatory until stuff is fixed. I won't work any voluntary OT after that for awhile.
 
ultimatebob said:
Lunch and a half day of vacation/flex time might buy you 8 hours, tops. I have a two year old that I need to look after.

I thought that you were offering OT pay at time and a half earlier. What happened to that?
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The time and a half is automatic. This is what I can reasonably offer beyond time and a half.
 
Ns1 said:
The time and a half is automatic. This is what I can reasonably offer beyond time and a half.
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Oh, OK. If I was actually getting paid for it, I'd probably volunteer for an extra 20 hours for a week or two. I think that my wife would lose her mind after that point.
 
Ns1 said:
I think it's clear based on this thread that there are 3 types of people with regards to hourly OT-

1) Those who are motivated by money
2) Those who could be motivated by something
3) Those who hate OT

I am going to focus my efforts on my staff who fall into categories 1 and 2 and hopefully that will be enough.
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Sounds good.

In response to your post where you last quoted me, obviously I'm in category 3. I worked a ton of OT for two years two jobs ago and I fucking HATED it, horribly. I'm also not someone who gets a ton of worth and derives importance from his job. I enjoy what I do actually, but if I have an option to be at work or not be at work, well... yeah.
 
My boss did his normal - well at least you guys get overtime now - speech again today, and I followed up with - you know that's only going to fly for so long right?

I'm past that point in my life where I am looking for every dime. I want 'me' time.
 
Ns1 said:
I think it's clear based on this thread that there are 3 types of people with regards to hourly OT-

1) Those who are motivated by money
2) Those who could be motivated by something
3) Those who hate OT

I am going to focus my efforts on my staff who fall into categories 1 and 2 and hopefully that will be enough.
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Then go to your boss and ask them to get you people in India/China/Eastern Europe (based upon industry). Then fire the "hate OT" people. Think of all the money you will save! :ninja:
 
jpiniero said:
Then go to your boss and ask them to get you people in India/China/Eastern Europe (based upon industry). Then fire the "hate OT" people. Think of all the money you will save! :ninja:
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Of course, then when you bring in the people you fired as contractors to clean up the mess the outsourced labor made, that bites into the savings some.
 
jpiniero said:
Then go to your boss and ask them to get you people in India/China/Eastern Europe (based upon industry). Then fire the "hate OT" people. Think of all the money you will save! :ninja:
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I already have a team of those 😉
 
Zeze said:
Hire trident. Problem solved.
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1385.gif
 
Ns1 said:
So I have a team of ~10 people - I need them to do OT, but I don't want to REQUIRE them to do OT if I don't have to. Meaning, I would like to figure out how to motivate them so that they want to do OT to meet deadlines.

Any particular strategies/ideas that you guys have for motivation? We keep feeding them, but I'm sure that's going to be less effective as time goes on.

Personally, the thought of blank check OT is enough to motivate me, but I'm sure that's not effective for everyone.
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I see chronic use of overtime as an excuse to skimp on staffing and pass the alleged savings up to the top of the company.

Besides compensation in the form of extra pay and/or PTO, I can be motivated to do overtime by understanding that it's an unusual or serious situation and not the norm. Constantly requiring OT of employees strikes me as a management problem: "Bad planning on your part does not constitute an emergency on mine."
Where I work, they do ask for overtime during the summer. There are tangible benefits to doing it that way: Business increases during summer every year, and dies down in winter. Temp workers wouldn't fit well with our culture. People aren't afraid to leave car keys, phones, purses, wallets, and so on sitting on their desks or workspace. I can't say the same of other places I've worked.
Yearly profit sharing has steadily increased, and measures have been taken to ensure that the accounting skew from a bad quarter won't jeopardize the payout from the rest of the year.

If the employee knows that the company will look out for them as best as it can, they'll be motivated to look out for the company. I know that quite a few companies do not operate like that.
Or if the company won't work like that, maybe your department can, if the people in it are......compatible with it. My department manager has helped cover my ass a few times I've screwed up, in part because he made some of the same mistakes in the past. I in turn do a pretty consistently good job of helping make him look good by making the department look good. If OT is necessary, I do it, with the expectation from both sides that it's a very temporary situation.


If that's not the case for you.....well, either more $$$, or the threat of termination. *shrug*
 
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OILFIELDTRASH said:
Gets extremely old. Have been working 50 to 60+ hours a week for years. I'm so sick of it I wouldn't care if it was 2x my pay I wouldn't want to do it.
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This. Did it for decades, standard at one place was even 55, 10 a day and 5 on Saturday. Was always X 1.5 unless on a rare Sunday at X 2 or Holiday X3 at a few. Once you get over 70 hours you can get burnt out, even used to do that in streaks.

Probably why I'm not even very enthused to jump in again lately, I'm sure I've worked enough in my lifetime at age 54 to fill up many peoples careers that have retired working 40 hour weeks.
 
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OverVolt said:
Express the need for their help. Many people genuinely like to help. Going about it the nice way and asking for volunteers first means alot.

If you ask for volunteers first and then have to make it mandatory because you didn't get enough volunteers it still means alot that you at least tried the volunteer route first. In my mind anyway.
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Good idea.
 
OP, sounds like OT is not normal for you. How much OT do you think will be needed?
Might want to say "looking for volunteers to work ??? extra hours per week for ??? weeks".
 
Love the way corporations use the guilt card when they over promise and under employ plants, but when there is a slow quarter and make everyone have 38 hours work weeks or less along with 1% yearly raises, they could care less if you can make rent or not. Inspires real loyalty there.
 
GrumpyMan said:
Love the way corporations use the guilt card when they over promise and under employ plants, but when there is a slow quarter and make everyone have 38 hours work weeks or less along with 1% yearly raises, they could care less if you can make rent or not. Inspires real loyalty there.
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Exactly.


"We need you to work hard to take care of the company. But, we would gladly drop you in a ditch on a if it could save us a few short-term dollars."

If the employees know that, why would they want to help?



Adding to my little list above: Part-time employees often get shafted on benefits. Where I work, they announced that some more of the profit-sharing benefits will be offered on a prorated basis to part-timers, which includes several college and tech school students.
 
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