Is Working Overtime Worth It?
Is working overtime worth it in the end even with the extra pay you receive? Here are some things you have to consider.
Near the end of December, I was required by my employer to work some forced over time.
While most people were out enjoying their holidays, my colleagues and I were out on the street paying our dues. In fact, my schedule was so hectic during the holidays that I am still surprised how I survived the consecutive 14 days of work.
However, now that the hustle of the holidays is over, I have had some time to reflect upon the matter. I have come to the conclusion that working the overtime was definitely not worth it. Here are three reasons why:
The negative effects on the health
The biggest reason why I will opt out from working overtime in the future is due to the negative effects on the health it may cause.
My 14 days of consecutive work days left me with no time to rest. In fact, I have even caught a nasty cold just a couple of weeks ago. Of course this isn’t to say that the over-time work is the sole blame for me getting sick but I have a feeling that it played some sort of role.
Additionally, my sleeping/eating habits are also really messed up now and I am simply too exhausted to complete my exercise routine.
Even up to this moment, I am still trying to get my health back on track.
Is overtime worth it when you get your pay?
Even with the double pay on the holidays, my net income for the 2 weeks was not much different than a regular 2 week work period.
Despite a very high gross income from the overtime work, taxes have taken a huge portion of my pay and what I was left with only surmounted to an additional couple hundred.
On top of it all, my job is one that is very stressful especially during the holiday season. That extra two hundred per paycheck was not worth the emotional distress I had to go through.
Impact on the social life
Working throughout the entire holiday season has also taken a toll on my social life.
I barely have enough time to do anything with the family let alone hang out with my friends. Additionally, as a single guy, I would also like to spend some time to build up my social life and to make new friends.
Finding time to work on my social goals is extremely hard in my line of work where I have absolutely no work/life balance whatsoever. Not to mention, working overtime does not help the cause either.
Conclusion
Although it is no surprise that I have been complaining a lot about my job recently, I am still grateful that I am employed. I don’t know, maybe I am just a pessimistic person by nature.
With that being said, I look forward to the day when I finally reach financial freedom and escape this rat race that I have found myself trapped in.
What about you? Is overtime worth it? I would love to hear all about it in the comments!
I had a job once where I ended up working 80 hour weeks. Overtime to me definitely isn’t worth it. Life is too short!
Hi SCM!
Wow 80 hours is way too intense! At most I pushed myself to 60 hours. But at least you brought in good OT no?
Definitely life is way too short and there is so much more to life than just being a workaholic. 🙂
My work values a healthy work-life balance so they don’t let us work overtime. So once it’s 4pm, they tell us to leave. I usually leave a bit earlier haha.
Its nice to hear Henry! Maybe it is time for me to seriously reconsider a career change. : )
Hi Jeff
To be fair, some of the jobs do require overtime work during certain period. For example I needed to work overtime for year end closing activities. The only thing I dont like about working overtime when I was still single was when it affects my health. I still remember that I was not even paid the overtime fees so that makes it all the worse.
Ahhh. It’s even more not worth it if they don’t pay overtime fees! As a single guy, I suppose it isn’t that bad to work overtime but when I actually start a family, overtime will cut out time from the family.
Jeff,
To me doing overtime is definitely not worth it because I’m not getting paid more. I’ve been doing it consistently for the past few months though, probably because I’m really interested in my job, but also because I want to earn a promotion as soon as possible.
Cheers,
NMW
Hi NMW! If you’re passionate about the job that’s a good thing and trying to earn a promotion may make all your hard work worth it. 🙂
The thing is, I am not very enthused about my job like many people out there and there isn’t very much room to grow in my career. OT just isn’t worth the emotional stress I go through.
Work-life balance is very important. You shouldn’t let your job govern how you spend your time. But I suppose sometimes we got to do what we got to do right?
Indeed Tawcan. That is why I am currently searching for employment that promotes work-life balance. However, to reach financial freedom, sometimes we have to do things that we aren’t exactly fond of for a short period of time.
Jeff,
Overtime is not worth it in my opinion either. When I work a long stretch of consecutive days, I feel burnt out, tired, and like I haven’t had a moment to myself in ages. And I agree, the paycheck really does not make much of a difference when working overtime. But we gotta do what we gotta do to build our net worth, right?
D2R
Hi D2R, we do have to what we gotta do but sometimes not at the price of our health. If our health starts to deteriorate, that will only cause my problems with our financial game in the future. : )
I look forward to reading new posts on your blog.
Yeah overtime sucks. I still do lots of overtime due to my profession and I am becoming more aware of my deteriorating health condition. I will have to find the right balance.
Where i used to work at , the better the worker the more they made you work because then more work was done . It was mandatory for whoever they picked,,,, ifyou got your work done earlier than Ithey thought you would . They would have you do someone else’s work so you all got done . Then less it for the group…..
That’s a harsh environment Brad. Do they do anything to people who work slow? If that’s the case, most people can just work slow.