Work overload in the workplace takes a heavy toll on employees. Negative effects can include debilitating stress, mood disorders and illness. Having little control over an overwhelming workload can lead to burnout. Employers can lose talented staff and they may find themselves continually hiring and training a revolving door of employees.

Like all work cultures, busy culture starts at the top, with leaders who want to appear successful, important, and productive. But what makes it so tough to overcome is that it also has roots at the bottom, where junior employees compete to stand out as hard workers eager to contribute and move up.

However, is breeding a culture of “busy” in your business really the most effective move? Most research points to no. In fact, one study found busyness and our fear of inactivity has led to “idleness aversion” in which we’re drawn to being busy regardless of how harmful it is to productivity. In other words, we squander valuable time doing things that are unnecessary or unimportant simply because the busyness makes us feel productive.

So what can leaders do to combat a toxic culture of busyness? There’s no easy answer, but here are a few strategies that can help:

  1. Start by leading by example. Put a value on, and guard, personal time that is dedicated to overall wellness and demonstrate that it’s necessary to recharging in a way that enables you to fire on all cylinders when you are “on.”
  2. Set clear boundaries. This goes for achieving balance across the work/life continuum, as well as managing the constant notifications rather than having them manage you. When we get out of the inbox and the need to constantly respond, we move out of a reactionary state and it frees us up to be more mindful and strategic in our actions.
  3. Reward results over workload. Try to avoid only recognizing individuals for overworking themselves. Instead, recognize individuals for their results, strategically going the extra mile and effective time management skills.
  4. Lean on lateral and external influencers. Culture is built informally, interaction by interaction. But no single individual can change the culture of a large organization alone. One thing that works to effect change is positive peer pressure, exerted by social connections rather than top-down directives.

There is no one-size-fits-all solution for organizations. Instead, it’s highly dependent on each organization: their goals, their industry, the makeup of their workforce, the demographics, and what they’re trying to achieve. All companies get busy. The trick is to keep that busyness from becoming chronic and cultural, because when that happens, it also becomes corrosive — no matter how productive or positive it may seem.

 

References:
Fast Company (2022, March 24) Stephanie Vozza: How an Overemphasis on Busyness Hurts Companies (and Individuals)
Harvard Business Review (2020, September 29) Serenity Gibbons: How to Defeat Busy Culture
Chron. (2020, September 10) Mary Dowd: Negative Effects of a Heavy Workload
Inc. (2017, August 11) Jeff Pruitt: How to Improve Productivity by Eliminating the “Busy” Mentality