Chapter 5 Summary

Overtime and Expanded Hours
Concept:
Many companies find themselves in situations where the work is not coming in during a slow part of the year or a company may find during certain months they are swamped and can barely keep up on the work. Where these situations may only be temporary, organizations may find its best to reduce positions to part-time or in the case of a heavy work load to work overtime. The downside to paying overtime though is that the company must pay the employee one and a half times their wage. Often times though this cost is cheaper than hiring and training a new employee, and the expense of having a layoff. For a short time many employees welcome the extra hours and extra money always helps. Overtime therefore is the best option for short-term labor shortage.

Emotional Hook:
Sometimes it’s easy for employees to feel over loaded when there is a labor shortage. I leaves the employees feeling overwork and having to take on extra tasks at work for the same amount of pay leaves unfair feelings and disgruntled employees. How can management make extra wok a positive experience?

Key Points:
Overtime can be a great way for a short period of time for employees to receive extra pay while the company gets through the labor shortage. It always feels nice as an employee to receive extra pay for doing the same job and usually I like my job better when I am getting overtime hours.

Facilitative Question:
What are some other ways for a company to deal with labor shortages and how can this be a opportunity to build unity at the work place?