5 Reasons why working late is toxic, unproductive nonsense

 

It doesn't increase productivity

Have you ever heard the phrase "Work expands to fill the time available for its completion." This is Parkinson's Law and it essentially means that the time it will take to complete a given task will expand or contract to fit within the time allotted. If you know that you are going to work from 8AM to 8PM, you'll naturally take longer to complete tasks. By working late, you miss out on sleep and sleep is required to recharge your brain and keep it operating at top efficiency. The longer you work, you also increase the risk that you'll make mental errors and have to go back and fix them resulting in even more work late. 

You'll regret it

You will never get this time back. In fact, not only will you never get the time back, you may not even feel it was worth it. Chances are there is someone you work with who is working 9-5 and getting the same amount of work done or getting less done and getting paid exactly the same. You may be killing yourself and not getting anything out of it. Remember that your job is a mutually beneficial relationship. They need your expertise and work and you need the job. You've both agreed to what the work is and what the pay is, so don't go giving away free work.  Instead find a way to make your work life balance work for you. 

It's unhealthy

Working late is bad for your health. It leads to long periods of sitting still and that can lead to increased risk of heart disease, obscenity and diabetes. It's also unhealthy for your social life because due to the long hours you won't have the time to develop and maintain healthy relationships outside of work.  Your body sleeps at night because it needs to recharge and repair itself. The same is true of your time off work. You need that time to emotionally decompress and take care of yourself.  Put yourself first. 

It makes your peers angry

Remember when you were in school and there was that student that always went above and beyond? The assignment asked for a one page essay on a subject and this student wrote 3 pages and made a chart to further illustrate their points. If you're the person constantly working late hours, sending emails at 2am, taking calls on your PTO, you are risking becoming that person in the eyes of your peers. You are going beyond the work employee agreement and creating an unrealistic expectation in the eyes of your leadership that everyone else may be judged by. This can result in your peers not wanting to work with you, keeping important information from you and ultimately make you even less productive.  

You stifle your career

You can earn more recognition by doing less. The fact is that by being constantly buried in work you leave yourself at risk of being unable to take on important projects. Your boss is in a pinch and needs a quick turnaround on an important project and you just don't have the time to complete it because you've taken on every request that's come your way. 

What do you think? Is working late bad? When is it ok? Sound off in the comments.