One of the frequently overlooked problems caused by worker being required to do too much overtime is that the productivity they return declines with every hour over they work.  This is a kind of economy of scale caused by the worker operating at less than peak efficiency.  

 lot of errors by the workers, descending quality of the products and all the already mentioned health problems.

Working long hours regularly offer no long term benefits to an employee, on the contrary it provides many negative outcomes as mentioned by previous scholars like health problem, increased medical costs, decreased productivity, reduced quality of work / job performance, lower job commitment, higher job turnover etc, net net higher total cost of ownership to the employer.  In fact some employers emphasized work-life balance as they really recognized employee as valuable assets to the company.  Working long hours sometimes can't be avoided due to urgency & importance in which after that  the employee should be allowed to rest accordingly for 'energy charge-back".  Working long hours regularly / most of the times are not beneficial to both employee & employer for long term.  Other factors need to consider e.g. does the job needs more than 1 employee head count or the particular employee competency, actual productivity etc need to be re-assessed accordingly.

A short further remark to "overtime". Overtime may differ from person to person. I know a lot of people who manage best even 10h/day. Other workers break down after 5 hours. I think each person must find the best behaviour at work, and if s/he needs some rest, take it.

My predecessors have already given good answers. Here is the summary from the following article that brings the same, such as:"

• Increased Health Problems
• Increased Safety Risk
• Decreased Productivity
• Increased Absenteeism
• Increased Turnover Rates

While there are clearly a myriad of issues associated with employee overtime rates, there are a variety of ways to mitigate the negative effects of overtime. The proper solutions for managing overtime can vary based on industry, company size, work environment, and many other factors. It is key to recognize that overtime policies should be regularly assessed to determine their effectiveness."

http://www.circadian.com/blog/item/22-5-negative-effects-of-high-overtime-levels.html?tmpl=component&print=1#.VTJ5tdKeDGc

When i was a doctorate student completing my thesis, I overworked with typing for so many hours every day.. In fact, I used to stay awake all night at the computer lab.. and return to home only around 6 in the morning.. As a result, after a few months, I could not lift my hand even... I went to Student Health Centre, and doctor gave me many pain-killers (Tylenol) and asked me to stop using it after taking for a few days..

Thanks for all great replies.. I got flashback & old memories also!

Dear Sundarapandian,

It is unfortunate but overtime pay in today's economic conditions is a necessity for the vast majority of people even in 2 household earners. I agree with all that has been written so far and would like to add that there are generational consequences as well however I would like to add another dimension to the discussion.

Many studies on latchkey children (single head of households) have reported many issues with the children of said homes.. These issues range from having to grow up faster and take on many adult responsibilities such as the eldest child having to take care of the others such as getting dinner ready, staying home to babysitting, and hygiene issues all must be assumed by the oldest. In other areas there are educational issues such as academic attainment, grade point average, and higher absentee rates. Emotional developmental, socialization, and sleep deprivation.

The effects from overtime work also manifest themselves by higher drinking, less patience, isolation, and violence. In an attempt to answer some of these issues and others many such proposals such as a living wage, double time pay after 40 hours, and ect. I do not believe these will work until we all understand that we, the people, our human brothers and sisters are more than a paycheck, a clog in a manufacturing plant, and an end to a means but are just that human. In our humanness we have basic needs and other needs to exist. I think we have been so complexly snowed under by the economics call for more productios.

Douglas 

Hanno: Overtime may differ from person to person. I know a lot of people who manage best even 10h/day. Other workers break down after 5 hours. I think each person must find the best behaviour at work, and if s/he needs some rest, take it.

I think that there is a problem when the boss requires less sleep and expresses lack of empathy towards employees that need more sleep. This may happen when the boss is workaholic?

Overtime and long work hours are found to be linked with unhealthy weight gain, increased alcohol use and smoking, declined neuropsychological performance, decreased alertness and attention on task measures, lower cognitive function, increased fatigue and increased safety risks.

Yes dear Marcel you are right. But some times the worker himself is the workaholic, doesn´t watch his body and soul and slowly is destroying himself.

Some times in life you need such periods. In my own life I had periods with up to 20 h hard work per day (you have read correctly) because I had to earn money and besides I studied natural sciences. But this can only be done for a short time and with a lot ot motivation. No normal behaviour!

Overtime & long working hrs whether employees are considering a blissing or curse depending on their attitude & outlook of employees/workers.

Every person work any where whether they work in the factory or in the office it becomes the ultmost necessity for them as to them it is question of bread & butter .When any employees works extra hrs they get pleasure as it provides & offers extra money in their pocket ..

For extra working hrs the nature of work is very important if it is a hard labour ,physical job when it becomes the moral duty of personnel or H.R.D department whether the extra burden is that mush of urgent nature effecting the monetary loss or other related problem which may effect the function of company .In this case such burden may be allowed .In other cases the concern department have also to view the physical & related health problems .

If the work is of mental nature ,such employees should considered such works as ''THE WORK IS WORKSHIP'' .Besides it  has been already established that our mind does not get tried early matter is that it requires sometime diversation or little change in the environment .

Thanks to Prof  Sundarapandian.  Me too did the same long hours  while writing my thesis. Very long hours, sometimes made me mad in such way mind didn't think anything apart from science. 

As everyone knows very well, academic/research community, need to work extra hours without any extra pay. While doing so ,  need to sacrifice a lot.  

Sometimes, working long hours in day and starting the next bit early - create an impression in such a way like working round the clock 

Apart from all other defects overtime over a long period impaired quality of life.

Will all these reported negative effects of long working hours depend on how you perceive/define what work is, e.g. doing it with versus without pleasure; doing it imposed versus non-imposed; doing it with versus without liberty, etc....? 

Dear Sundarapandian,

@Marcel, Of course there is a difference in how one would feel about overtime work if one loved what they did as opposed to the other who did not and the same would hold true even for the same person depending on love of job. 

This however still does not change the fact that the children do suffer the above mentioned conditions. Living with no parent at home is an undue burden to both the children and society later on down the road. 

We must remember we are human beings not factory robots and young children need to be looked after by an adult. Not a tired adult, nor an adult who is paid to watch them but by there loved ones regardless of sexual orientation. The children, adults, and the family are the ones who suffer from overtime. 

We need to begin to rethink our entire economic structure and put humans first not the dollar, Dutch-mark, pound, and yen. Until that time and that framework we will all suffer in the end.

Douglas

Negative consequences of overtime work: Lack of sleep disconnected from physiological stress or increased physiological stress?

Yes. Sometimes, the mind will be fixed at point in such way a keeping on thinking about only science. It'll create lack of attention in other stuff even it'll make  the dearest one to shout but the scientific mind won't bother about anything and keeping on thinking about how to execute the planned work. One way it is good but in another way it is kind of suicide attempt  in the living style. It'll mess-up everything in the regular life 

"The hunger for more is not a bad thing, it is when you lose the balance of what you’re giving as to what you’re getting that makes the struggle seem almost not worth it...It’s never an easy balance of working hard and playing hard but it can be achieved with a little more effort to be conscious of what life is all about. To keep things in perspective I always try to remember what a wise man once told me, “ You can’t hoot with the owls in the evening and soar with the eagles in the morning.”"

http://theimpactnews.com/items-we-barely-use/retired-columnists/in-other-news/2014/04/10/living-the-american-dream-on-no-sleep/

Friends - there is no universally accepted sleep-time for a person. It varies from individual to individual. Some minimum rest - sound sleep - is always essential, but quality is more important than quantity.

When I work on some research problems and working against many deadlines, not to mention Editorial work also, life gets too busy! I am also associated with Organizing Committees of many Conferences in my areas and I get to travel often..

muri, stress, demotivation, burnout, sick leave, resignation... it should be avoided in the long run through smooth workloads, increased predictability, better planning, and flow of work. All as deeply embedded in Lean

Most employees engage in overtime because it is required of you by the boss and for the money attached. Long hours of work is a necessity to beat tight deadlines. Families suffer in the end as shown in increasing rates of adultery, divorce and separations.

Organizations are not islands that are disconnected from society. It would therefore be nice to know the social/financial/medical consequences outside the organization of organization politics. What are the long-term human and financial costs for society when employees are overexploited? 

Some people take a lot of Coffee while working overtime or working for long hours.. Too much caffeine may not be good as well and it may lead to insomnia problems..

Does too much coffee cause increased stress or does increased stress cause more coffee consumption? Who knows?

Dear Marcel - your query reminds me of this:

  "Which came first - the chicken or the egg?"

The chicken risks to do more over work, or not?

When a person faces too many deadlines like me, inevitably he or she needs to work over-time or spend long working hours. I plan to take some holidays in Summer.

Depending on urgency of work, overtime for few days may be OK. Regularly and merely for monetary sake overtime is detrimental to health as well as efficiency of output

Dear Prof. Rasbindu Mehta:

Very much true.. I have been working overtime for the last few months, and I see the after-effects on me..

Best wishes, Sundar

This is all about what I just experienced these few days. Not just working overtime for your thesis or studies. I had to switch between teaching two days in a week three sections each day with interval in between and teaching now in summer for every day single section but with sections time combined all together. I did only for a week and is really telling combined with my own research work as well with other side things. Anyway I only need to do this teaching for a month and then I would have enough rest.

Dear friends, thank you for the kind advice. Best wishes, Sundar

"Work Hard, but give time to your love, family and friends. Because, nobody will remember presentations, meetings, degrees & overtime on our death."

- Author unknown

I have reworded the previous quote for overworking RG-friends:

"Work hard, but give adequate time to your love, family and friends. Because, nobody may remember well our H-index, number of Scopus publications, RG score or impact point on our death."

Extreme tiredness, lower productivity, and worse.

In Japan, the term "karoshi" refers "overwork death", or "worked to death" more colloquially, and is sudden mortality arising from occupational activity.

A study has concluded that job schedules with long working hours are not more risky merely because they are concentrated in inherently hazardous industries or occupations, or because people working long hours spend more total time at risk for a work injury. Strategies to prevent work injuries should consider changes in scheduling practices, job redesign, and health protection programmes for people working in jobs involving overtime and extended hours.

Article The Impact of Overtime and Long Work Hours on Occupational I...

The history of eight hours of work dates back to the Industrial Revolution. At that time, the duration of the work was determined in such a way as to reduce the number of hours of labor shortage of factory workers. Naturally, the implementation of such a system in a 200-year-old situation has been a successful achievement, but it is not acceptable at current times.

Never work for a good boss or good reason or anything more than standard.

Trying to balance work and life. As I try to divide my life time into three parts by eight hours and assign only one third of my day time to work. Although it may not be easy to achieve this goal in some cases.

The world becomes unbearable for hard-working people.

for the individual, it is stress, anxiety and unhappiness.

For the employer, reduced productivity, negative relations with employees, and overall worker dissatisfaction.

Several studies have revealed a strong association between long working hours and the development of various illnesses and injuries such as stress, depression, hypertension, diabetes, coronary heart disease, musculoskeletal disorders, chronic infections and substance abuse. Please take a look at the following references.

Article Long Working Hours and Health

Article Long Working Hours and Occupational Stress-related Illness a...

Article The Impact of Overtime and Long Work Hours on Occupational I...

Article Long Working Hours and Risk of Cardiovascular Disease

Article Long Working Hours and Coronary Heart Disease: A Systematic ...

Its a matter of quantity and quality of work. Further individual efficiency to work which automatically leads to variability in time schedule and over work to complete the task. Sometime multitasking also hampers to regular scheduled work and again to compensate it by overwork. A study I read that less than 50% of employee put their efforts in proper working in the organisation and their work compensated by overwork of others even without extra earning as in all offices boss wish to first complete the task rather firing out the efficient one.

Certainly over work in injurious to health and losing his family and friend time.

Workaholic is trait/ character of an individual but overworking in pressure/ finish target is ailment to life.

Interesting discussion

Why Working Overtime Is Never A Good Idea

In fact, logging several hours of overtime every week has even become something to be admired and an example to be followed. However, while your work ethic is being praised by your bosses, it’s taking a hefty toll on your body...

Working long hours can definitely take a toll on your physical health, but that’s not where the negative effects end. According to research, long working hours are just as likely to affect your mental health. The findings of a study published in PLoS ONE in January 2012 suggest that people who regularly work more than 11-hour days more than double their chances of major depression as compared to employees who typically work about eight hours a day...

https://www.entrepreneur.com/article/322595

It may increase level of stress and decrease the productivity of the employee. In the long run, the quality of the work may affect due to overtime and long working hours.