Survey among employed people: Overtime would be fine if the incentives were right

dpa | According to a survey, the majority of employed people are willing to work more – provided the conditions are right. At the same time, according to a study by the Appinio Institute on behalf of the job site Indeed, one in two people find the political debate about longer working hours to be demotivating.

Accordingly, more than half of the 1,000 employees said they wanted to work overtime, almost 20 percent of them permanently. Almost three quarters of those surveyed were already working more than stipulated in their employment contract. Those surveyed who did not want to work more cited private life, their own health, lack of financial incentives and family obligations as reasons.

According to Indeed, the survey is not based on a random sample of the entire population. The gender ratio was deliberately divided into half women and half men to enable comparisons between the two groups.

"The pure focus on increasing working hours falls short in the debate about our economic performance. Many employees are willing to do a lot as long as they can benefit from their extra work," said Indeed expert Virginia Sondergeld.

The respondents therefore see a more attractive basic salary, tax privileges, more flexible working hours and bonus payments as incentives. In everyday working life, however, they often felt thwarted in getting more done during their working hours: the main cause was an acute shortage of staff, followed by unnecessary bureaucracy and slow processes, unclear objectives and poor leadership, as well as too many meetings and outdated technology.

According to Indeed, the political debate about longer working hours is met with a lack of understanding among many employees. Almost half said in the survey that they were demotivated. A third, on the other hand, felt motivated by it.

The increase in working hours is only one factor in increasing economic performance, emphasized Sondergeld. The second is productivity. "This can be increased by investing in infrastructure and technology - including in the area of ​​artificial intelligence - and reducing bureaucracy. In the best case scenario, this will relieve employees of time-consuming routine tasks and increase their motivation and job satisfaction."