Chronic overwork puts a strain on employees and jeopardises the long-term success of the company. Workaholic Day on 5 July may already be behind us, but the challenge remains. We show how digital tools can help to recognise and prevent workaholism in the long term.
Last year, employees in Germany worked more hours than ever before since reunification. This is confirmed by a recent study by the German Institute for Economic Research (DIW). Although International Workaholic Day on 5 July is a special reminder of the importance of a good work-life balance, the need to find solutions to chronic overwork remains highly topical even after this date.
Five digital measures show how companies can recognise workaholism at an early stage and effectively counteract it in the long term.
Digital working time recording
Digital time tracking systems and project management tools record in detail how long employees work on individual tasks and how much overtime they work. By analysing this data, chronic overload patterns or lack of recovery breaks can be identified and proactively counteracted. Alerts can also be set up to be sent to line managers as soon as their employees regularly work too much so that they can address them specifically.
Automated remaining holiday reminder
Workaholics tend not to take any leave until even the remaining leave expires. Traditionally, reminders about remaining leave often go through several instances – from the HR department to the head of department, then to the team leader and finally to the employee, and then back again. An unnecessarily complex process that costs a lot of time and nerves. Automated systems now make it possible to send personalised notifications directly to HR and the employees concerned in good time so that the leave days do not expire.
Monitoring digital communication
Tools such as Slack or Microsoft Teams offer comprehensive functions to make the communication behaviour of employees transparent. The frequency of messages outside of regular working hours and the duration of online presence can be indicators of workaholism.
Digital employee surveys
Digital employee surveys enable anonymous, real-time surveys on the mood and stress levels of employees. This allows companies to recognise at an early stage whether employees are overworked or showing signs of workaholism. Some of them also enable digital annual appraisals and regular surveys to be conducted, with targeted questions on workload, recovery phases and current stress levels helping to preventively identify overload.
Analysis and reporting functions in HR and collaboration tools
Modern HR and collaboration solutions offer comprehensive analysis and reporting functions that visualise working hours, task loads and communication patterns. These dashboards and reports can be used to recognise overload tendencies at an early stage, allowing managers to take targeted measures to relieve employees.
Conclusion
Digital solutions are effective tools against workaholism. They help companies to take preventative action and at the same time ensure transparency and trust. Ultimately, however, it is still up to the workforce and managers themselves to recognise workaholism among their employees or colleagues and actively counteract it.
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