Over the past twenty or thirty years there has been a broad change in the way many organisations are structured. Nowhere is this more true than in the public sector where many people began their employment under the premise of structured career progression and a job for life. These days – and this is true across all industries - the pressure is on to do more, work harder, achieve measurable results, and often to work longer hours. With the expansion of social media networking and smart phones/tablets etc, our working life is pushing deeper into private time, family holidays and weekends.

A standard working week for those in AP is still around 40 hours – Monday to Friday. However, for departmental managers, and at times such as fiscal year end, audits and when seasonal demand dictates, another 10 hours or so is often grafted on top of this. In many offices arriving early, eating lunch at the desk and leaving late is just seen as a normal working day. But should it really be like that, and what kind of impact is this method of working having on the industry and on us as a nation?

For many organisations, reducing the number of people employed has proved easier than actually reducing the workload. The result has been that the remaining employees have often felt compelled to fill the gap. In theory, the net result should be excellent for profit margins, however in many cases there are hidden consequences.

Pressure, stress and working with barely achievable deadlines are some of the top reasons why people take time off with work related illnesses. This of course ends up in a Catch .22 situation where the workload actually increases. In that environment employees make mistakes, miss opportunities and generally spend less time being creative in their thought processes.

In fact the pressure to constantly produce results, and the easy availability of emails and online approvals etc via mobile devices makes it very difficult to stop “doing”. Managers stop taking the time to measure results, evaluate the current work structure or to notice if there is conflict brewing within the team. In short – managers stop managing.

So what can be done?

As an individual

• 
  Set a time to leave work and stick to it. As an ex boss and Marketing Director of one of the UK’s top investment houses used to say: “If you can’t get your work done in your contracted hours, then we either need to employ someone else to help, or you’re not doing your job properly”.
• Eliminate low value items – don’t get bogged down in detail. Cut through to the real issue, and if necessary – delegate.
• Ask why – don’t be afraid to challenge the reasons for doing something. Someone else’s bright idea may simply be a lot of effort with limited value. Get organised – prioritise work. Be pro-active, not re-active.

 As a Team

• 
  Build trust – learn to communicate openly and maintain appropriate confidentiality within the team.
• Outline clear priorities – set timelines for low value/priority work. Just because it’s in your inbox, doesn’t mean it has to be done today.
• Simplify systems – work together to streamline the processes.
• Time out – build in time to go out as a team to encourage good feeling, but don't make it seem compulsory fun or it will defeat the object

As an organisation

• Consider the culture – are you as an organisation inadvertently encouraging overwork? Do you see overtime as a sign of being committed without thoroughly measuring output?
• Set policy guidelines – include the general working hours in a corporate guideline for new starters.
• Use new software – consider buying new AP software which speeds up the accounts payable process
• Use the efficiency the software brings to encourage more operational rather than transactional involement
• Encourage staff – set up a training schedule, or become involved with industry associations and enter awards to show staff appreciation and to encourage best practice, efficient working conduct.
• Set up a range of benefits – pension schemes, staff discounts, holiday entitlement, a bonus scheme.

Even if you’re only able to draw on some of these suggestions, people will feel more valued, committed to the organisation, safe in their position and will want to give back. When employees feel this way, they are far more likely to give high quality work delivered in an efficient fashion, and are far less likely to take time off work as a result.