Ten percent of respondents said their workload is "significantly too much," 60 percent said "somewhat too much," 20 percent said "just enough," 7 percent said "somewhat too little," and 3 percent didn't know.
"Many people are more productive when they're juggling multiple tasks, but the amount of work should be within reason," said Liz Hughes, executive director of OfficeTeam. "Project loads that are consistently unmanageable can lead to burnout and the associated problems of reduced morale, high turnover and increased hiring and training costs for businesses."
She suggested a few solutions for managers:
* Talk to staff members about their view of responsibilities, which may differ from yours. * Ask for employee activity reports to determine which projects are taking the most time. * Reward smart work habits. * Maintain an "open door" environment so employees will not be afraid to ask for help when workloads become too heavy.
