HR Advice Hub

What Should You Do if an Employee Keeps Working More Hours Than They Should?

An employee regularly working extra hours can look like a good thing.

They are committed. They care about their work. They are willing to go the extra mile. But what happens when an employee is consistently working significantly more hours than they are supposed to - particularly when nobody has asked them to?

Regularly working late, logging on during evenings, skipping breaks or continuing to work on days off should not automatically be treated as evidence of a particularly dedicated employee. Sometimes it is a sign that there is too much work. Sometimes the employee needs additional support. And sometimes the problem is actually how the employee is managing their work. Whatever the reason, if somebody is routinely working considerably beyond their expected hours, managers should understand why rather than simply allowing it to continue.

Why Is an Employee Working Too Many Hours?

The first step is not to tell the employee to stop. It is to understand what is happening. There are many possible reasons an employee might regularly work additional hours. For example:

• their workload may genuinely be too high

• they may be struggling with a particular part of their role

• deadlines or priorities may be unclear

• they may find it difficult to manage their time

• they may be taking on work that should sit elsewhere

• they may struggle to say no when colleagues ask for help

• they may be spending considerably longer on tasks than is necessary

• they may be working to a higher level of detail than the role requires

• there may be a workplace culture where working long hours has become normal

Those situations require different management responses. Simply saying “you need to stop working so late” does not address why the employee feels they need to.

What If the Employee's Workload Is Genuinely Too High?

Sometimes the answer really is workload. If the amount of work expected cannot reasonably be completed within the employee's normal working hours, the manager needs to look at the work itself.

Are the priorities realistic? Have additional responsibilities gradually been added without anything being removed? Is the team understaffed? Are deadlines achievable? Is the employee regularly covering vacancies or absences?

If somebody needs to work significantly beyond their contracted hours simply to keep on top of the normal requirements of their job, telling them to improve their time management is unlikely to solve the problem.

Managers need to be prepared to distinguish between an employee performance problem and an organisational capacity problem.

But What If Everyone Else Can Manage the Work?

This is where the conversation becomes more difficult. A manager might look at the workload and reasonably conclude that the employee should be capable of completing it within their normal working hours. Perhaps other employees carrying out comparable work are doing so. That does not automatically mean the employee is lazy or incapable. But it does mean the manager needs to understand how they are spending their time.

An employee can produce extremely high-quality work and still have a performance issue if they are spending an unreasonable amount of time producing it. The required standard is not necessarily the highest standard an employee is capable of producing. It is the appropriate standard for the role and the resources available.

Can Being Too Thorough Become a Performance Issue?

Potentially, yes. This can be particularly difficult to recognise because the employee's work itself may be excellent. They may be conscientious, knowledgeable and extremely committed. But perhaps a task that reasonably requires two hours regularly takes them six because they check every detail repeatedly.

Maybe they produce a gold-standard service when the organisation only has the capacity to provide a good, proportionate service. They might pick up additional pieces of work without checking with their manager because they believe they are being helpful.

Or they may spend significant time resolving problems that should have been referred elsewhere. The quality of their work might not be the issue at all.

The concern may be efficiency, prioritisation, boundaries or judgement about where their time should be spent. That can still be a legitimate performance concern.

Watch for Employees Who Pick Up Work They Haven't Been Asked to Do

Some employees naturally want to help. That is usually positive, but it can become problematic when they repeatedly take responsibility for work that should not sit with them.

For example, colleagues may begin approaching the employee directly because they know they will help. Instead of directing the request through their manager or questioning whether it falls within their priorities, the employee simply takes it on. Their existing work then spills into evenings or additional hours.

From the employee's perspective, they may feel they are demonstrating commitment. From the manager's perspective, they may be spending organisational time on work that was never prioritised. The conversation therefore needs to be about more than hours.

It may also need to address how work is allocated, what the employee should and should not pick up, and when they need to speak to their manager before accepting additional tasks.

Can an Employee Work More Than Their Contracted Hours Without Permission?

This will depend on the employee's contract, the organisation's policies and the circumstances. Some roles require a degree of flexibility, while some employers operate overtime, flexitime or time off in lieu arrangements. In other workplaces, additional hours may need to be agreed in advance. An employee should not simply assume that choosing to work additional hours automatically means they are entitled to overtime pay or time off in lieu.

Equally, an employer should not knowingly allow a culture to develop where employees routinely need to work significant unpaid additional hours simply to complete their normal workload.

If an employee is regularly working beyond their contracted hours without agreement, the manager should clarify the arrangements that apply and establish why those additional hours are being worked.

“But I Don't Mind Working the Extra Hours”

An employee being happy to work additional hours does not necessarily mean a manager should ignore it. There are several reasons for this.

Firstly, managers still need to consider working time and rest requirements. Secondly, routinely excessive hours can become a wellbeing concern even where the employee initially feels comfortable with them. It can also hide problems with workload or performance. And there is a wider cultural issue.

If one employee routinely works late, responds to messages outside normal hours and produces significantly more detailed work because of those additional hours, colleagues can begin to feel that this is the standard expected of everybody. A manager therefore should not necessarily respond with: “Well, they choose to do it.” If the manager knows it is happening regularly, it is worth addressing.

What About the Working Time Regulations?

Employers also need to consider their obligations under the Working Time Regulations. For most adult workers, average weekly working time should generally not exceed 48 hours, normally averaged over a reference period, unless the worker has validly opted out of that limit.

Working time rules also include requirements around rest periods and rest breaks. An opt-out should not, however, be treated as permission to ignore excessive working hours.

Even where an employee has agreed to opt out of the 48-hour average weekly limit, employers still have wider health and safety responsibilities and should understand why somebody is routinely working excessive hours.

Working time records and the particular circumstances of the employee should therefore be considered where long hours are becoming an issue.

Can You Tell an Employee to Stop Working Extra Hours?

In many circumstances, yes. An employer can set reasonable expectations about working hours, how work should be prioritised and whether additional hours need to be agreed in advance.

If a manager does not expect an employee to work during evenings or weekends, it can be helpful to say so explicitly rather than assuming the employee knows. But an instruction to stop working additional hours needs to be realistic.

If the manager tells an employee they must finish at 5pm but continues to expect a volume of work that cannot reasonably be completed by 5pm, the underlying problem has not been addressed. Managers therefore need to look at both sides of the equation - what hours should the employee reasonably be working, and what work can reasonably be completed within those hours?

How Should a Manager Raise the Issue?

Start with a conversation and avoid framing commitment itself as the problem. An employee who believes they are helping may understandably be confused if their manager suddenly tells them that working hard is unacceptable.

Instead, explain what you have noticed. For example, you might discuss the fact that they are regularly sending work late in the evening, accumulating significant additional hours or struggling to complete their workload within their normal working pattern. Then explore why:

• What work is taking the time?

• Are there particular tasks they are struggling with?

• Are they taking on additional requests?

• Do they understand the team's priorities?

• Are they spending more time on certain tasks than the manager expects?

• Are there any barriers preventing them from completing their work efficiently?

The answers will help determine what needs to happen next.

Set Clear Expectations About Hours and Priorities

Once the cause is understood, managers need to be clear about what they expect. That might include agreeing:

• which work should take priority

• which tasks should be referred elsewhere

• when the employee should check before accepting additional work

• what level of detail is actually required

• reasonable timescales for particular pieces of work

• when the employee should flag that they cannot complete everything

• expectations around breaks and finishing times

• when additional hours require prior agreement

Simply telling somebody to not work the extra hours while continuing to give them the same workload, priorities and working practices is unlikely to be effective. The manager needs to help change whatever is driving the additional hours.

Don't Reward Excessive Hours Without Realising It

Managers should also think about the messages they send. If the employee who works until 10pm is constantly praised for their commitment, while the employee producing equally good work within their contracted hours receives little recognition, the business can unintentionally reward inefficient or unhealthy working patterns.

Similarly, managers should be careful about routinely sending non-urgent messages outside normal working hours or creating an expectation of immediate responses. The aim should not be to discourage people from caring about their work. It should be to create a culture where good performance is measured by effective results, not simply by how many hours somebody appears to work.

What If the Employee Continues Working Excessive Hours?

If the issue has been discussed and the employee continues to work significantly beyond their expected hours, the manager should not simply keep repeating the same instruction. Review what has happened.

If the workload remains unreasonable, the business may need to make changes. If the employee needs additional training or support, provide it where appropriate. If the employee is genuinely trying to meet the required standard but cannot complete a reasonable workload efficiently within a reasonable timeframe, the concern may point towards a performance or capability issue.

That might include somebody who consistently spends significantly longer than reasonably expected on routine tasks despite having clear expectations, appropriate support and the necessary resources.

Conduct is different. If the employee is capable of working as required but repeatedly disregards clear and reasonable management instructions – for example, continuing to take on work they have specifically been told not to accept or repeatedly working unauthorised additional hours despite clear instructions – the concern may instead move towards conduct.

The distinction matters because the appropriate management response may be different. The important point is to identify what behaviour or standard actually needs to change, rather than treating the number of hours alone as the problem.

Need HR Support?

If an employee's working hours are becoming a concern and you're unsure whether the issue is workload, wellbeing, performance or conduct, BloomHR can help.

We provide practical HR advice to help small businesses understand what's happening and decide how best to address it. Contact us for more information.