What is toxic productivity, how harmful is it, and what does it do to the performance ratings? These are vital questions that HR leaders should address in shaping a sustainable and profitable work culture.
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The workplace fixation with constant output to the point of ignoring employees’ well-being is known as toxic productivity. Although productivity is important, when it is overdone, it is not sustainable. Indian HR professionals are increasingly realizing the way this phenomenon affects team morale, the health of an individual, and, most importantly, performance ratings
Toxic Productivity: Red Flags to Avoid
Toxic productivity is when one has this overwhelming urge to always be working, whether necessary or not, and whether it is productive or not. It emanates from the perception that output is only associated with output. As opposed to healthy productivity, which harmonises quality, well-being, and results, toxic productivity brings burnout and frustration.
Main indicators of toxic productivity among employees can be:
- Overtime work without a clear reason behind it
- Ignoring breaks or time off
- Feeling guilty when not working
- Evaluating oneself based on the completion of tasks.
In appearance, it may appear favourable, but it establishes a poisonous working environment in the long run.
The Real Reasons Behind Toxic Productivity
Unrealistic performance expectations, as well as the lack of boundaries and poor HR systems, are some of the most common causes of toxic productivity.
Poorly Defined KPIs
Without the KPIs in place, the workers overshoot and end up working even more, rather than working smarter. They match time as spent with value delivered.
Inadequate Feedback Loops
Under circumstances where feedback is either absent or unclear, the employees overstretch themselves over the assumption that they may get recognition.
Over-reliance on Visibility
Remote work in many Indian organisations, particularly after the pandemic, initiated a “visibility bias”. Those who were always online or those who sent late-night emails were seen to be more productive.
Misuse of HR Tools
HR departments do not make good use of performance management software. Without effective monitoring, real productivity is obstructed by apparent busyness.
Toxic productivity results in a masked image of high performance. However, behind this mask, it usually results in inaccurate and unfair performance ratings. Here’s how:
Decreases output quality
Overworking is not always a guarantee of excellent results. Busy employees are in a hurry to finish the tasks, skip checks, and present poor results. If they lose in quality, so do their ratings – even if they have been “busy” throughout. A Deloitte survey found that 91% of respondents reported that excessive stress or frustration negatively impacted their work quality. Also, SHRM India disclosed that, since 2020, 58% of HR professionals witnessed a drop in the employee performance rating due to exhaustion and work stress.
Leads to burnout and eventually absenteeism
Bustle all the time consumes mental and physical energy. Usually, this leads to a sharp decline in productivity or absenteeism. Gallup reported that 76% of the employees are also reporting cases of burnout sometimes, thus directly affecting their productivity and job satisfaction.
Causes unfair competition amongst peers
Some employees may seem hard-working. However, those who are keeping balance may do better than them in actual output. This disparity in the information creates an inequitable comparison resulting in a distortion of performance ratings to create a bias towards visibility over value.
Misleads productivity metrics
Most organisations still rely on old metrics to measure productivity, such as the hours worked or emails sent. They can wrongly inflate the grades of overworked employees and undergrade the ones who do the tasks efficiently on time.
Makes the team dynamics negative
Toxic productivity breeds unhealthy competition. The employees think that they have to outdo each other rather than work together. This reduces synergy on the teams and indirectly affects the ratings by negatively affecting overall effectiveness and harmony. Unresolved workplace conflicts can lead to a 25% drop in productivity, with U.S. companies losing approximately $359 billion annually due to such conflicts.
6 Ways HR Can End the Toxic Productivity Cycle
HR teams play a crucial role in realigning work expectations and constructing a sustainable system that fosters healthy productivity. Here’s how:
Shift from hours to outcomes
Motivate leaders to evaluate based on their results and not time spent. Instead of rewarding overtime, reward employees who achieve goals in efficiency. Prioritize performance management software that counts milestones & goals rather than time spent active.
Redesign rating models
Update your performance evaluation templates. Introduce innovation, collaboration, and problem-solving into your models. These soft skills are usually not recognized in a toxic productivity environment but are very important to long-term success.
Train the managers to detect red flags
Provide training on how to take care of employees’ well-being and how to distinguish between hard work and harmful overwork. Additionally, these seminars can explain how to detect burnout indicators using HR software.
Promote a balanced work culture
Establish clear boundaries. Develop policies discouraging after-work, except in an emergency. Distribute leadership messages, reminding them of the fact that quality and balance are appreciated more than round-the-clock activity.
Use workforce management software effectively
Modern workforce management software can offer real-time information on workloads, the timeframe of projects, and the availability of staff. Redistribute the work with the help of these tools to find overburdened staff, and make sure no one is overextended.
Collect continuous feedback
Provide avenues whereby the employees can air their opinions about burnout and the amount of work. Real time feedback through HR software helps bring in interventions and continual improvements in team health and morale quickly.
Before We Go
Toxic productivity is not just a buzzword but is silently damaging to your workforce and distorting your performance evaluations. It is a silent killer that is detrimental on so many levels. It not only depresses employee well-being, but it directly affects performance ratings, meaning that your ratings are less accurate, and more biased.
HR leaders in India must act now. Through such a change from hustle culture to a balanced work culture that has the appropriate tools in the bag such as performance management software and workforce management software, a system can be created which appreciates both people as well as performance equally.