Overtime

Construction overtime has been frequently used as an inducement to attract labor and to accelerate schedule performance. While there may be positive short-term benefits to working an overtime schedule, the long-term consequences are typically viewed as detrimental. Understanding the effects of overtime scheduling is quite difficult because the factors affecting productivity in the overtime situation are numerous. Given that an overtime schedule cannot be avoided, there is little, if any, information available to aid in deciding which type of schedule to follow. Reliable data in this area are nonexistent.

The research conducted for RT-33 identified two overall goals to accomplish which included:

1. To critique literature describing the effects of an overtime schedule on construction labor productivity.
2. To present the quantitative results of a study into the effects on labor productivity of scheduled overtime. More specifically, to document a procedure for data collection and processing and an analysis methodology that can be used to quantify the effects of scheduled overtime on labor efficiency. Also, to describe a model explaining how scheduled overtime affects labor productivity.

The literature critique summary arises from the need that little is known about the origin of the overtime data, type of project, surrounding circumstances, and amount of data. Yet widespread assumptions have been made that the data and conclusions are reliable. This goal aims to clarify the above aspects of each data set.

The quantitative results are based on 121 weeks of data from four active industrial construction projects. Major contract disputes were not involved in any project, and the labor environment was good. Both union and merit shop labor forces were included in the study.