In the May 2007 issue of Fast Company magazine there is an interesting article by Joe Robinson titled “The Red Zone”. The premise of the article is that every company has those employees that repeatedly work 60+ hours a week and a common misconception is that these “workaholics” are some form of a corporate “hero”. Contrary to what some employees believe, excessive hours is a red flag and should be considered an indication of possible productivity issues. Not only dedication and work ethic. The article talks about flagging these type of employee if the behavior become excessive and repetitive, and put in place a constructive plan to increase their productivity while reducing their hours.

I honestly could not agree more with this article. I think that many companies lose sight of the relationship between quality productivity and dedication. All of us cherish a dedicated employee, but are these type of employees really fulfilled. We all have at least one coworker that you know will do whatever it takes to get a project completed. I respect that passion, but after about 14 hours sitting in front of a computer the quality of code a developer produces diminishes. A career is not a sprint but a very long marathon. We as managers need to look at excessive hours as a sign of hidden efficiency issues such as unrealistic timelines, scope creep or even external personal issues.