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Overtime Work: Significant Division of Opinion on a Passionate Topic
A Weekly BDO Dunwoody CEO Business Leader Poll by COMPAS in the Financial Post

In the wake of a lawsuit against a large employer alleging uncompensated overtime, the COMPAS panel of CEOs and business leaders was asked about the general issue of overtime, labour laws, employee effectiveness, and company performance.

Panelists mostly agree that labour laws provide adequate protection. They mostly agree that the concept of overtime provides non-management employees with vital protection and has little relevance to management employees. But they are not unanimous even on these issues. Furthermore, they do not agree on other aspects of the issue. They are divided about:

• whether overtime obligations make businesses more efficient, some saying that it motivates employees to become less efficient;
  
  
• whether the concept of overtime leads businesses to become more efficient;
  
  
• whether the administrative burden resulting from overtime pay reduces the ability of businesses to innovate;
  
  
• how employers should compensate employees for overtime;
  
  
• the degree to which overtime contributes to employee burnout, saying that some employees wish to work longer either for the satisfaction or the money.
  

These are the key findings from the past week’s web survey of the COMPAS CEO and business leader panel undertaken for The Financial Post under sponsorship of BDO Dunwoody LLP.