Reduce Overtime by Improving How the Work Gets Done

Recurring overtime can be a sign that everyday processes need attention. Employees may spend part of their day searching for supplies, moving stock repeatedly, waiting for instructions or correcting work. Essential tasks then spill beyond the scheduled shift.

For a small business, these delays can be difficult to see. A team looks busy, orders are moving and customers are being served. Yet the same unfinished tasks keep extending the day.

Before adding more hours, examine what is consuming the hours already available.

The problem: small inefficiencies can extend the working day

Packaging stored far from the packing station creates repeated trips. Unlabeled stock turns replenishment into a search. Incomplete order details interrupt production. A task that only one person understands creates a queue whenever that person is unavailable.

Individually, these interruptions may seem minor. Repeated across employees and shifts, they can use time needed for production, service and closing.

Overtime can also reflect genuine demand or insufficient staffing. Reviewing the process helps distinguish necessary extra capacity from avoidable delays.

What published evidence shows

Lean principles provide methods for identifying wasted activity and improving the flow of work. NIST describes 5S for workplace organization and value-stream mapping for examining a process from beginning to end (NIST MEP: Lean and Process Improvement).

Published business cases show how these methods can support efficiency:

• Wright’s Dairy Farm and Bakery: improvements included reorganizing storage, investing in suitable handling equipment and cross-training employees. NIST’s account describes how the changes reduced repeated material handling and improved placement of supplies (NIST MEP case study).

• Ranger Die: following a warehouse reorganization supported by 5S and visual controls, the company reported $30,984 in savings from reduced material handling and searching. The case does not identify that amount specifically as overtime savings (NIST MEP case study).

• WWBeds Custom Furniture: NIST reports tripled production alongside eliminated overtime. The improvement work included process mapping, workplace organization and job instructions that enabled more employees to complete tasks. Team expansion was also part of the account, so the result reflects a broader operational change (NIST MEP case study).

These are individual business cases, rather than a prediction of what another business will save. They show why layout, workflow and training deserve attention when overtime becomes routine.

Practical solutions: remove the delays that keep work running late

Organize stock around how it is used

Apply the five steps of 5S: sort, set in order, shine, standardize and sustain. Remove unnecessary items from the working area, give essential supplies clear locations, and establish a routine for maintaining the arrangement (NIST MEP: Lean and Process Improvement).

For a bakery, this could mean keeping the right boxes, labels and packing tools beside the packing station. For a shop, it could mean placing frequently replenished products where staff can retrieve them easily.

Label locations and establish a visible replenishment signal. Preserve safe access and appropriate storage conditions.

Reduce unnecessary movement

Observe one task from start to finish and sketch the employee’s route. Record repeated trips, searches and interruptions, then ask the employee what causes them.

Test one change: move a printer closer to its point of use, group receiving tools together or reposition a frequently used supply. Compare the task before and after the change.

The useful measure is whether the task takes less time while maintaining quality and safety.

Address the step where work piles up

Look for orders waiting to be packed, deliveries waiting to be processed or tasks waiting for approval.

For example, if preparation releases 60 orders an hour while packing completes 40, unfinished orders accumulate. Increasing preparation alone will not resolve the packing backlog.

Check the restricting step: missing supplies, unclear instructions, unreliable equipment or a shortage of trained support. Test an improvement there and measure completed, correct work through the whole process.

Standardize recurring tasks and train a backup

Create short visual instructions for tasks that regularly cause delays. Include the sequence, required materials, important checks and the expected finished result.

Develop the instructions with experienced employees. Train a backup and observe them completing the task before changing assignments.

Start with a task that repeatedly delays closing, receiving or order completion.

Confirm that efficiency reduces overtime

Recovered time creates capacity; payroll savings depend on what happens to paid hours.

As an illustration, four employees each spending ten fewer minutes searching per day, over five days, would recover 200 staff-minutes—three hours and twenty minutes. That time might support earlier completion or additional customer service. It reduces overtime expense only if paid overtime actually falls.

Compare task time, completed work, errors and overtime before and after the change under similar demand and staffing conditions. Include implementation and training time. Check that unfinished work has not shifted to another team or the owner.

Start with one recurring delay, test one improvement and measure the result. Use the evidence to decide whether the business needs additional hours or a more efficient way to complete the work.

Sources

Sources checked October 14, 2026. The small-business applications and numerical illustrations are proposed examples, not reported results from the cited cases.