A new report from workplace productivity platform. Overalls, a productivity platform, reported last week that life stressors are significantly impacting employee focus and efficiency. And, the costs to small businesses are adding up in terms of work hours.
Overalls’ 2024 year-in-review report, based on over 23,000 employee support requests and more than 250,000 data points, quantifies the time lost due to personal distractions and outlines how businesses can address these disruptions.
The report identifies common life stressors—including navigating medical insurance, moving, financial concerns, and travel—that divert employees from their work responsibilities. Employees dealing with these challenges lose an average of 2.3 hours per incident, reducing overall business efficiency. Overalls found that requests related to medical benefits, home and moving issues, and general life stressors accounted for the highest percentage of employee concerns in 2024.
According to the data, Overalls users saved an average of 3.2 hours on health and financial matters, 3.3 hours on caregiving responsibilities, 2.8 hours on pet care, and 2.6 hours on navigating employee benefits. The findings suggest that by helping employees manage these stressors, businesses can redirect lost time into productivity and innovation.
The report also highlights that 91% of employee requests occurred on weekdays, with peak activity between 11 a.m. and 2 p.m., indicating that personal stressors are often managed during work hours. This underscores the challenge employers face in maintaining efficiency while employees juggle personal and professional responsibilities.
“Life stressors aren’t just personal, in aggregate, they represent a tremendous loss of productivity. Employees juggling life-tasks, such as finding a medical specialist or coordinating a move during the workday, lose hours of focus and productivity,” said Jon Cooper, Founder and CEO of Overalls.
The report also examines how different employee demographics experience workplace disruptions. Young families often seek assistance with medical benefits and home-related issues, while single parents struggle most with moving and financial concerns. Singles without children frequently require help with medical benefits, and new hires tend to deal with a mix of financial stressors and general life challenges.
By recognizing how life stressors affect employees, small businesses can implement better support systems to improve productivity and employee well-being.