There is a school of thought that says productivity, and sometimes creativity, increases when pressure and time restrictions are applied.
This is sometimes true. If you rely on you or your workers to get more done in shorter periods of time, during overtime for instance, you could be doing more harm than you think.
A thorough explanation of this is detailed in an article from IGDA.org that defines where productivity declines in regard to longer working days.
Workers can maintain productivity more or less indefinitely at 40 hours per five-day workweek. When working longer hours, productivity begins to decline. Somewhere between four days and two months, the gains from additional hours of work are negated by the decline in hourly productivity. In extreme cases (within a day or two, as soon as workers stop getting at least 7-8 hours of sleep per night), the degradation can be abrupt.This is a great read that should have you or your managers thinking twice about encouraging overtime.
Why Crunch Mode Doesn't Work - [IGDA]
