Let’s work out that time is money
employment hub felt they were adequately compensated for hours put in beyond the norm.
Overall, though, 59% of workers who toil beyond traditionally expected hours don’t have any form of recognisable compensation for the extra time they put in.
The survey asked 2,000 workers across the UK about the overtime they work and found that unpaid overtime certainly isn’t an occasional situation but a regular part of working life.
Employees in the UK on average put in 10.1 hours overtime per week, totalling 469 hours of unpaid work per year for that 59%.
Of those surveyed, 53% insisted their reason for putting in extra hours was “too much work”, with 61% of indicating they don’t have a good work/life balance.
More sinister is the 15% who admitted they work extra time because of “pressure from senior figures”. Unsaid threats? Well surprise, surprise: only 10% of those surveyed work overtime for the love of the job. Looking at the UK regional differences in more detail, workers in London come off worst, averaging 10.56 hours overtime each week. Some 11% of the sample workforce in the Big Smoke give more than of 30 hours of their time extra per week.
Going up north could be the answer if you want to avoid, as much as is possible, the whole subject of overtime. Workers in Aberdeen put in the least overtime at a weekly average of just 4.52 hours. For a more stress-free existence, you might instead want to consider a move to East Anglia. Nearly half of those working in the region report not to be stressed due to work.
It isn’t clear if they get stressed doing other things, like pottering on the Norfolk Broads. Perhaps they burn it off by taking part in a high-performance driving day at Lotus sports cars. It’s factory and test track are located near the Norfolk town of Hethel.
Back to more serious tone, the research potentially sparks a new debate about whether the issues surrounding gender equality in the workplace go beyond the publicised standard pay gap.
In this survey, women are seen to be much less likely to get paid for the extra hours they put in. They are, according to the responses gleaned, also more likely to feel stressed and run down due to work.
Perhaps showing a higher level of determination, the Onepoll number crunchers conclude that women are more likely to work overtime to progress their careers. Compare 16% against just 11% of men. Nevertheless, only a third of women are paid for working overtime, whereas half of men are. That’s a gulf, not a gap.
Across the board, 12% have missed personal engagements due to work, a quarter say working overtime is ‘normal’ to them and no fewer than a third monitor work-related emails or calls outside of office hours. Fewer than half of the people surveyed leave work on time. No wonder almost two-thirds say they have a poor work/life balance.
All this paints a grim picture of workplace culture in modern Britain and again raises concerns about working practices and legal protection once Brexit becomes a reality. More than ever, the UK must address its productivity figures. That’s not just about working more hours, but unscrupulous and less enlightened employers will see an opportunity.
Though those fears, if related only to post-brexit changes, might already be overtaken by reality. Much of what appears in the EU statutes will be carried over. That means you can’t work more than 48 hours a week on average (averaged over 17 weeks).
But this law, usually referred to as the Working Time Directive’, can already be modified. An individual of 18 years old and above can ‘choose’ to work more by opting out of the 48-hour week. Other regulations control appropriate breaks, for people like professional drivers.
If your boss encourages more hours, by hook or by crook, then worker ‘choice’ is, in effect, removed. Back to those unsaid threats I implied might be used as a hint to future prospects, or lack thereof. On the other hand, that might well be symphonic music to the ears of the 1.4% in this survey – those who claim they do overtime to “avoid going home”.