Unpaid work still too high

Friday, 27 February 2009 12:00 AM

By politics.co.uk staff

British workers are putting in more than seven hours unpaid overtime a week, according to a new report.

The TUC said that despite a campaign to end the long hours culture, around five million workers are doing an average of five hours six minutes unpaid work per week.

They've dubbed today Work Your Proper Hours Day having calculated this is the day people would start getting paid if they did a year's worth of unpaid overtime at the beginning of the year.

Professor Cary Cooper, author of The Long Hours Culture, said: "During a recession, we must all be fully committed to our colleagues and there is more pressure to work longer hours in order to get the job done.

"Many employees also feel obliged to put more hours into their work, in order to prove to the boss that they are committed and indispensable.

"However, consistently working long hours is likely to affect your health adversely as well as your productivity.

"A good work-life balance, which offers quality time at home, is vitally important to both the health of the employee and to the long term health of their company or organisation."

Staff in research and development, finance and public administration have been the worst affected in terms of unpaid overtime since the start of the recession.

Those in agriculture, insurance and pensions have seen a drop in their unpaid overtime since the start of the recession.

A Department for Business spokesman said: "The UK's flexible labour market is good for business and workers alike, and across the workforce we also have the second-lowest average working hours in the EU."

Prof Cooper is offering advice to those who think they are working too many hours at www.workyourproperhoursday.com.

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• economy
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• employment
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• employment regulations