Posted: Monday 12 December 2011
UK Working Hours Amongst Longest In EU
This comes as no great surprise as I'm writing this at my usual 7.30am start time but I noticed an article published on the Guardian website last week which reveals that, according to the Office for National Statistics (ONS), full-time employees in the UK work the third longest hours in the EU, with only those workers in Greece and Austria putting in longer hours. The findings of the ONS are contained in its release ‘Hours worked in the labour market 2011’ and are based on data collated in its 2011 Annual Survey of Hours and Earnings (see recent blog on this) which it then compared to its Labour Force Survey.
Interestingly, unlike the Annual Survey of Hours and Earnings itself, the figures contained in the ONS’s latest publication reveal key information which relates to workers’ unpaid hours and provide an important insight into the hours which workers in the UK are clocking up for no pay.
As the publication reports, managers and senior officials employed in the UK work the most unpaid overtime, while those employed in lower skilled jobs work the longest paid hours. The statistics show that managers and senior officials work on average a total of 46.2 hours per week, with only 38.5 of these being paid.
The report reveals however that it is not only senior professionals who take on additional unpaid work. The statistics demonstrate that non-senior professionals work a weekly average of 6.8 unpaid hours, while associate professionals work an additional 3.6 hours for no pay.
As the Guardian article suggests, all this unpaid overtime certainly represents an important contribution to the UK economy, with some commentators putting the value in the region of £29bn each year – not exactly an insignificant sum!
While a diligent work ethic is to be commended, it is important however for employers to remain aware of the additional unpaid hours that employees are putting in to ensure that they do not become excessive both from an HR and health and safety perspective.
Right... time for my second coffee of the day...
