UK employees are working well over their contracted hours for free every week.In a report commissioned by OnePulse, it has been revealed that employees are working an additional 66million hours of overtime for no financial reward.
Of the 2,000 workers surveyed for the report, 70% of UK employees are working an average of close to nine hours overtime, with 43% not being paid for their extra work. Half of respondents said they feel stressed and tired at work, with only a quarter stating they feel happy and valued in the workplace.
Nick Walter, OnePulse chief marketing officer commented: “As both an employer and an employee, work-life balance is always an interesting debate. The real issue here is the taboo nature of working overtime today.
“Since the start of the UK financial crisis in 2008, there was a nervousness amongst employees, who were urged to up their game to keep their jobs – and this is the hangover – who is going to speak out?”
71% claimed they regularly work through their lunch break. Almost four fifths (79%) admitted to working after hours. Over a third of employees (37%) felt they were unable to take their full entitlement of annual leave due to excessive workload.
A large majority of respondents (93%) said they would be willing to work longer days to facilitate a three day weekend. 66% felt they are currently unable to engage in out of work activities at the weekend due to recuperating from the long working week.
When asked how they are compensated for logging extra hours, 46% said they received no reward, while 28% received more pay. Both ‘time off in lieu’ and flexible hours were cited as compensation by 13% of respondents.