Employees are spending half a day more in work than back in 2002, and a day more than they did a decade ago according to new research released today by Peninsula the employment law firm . Figures also show that men work longer hours than women in the workplace. On average we work half a day more than we did five years ago and almost a day more than a decade ago. said Alan Price, Head of HR Business Practice at Peninsula. Flexible working is not something that is evident in our figures; it seems that the working week is getting longer with an increase in people spending more time at work.
The Peninsula research shows that 36% of employees work in excess of 48 hours per week. 96% of those do so out of choice. In 1997 only 26% of those polled worked over 48 hours and 30% in 2002.
Working longer hours can put a strain on personal life and its ideal if businesses can offer increased flexibility working. However this may be easier for larger companies to implement but not necessarily the case for smaller firms who will struggle to juggle staff and labour costs and ensure productivity is not compromised. However the myth that employers force their staff to work longer hours should be dismissed as people do so out of choice.
Mr Price continues, The issue of working longer hours affects workers across the board from the high flyers i.e. managers, professionals and workers in lower pay grades. The increase in longer working hours is primarily due to the increased use of overtime both paid and unpaid. Paid overtime is most commonly found amongst manual occupations whilst it is most common amongst professional workers to work overtime unpaid. This lends support to the view that managers and professional staff work long hours in expectation of higher earnings in the future.
Where possible employers should try to adopt family-friendly working time measures such as flexi-time, emergency family leave and part-time work. Importantly employers should monitor the number of hours worked to ensure staff do not work excessive hours. explains Mr Price.
Peninsula has recently introduced a software program that can monitor the number of hours by any individual worked and alert employers to potential problems.
Peninsula BusinessWise has been designed to alert management when someone has exceeded their normal working hours, said Alan Price.
We believe it can help employers manage staffing levels to ensure that they have the right number of staff in place at the times when needed the most. This helps both the employer and employee in the long term and should help to eliminate any potential occupational problems such as stress because of working long hours. We believe BusinessWise can help employers by efficiently managing staff and reducing stress related time off because of working long hours.
Men work longer hours than women in the workplace
New research shows the working week is half a day longer than it was five years ago
