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Jobs: Workers put in nearly two billion hours of unpaid overtime last year
BRITISH bosses have a lot to thank their employees for – £29.2billion created by the 1,968 million hours of unpaid overtime to be exact.
That’s according to the Trades Union Congress (TUC) which has announced that Friday February 24 will be the date of this year’s Work Your Proper Hours Day.
The TUC says the near two billion hours of unpaid overtime would be enough to create a million extra full-time jobs.
If workers who regularly put in unpaid overtime worked all their hours from the start of the year, the first day they would get paid would be Friday February 24, hence it being named Work Your Hour Proper Hours Day (WYPHD) by the unions.
Now in its eighth year, WYPHDis a light-hearted campaign that celebrates the unsung - and unpaid - extra hours that millions of workers put in to help their employers and which gives a huge boost to the UK economy.
The TUC will call on employers to mark Work Yours Proper Hours Day by thanking staff for the extra hours they’re putting in.
The TUC analysis of official figures shows 5.3 million workers put in an average of 7.2 hours of unpaid overtime per week last year, worth around £5,300 a year per person.
The TUC believes some employers are forcing staff to work extremely long hours that damage their health, when taking on extra employees would be far more productive and provide much needed jobs.
TUC general secretary Brendan Barber said: “The heroic amount of extra unpaid hours put in by millions of workers make a vital - but often unsung - contribution to the UK economy.
“While many politicians and financial institutions have spectacularly failed to do their bit to help the UK economy, millions of hard-working staff clearly have and we hope employers congratulate them for their efforts on Work Your Proper Hours Day this year.
“But while many of the extra unpaid hours worked could easily be reduced by changing work practices and ending the UK’s culture of pointless presenteeism, a small number of employers are exploiting staff by regularly forcing them to do excessive amounts of extra work for no extra pay.
“This attitude is not only bad for workers’ health, it’s bad for the economy too as it reduces productivity and holds back job creation.
“No-one wants to see us to become a nation of clock-watchers. But a more sensible and grown up attitude to working time could cut out needless unpaid hours and help more people into work.”
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There are 5 comments to this article
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Aylesbury Duck
Wednesday, January 11, 2012 at 11:45 AMWhat a load of TUC Bull sh*te. It is what people who care about their job do, its about doing your best, in your job. It is about time the TUC started to encourage their members to do their best rather than encouraging them to do as little as possible. On Friday February 24th I will make sure I work 1 hour extra and take no lunch break, two fingers to the TUC.
golem11
Monday, January 9, 2012 at 08:31 AMI agree with RJP. I work in an office where some people seem to think it nexessary to give a running commentary throughout the entire day, come in late, tack an extra ten minutes onto their lunch break, spend time checking out the line up for Dancing On Ice, vote in the National Television Awards, check the offers on Amazon, look at the BBC headlines, chat about Eastenders etc then moan that they don't have enough time to get their work done. Wasters!
RJP
Friday, January 6, 2012 at 09:21 PMOn the flip side, I wonder what the cost to employers is of staff taking extra long breaks, chucking sickies, internet surfing, personal phone calls and just general idle chitter chatter. I know in an office I used to work in, the work rate was probably about 60% the rest was gossip and personal stuff. Yet you would still see people working past their finish time claiming that they were so busy they had to work longer. It also made them look good to those upstairs!
LocalBoy
Friday, January 6, 2012 at 08:41 PM"The TUC believes some employers are forcing staff to work extremely long hours that damage their health, when taking on extra employees would be far more productive and provide much needed jobs." IF that is really the case you would think that businesses would employ the extra workers. The truth is that the TUC would rather present the picture that "the workers" are downtrodden and unscrupulous employers are intentionally affecting the health of the workers.
Scrumptious
Friday, January 6, 2012 at 06:56 PMIf you hate your job it must be awful whiling away the hours; I happen to enjoy mine (most of the time) and sometimes when I look up it is past the contracted going home time. I don't feel cheated out of overtime, it's just the nature of the job.
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