Michelle Hall starts her working day at 7 a.m. and should finish at 3 p.m. However, as sales manager in charge of a busy hotel team, she usually clocks off after 5 p.m. — which means that every day, she works at least two hours of unpaid overtime. “The hospitality trade really takes its toll,” she says, “with long working days dealing with the public day in, day out.”
Teacher Megan Quinn works a minimum of 56 hours a week — with additional unpaid hours needed for marking and lesson preparation. “It’s unmanageable for lots of new teachers coming into the profession in terms of what’s expected of them,” Quinn told the BBC. “It can be demoralizing and often teachers are exhausted.” Studies show that many UK teachers work a 60-hour week, which is much longer than in other countries.
Regular unpaid overtime or “off-the-clock working” is an increasing factor in the modern-day workplace. Back in 1968, the “I’m backing Britain” campaign saw employees voluntarily working half an hour extra each day to help improve the economy. Today, research by the Trades Union Congress (TUC) shows that more than 5.3 million UK workers each contribute an average 7.7 hours of unpaid hours every week. The worst occupations are teaching, finance, publishing and journalism, healthcare, transport and law. Public-sector employees are almost twice as likely to work unpaid overtime as those in the private sector.
So why do Michelle, Megan and so many other unpaid overtime workers do it? According to TotallyMoney.com, the most common reason is too much work. Other reasons include workplace culture and peer pressure, management demands, job insecurity and commitment to work.
The EU Working Time Directive (Working Time Regulations in the UK) limits working hours to 48 hours a week — normally averaged over 17 weeks. Employees have to work overtime only if their contract says so. Instead of payment, workers can agree to take TOIL (time off in lieu) as arranged with their employer. However, there is no automatic right to pay or TOIL for employees contracted to work overtime. Unfortunately, contracts are often ignored by employers, who either expect or allow employees to work additional, unpaid hours as part of their normal working week.
“Few people mind putting in extra effort from time to time when it is needed,” TUC general secretary Frances O’Grady told The Independent, “but it is too easy for extra time to be taken for granted and expected day in, day out.”
So what can be done? The TUC suggests workers should talk to their manager or union representative. Employees need to stop bad habits such as clocking off and then continuing to work. Jon Burns, of the workforce management company Replicon, advises managers to take a serious look at the key issues involved in off-the-clock working. Why, for example, does an employee appear to have too much work? Can a manager change the employee’s projects and duties to improve the situation?
With chief executives working the highest number of overtime hours, leadership clearly needs to come from the top. But should the government intervene? Both Germany and France have adopted new labour reforms aimed at restricting out-of-hours work and communications. Sweden is experimenting with six-hour working days.
“Unpaid overtime is weakly regulated in the UK compared to other countries, both in cultural and legal terms,” says Paul Sellers of the TUC. He suggests three targets to aim at: first, to raise awareness and establish new norms for working life; second, to strengthen the Working Time Regulations; and finally, to adopt stronger legislation. He believes that Britain can learn much from Germany in this last respect, especially by applying some of the overtime regulations now found in German employment law.
While allowing unpaid overtime might appear to make good business sense, the statistics suggest otherwise. Alongside increasing off-the-clock hours, UK workers have some of the worst productivity in the OECD. “The best bosses understand that a long-hours culture doesn’t get good results,” comments the TUC’s Frances O’Grady. “So we’re asking managers to set an example by leaving on time, too.”
That would probably please Michelle, Megan and other UK off-the-clock workers — but would it lessen their workload?