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900,000 people work over ten hours a week of unpaid overtime

Written by on 1 March, 2010

A new report from the Trades Union Congress (TUC) has revealed that the number of people working unpaid overtime of more than ten hours a week increased by 14,000 to 897,000 last year.

Marking the occasion of Work Your Proper Hours Day (WYPHD) on 26th February, the TUC’s annual survey on working hours produced figures which show teaching professionals and lawyers are the worst affected, with one in five working on average seventeen hours of free work per week. Only 4.8% of business and finance professionals work extreme unpaid overtime hours, an average of nineteen a week.

Last year over five million people worked an average of just over seven hours a week of unpaid overtime worth £24 billion, working out to £5,402 each. Disproving the stereotype that they have an easier time, workers in the public sector were hit hardest, with one in four working extra hours worth £9 billion a year without pay and also being more likely than those in the private sector to work extreme unpaid overtime. Comparatively, one in six in the private sector lost out on pay for their extra hours worked, and worked less extreme hours per person than those in the public sector.

The report shows that single women are the most likely to give up their own time and work the extra hours, with 26% working 18.5 additional unpaid hours per week. Lone parents understandably do the least extra hours while single men and married workers with no children are the second most likely to stay late for no pay, implying that responsibilities outside the workplace are a key factor.

This increase in workers having to work extreme unpaid overtime comes as there is also an increase in the number of underemployed workers. According to figures, 2.8 million want to have more hours in their existing job or to work full time instead of their current part time job. These extra unpaid hours show how employees are working hard to help their companies out of the recession, having had their hours cut to save money. Conversely, statistics show that half a million managers would happily work less hours even if it meant a pay cut. The figures suggest most workers are dissatisfied with the hours their jobs involve, whether it’s too many or too little.

Work Your Proper Hours Day on 26th February marks the day when the average person who works unpaid overtime would start getting paid, if they did all their overtime from the start of the year. For those who work extreme unpaid overtime of more than ten hours per week, they wouldn’t start getting paid until April 26th. Teaching professionals, who work the most unpaid overtime of all occupations studied, would start getting paid on 4th May.

The TUC report calls for bosses to thank their staff for helping keep the company afloat while missing out on pay, and also to better manage working hours as long working days are not beneficial to workers whether paid or unpaid. Furthermore while there is no direct link between underemployment and unpaid overtime, those looking to work or work more hours may be affected while so many are working for confidential.

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