Aviva's latest Health of the Workplace Report shows six in ten employees regularly work beyond their contracted hours, putting in an average of 1.5 hours 'overtime' a day. Nearly one in four employees (23%) claim they work an extra 2-3 hours daily.
The vast majority (79%) of these hours are unpaid, which means workers are providing around worth £225 million of 'free' hours each day for employers.
As a result of these extra hours, the health of the UK's workforce is suffering. More than a quarter (27%) report they feel tired all the time, 23% say they feel really stressed, 15% admit that their diet is suffering as they eat junk food and 9% need to smoke or drink to unwind.
Fewer than one in five (18%) report that they still have a good work/life balance in spite of these extra hours.
And only one in five (18%) say they work longer for the love of the job. Most extra hours are put in because employees claim they have too much work (41%) or because they want to give a good impression to the boss (20%).
Staff are adopting a number of strategies to squeeze in these extra hours:
· 37% work in the evenings after their contracted hours
· 28% come in early to get a head start
· 16% put in hours at the weekend
· One in 10 (11%) even admit to working late at night when unable to sleep.
Douglas Wright, head of clinical development for Aviva says: "Most employers make great efforts to look after their workers and ensure they get a good work / life balance. In fact our study showed that this is a top priority for a third of employers over the next 12 months so they may be very surprised to see how some employees are struggling to manage their workloads.
"Working excessively can have a huge impact on people's mental and physical wellbeing, so anyone who feels they might have a problem, should speak to their manager to address the matter before it becomes a bigger issue. Six per cent of workers actually report they have been off sick as a result of overworking, so it's very much in employers and employees' interests to nip any such problems in the bud."
