The British are working too hard and the trend is now a serious social issue says Steve Crabb
Working time is back in the spotlight this month. First, there’s the question of the right of individuals to opt out of the EU’s maximum 48-hour working week.
The British government made a lot of capital out of its achievement in securing this opt-out when the rest of the European Union was enthusiastically signing up to the new rules, but actually any EU country can adopt the opt-out - and an increasing number are, including France and Germany.
The French finance minister, Nicolas Sarkozy, shocked many of his compatriots recently when he suggested that France’s own experimental 35-hour week had been a failure and called for a national debate on working longer hours.
Sweden and Austria have also been moving towards more flexible working hours.
Despite this, the European Commission is still actively considering abolishing the right to opt out, and the British government - which officially supports the retention of the opt-out - has now launched a new consultation on the subject. Employers have til September 22 to get their views in - see www.dti.gov.uk/er/work_time_regs/ for details.
Meanwhile, a report published last week by the Organisation of Economic Co-operation and Development showed that the British are working the longest hours in Europe - on average, we work 100 hours a year more than our counterparts in the rest of the EU. UK employees now work an average of 1,673 hours each year, compared to 1,354 in the Netherlands, 1,446 in Germany and 1,453 in France.
However, our new EU colleagues in Poland work even longer hours, with an average of 1,956 hours.
UK working hours are actually falling - the average has dropped from 1,815 in 1979, largely due to the growth in part-time working. Part-time employees make up a quarter of the UK labour force today, compared to just over 15% across the EU.
But a report published last year by the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development, Living to Work, showed that the number of people working more than 48 hours a week has more than doubled since 1998, while the number of people working more than 60 hours a week has risen by a third.
According to The Guardian’s columnist Madeleine Bunting, author of a new book called Willing Slaves, this is evidence of a worrying trend, whereby more and more employees are ruining their health and their relationships by putting in unpaid overtime, picking up work e-mails at the weekend and checking their voicemail when they are on holiday.
Mobile phones, laptops and Blackberry devices mean people can be on call 24 hours a day, seven days a week, and that’s not healthy.
Another part of Bunting’s thesis is that it isn’t just the time we spend working that matters, it’s also the emotional intensity that we put into it, and that is definitely on the increase.
As she points out, the Samaritans recently reported that work is now the biggest cause of anxiety among callers - ahead of family, money or health.
There’s no doubt that working long hours is a problem. The CIPD’s Living to Work survey found that 63% of employees admitted to making mistakes as a result of working long hours, 74% said their performance suffered generally, and 26% said it was a source of stress or even depression. Nearly half of the employees surveyed who work long hours said it had put a strain on their relationship, and 11% said it had contributed to a divorce.
At the moment, there’s little enthusiasm among HR professionals for the blunt instrument of a fixed limit on working-time.
But there’s a growing consensus that this is a serious social issue which needs tackling.
n Steve Crabb is editor of People Management
Working time is back in the spotlight this month. First, there’s the question of the right of individuals to opt out of the EU’s maximum 48-hour working week.
The British government made a lot of capital out of its achievement in securing this opt-out when the rest of the European Union was enthusiastically signing up to the new rules, but actually any EU country can adopt the opt-out - and an increasing number are, including France and Germany.
The French finance minister, Nicolas Sarkozy, shocked many of his compatriots recently when he suggested that France’s own experimental 35-hour week had been a failure and called for a national debate on working longer hours.
Sweden and Austria have also been moving towards more flexible working hours.
Despite this, the European Commission is still actively considering abolishing the right to opt out, and the British government - which officially supports the retention of the opt-out - has now launched a new consultation on the subject. Employers have til September 22 to get their views in - see www.dti.gov.uk/er/work_time_regs/ for details.
Meanwhile, a report published last week by the Organisation of Economic Co-operation and Development showed that the British are working the longest hours in Europe - on average, we work 100 hours a year more than our counterparts in the rest of the EU. UK employees now work an average of 1,673 hours each year, compared to 1,354 in the Netherlands, 1,446 in Germany and 1,453 in France.
However, our new EU colleagues in Poland work even longer hours, with an average of 1,956 hours.
UK working hours are actually falling - the average has dropped from 1,815 in 1979, largely due to the growth in part-time working. Part-time employees make up a quarter of the UK labour force today, compared to just over 15% across the EU.
But a report published last year by the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development, Living to Work, showed that the number of people working more than 48 hours a week has more than doubled since 1998, while the number of people working more than 60 hours a week has risen by a third.
According to The Guardian’s columnist Madeleine Bunting, author of a new book called Willing Slaves, this is evidence of a worrying trend, whereby more and more employees are ruining their health and their relationships by putting in unpaid overtime, picking up work e-mails at the weekend and checking their voicemail when they are on holiday.
Mobile phones, laptops and Blackberry devices mean people can be on call 24 hours a day, seven days a week, and that’s not healthy.
Another part of Bunting’s thesis is that it isn’t just the time we spend working that matters, it’s also the emotional intensity that we put into it, and that is definitely on the increase.
As she points out, the Samaritans recently reported that work is now the biggest cause of anxiety among callers - ahead of family, money or health.
There’s no doubt that working long hours is a problem. The CIPD’s Living to Work survey found that 63% of employees admitted to making mistakes as a result of working long hours, 74% said their performance suffered generally, and 26% said it was a source of stress or even depression. Nearly half of the employees surveyed who work long hours said it had put a strain on their relationship, and 11% said it had contributed to a divorce.
At the moment, there’s little enthusiasm among HR professionals for the blunt instrument of a fixed limit on working-time.
But there’s a growing consensus that this is a serious social issue which needs tackling.
n Steve Crabb is editor of People Management
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