Over half of all overtime workers are not getting paid for the hundreds of extra hours they put in for their bosses every year, research has found.
A new OnePoll survey, commissioned by TotallyMoney, revealed that 59 per cent of overtime workers receive no compensation for their efforts.
Employees in the UK on average put in 10.1 hours overtime per week, totalling 469 hours of unpaid work per year for 59 per cent of overtime workers. A tenth work over 30 hours a week overtime.
Just over half, 53 per cent, said their reason for putting in extra hours was due to “too much work”, with 61 per cent of respondents saying they don’t have a good work/life balance.
Around 15 per cent said they work extra because of “pressure from senior figures” and 1.4 per cent claimed they did it because they wanted to “avoid going home”.
Over half said they felt stressed due to work.
Commenting on the findings, TotallyMoney head of brand and communications, Joe Gardiner, said: “While many employees accept overtime as part and parcel of the job, few people realise the extent to which they are working for free.
We hope the results of the survey will open company eyes to how unfairly they’re treating their employees and, in particular, how they treat women.”
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Indeed, Gardiner said the research has sparked new debates about whether the issues surrounding gender in the workplace go beyond the gender pay gap.
The research found that women are much less likely to get paid for the extra hours they put in. Indeed, a third of women are paid for working overtime compared to a half of men.
Women are also more likely to feel stressed and run down due to work, and are more likely to work overtime to progress their careers compared to their male counterparts.
It also showed that women are more likely to perform work-related duties in their own time.
Other findings from the research were that workers in London come off worst, averaging 10.56 hours overtime each week. Some 11 per cent of those in the capital work over 30 hours extra per week.
Those working in Glasgow, on the other hand, appear to fare better, with 60 per cent claiming they do get paid for the extra hours they put in.
East Anglia may be the place to be, however. Almost half of those working in the region said they were not stressed due to work.
A good salary has topped the league table of career priorities among UK workers
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