Issue date
• Today is ‘Work Your Proper Hours Day’ when workers are encouraged to finish on time with the active support of their employers

Welsh employers claimed £692 million of free labour last year because of workers doing unpaid overtime, according to new analysis published today (Friday) by the Wales TUC.

Today is the TUC’s 18th annual Work Your Proper Hours Day. On this day, workers are encouraged to finish their shifts on time.

And managers are encouraged to support staff by setting reasonable workloads and putting in place workplace policies to protect against burnout.

Main findings and impact of the pandemic

Across the UK, 3.8 million people did unpaid overtime in 2021, putting in an average of 7.6 unpaid hours a week. On average, that’s equivalent to £7,100 a year of wages going unpaid for work done.

In Wales, 9.4% of employees did unpaid overtime, averaging 7.1 hours per week. That’s equivalent to £5,801 a year of wages going unpaid. (see Table 3 in the notes)

Disruption to working patterns during the pandemic made it a second year of unusual working patterns, with many workers furloughed. This has made it harder to understand longer-term trends in unpaid overtime. But the figures show that promises to ‘build back better’ are not being fulfilled when it comes to workers being paid for all the hours they work.

Following a collapse in working hours during the first year of the pandemic, unpaid overtime has started to grow again in 2021. Between 2020 and 2021 the number of UK workers doing unpaid overtime grew by 427,000, and the proportion of UK workers doing unpaid overtime grew from 12.1% to 13.5%. (see Table 1 in notes)

Most of the top ten occupational groups for unpaid overtime are jobs likely to be possible to do from home. Managers and directors feature strongly, suggesting that the additional responsibilities of senior staff are not properly managed by employers. And teachers are high on the list. The challenges of keeping schools open for the children of key workers, while providing home learning too, has kept up their work intensity. (See Table 2 in notes)

Working more for less

Wales TUC says the combination of labour shortages in parts of the economy and the cost of living crisis is likely to mean that many people are working more intensely for shrinking real pay packets.

In the public sector, issues of overworking and excessive workloads are driven by a recruitment and retention crisis exacerbated by a decade of government-imposed pay restraint.

Wales TUC is calling on the UK government to:

  • Urgently fix the recruitment and retention crisis in the public sector, working with unions on a fully-funded workforce strategy.
  • Support employers in sectors where there are skills shortages with public funding for training.
  • Give working people stronger rights to organise collectively in unions and bargain with their employer to ensure that they have decent control over their working time.
  • Require employers and unions to negotiate sectoral Fair Pay Agreements for low paid sectors.
  • Bring forward the long-promised employment bill and strengthen protections against overworking and burnout, including a day-one right to flexible working.

Wales TUC General Secretary Shavanah Taj said:

“Most of us are happy to put in some extra time when it’s needed, but we should get that time back when it’s quieter. Nobody should end up doing work that they don’t get paid for.

“So today we’re calling on people in Wales to take your full lunch break and go home on time. And we’re calling on managers to encourage their staff to finish on time and to lead by example.

“Wales is now facing both labour shortages and a cost of living crisis. If the UK government does not take action to supporter workers, they will end up working longer hours for less pay.

“The Chancellor should use his spring statement to set out plans to tackle labour shortages in public services, and to fund training where there are skills shortages. And he should come forward with a plan to get wages rising across the economy.”

Editors note

- Analysis of unpaid hours worked in 2021 

Table 1 – comparison of headline data for 2020 with recent years 

  

2021 

2020 

2019 

2018 

Number of employees working unpaid overtime 

3,792,450 

3,365,668 

5,127,469 

5,013,434 

% of employees working unpaid overtime 

13.5% 

12.1% 

18.5% 

18.2% 

Total weekly hours of unpaid overtime 

28,810,577 

26,044,365 

39,031,340 

37,637,328 

Annual total of unpaid overtime (hours) 

1,498,150,018 

1,354,306,965 

2,029,629,667 

1,957,141,061 

Weekly average unpaid hours for workers who do unpaid overtime 

7.6 

7.7 

7.6 

7.5 

Total annual value of unpaid overtime 

£26,921,755,824 

 

£23,795,173,383 

£35,011,111,756 

£32,703,827,133 

Average annual loss for a worker doing unpaid overtime 

£7,099 

£7,070 

£6,828 

£6,523 

 

Table 2 – top 10 occupations for most unpaid overtime 

 Occupation 

Average hours unpaid overtime per week across: 

Proportion doing unpaid overtime 

Total weekly unpaid overtime hours for occupation 

All employees 

Employees doing unpaid overtime 

Directors in Logistics, Warehousing and Transport 

7.5 

12.3 

61% 

61,585 

Legal Professionals 

3.7 

10.8 

34% 

810,133 

 

Chief Executives and Senior Officials 

3.5 

11.5 

30% 

324,838 

 

Teaching Professionals 

3.4 

11.2 

31% 

4,358,145 

 

Health and Social Services Managers and Directors 

3.3 

7.8 

42% 

308,914 

 

Functional Managers and Directors 

2.9 

9.3 

32% 

3,291,262 

 

Managers in Logistics, Warehousing and Transport 

2.9 

9.6 

30% 

764,405 

 

Veterinary professionals 

2.6 

6.8 

39% 

47,538 

 

Research and Development (R&D) and Other Research Profession 

2.5 

7.3 

34% 

350,330 

 

Other Educational Professionals 

2.4 

9.5 

25% 

497,983 

 

 

Table 3 – unpaid overtime by UK region 

Region 

Average hours unpaid overtime per week, for those who do unpaid overtime 

Proportion employees doing unpaid overtime 

Annual total loss  

Average annual loss for those working unpaid overtime 

North East 

8.2 

9.7% 

£683,947,011 

£6,754 

North West 

7.4 

11.3% 

£2,172,350,466 

£6,373 

Yorks & Humberside 

7.7 

12.5% 

£1,788,397,980 

£6,440 

East Midlands 

8.2 

12.3% 

£1,692,750,113 

£6,748 

West Midlands 

7.5 

11.8% 

£1,946,508,880 

£6,644 

East of England 

7.1 

13.8% 

£2,375,809,739 

£6,392 

London 

8.1 

18.1% 

£7,322,540,835 

£10,150 

South East 

7.4 

15.9% 

£4,386,272,962 

£7,084 

South West 

7.2 

14.2% 

£2,047,590,099 

£6,107 

Wales 

7.1 

9.4% 

£691,739,526 

£5,801 

Scotland 

7.7 

13.1% 

£2,174,271,381 

£6,993 

Northern Ireland 

7.6 

6.8% 

£323,155,542 

£6,328 

 

- Gender: Women are slightly less likely to work unpaid overtime than men (13.4% of women, and 13.5% of men). Women who work unpaid overtime do 0.8 hours a week less than men (7.2 hours for women, and 8.0 hours for men). 

- BME workers: BME workers are slightly less likely to work unpaid overtime than white workers (10.2% of BME workers, and 14.0% of white workers). BME workers who work unpaid overtime do similar amounts to white workers (7.5 hours for BME workers, and 8.1 hours for white workers). 

- Methodology for the analysis: This Wales TUC analysis is based on ONS Labour Force Survey data covering July-Sep 2021. The TUC uses the Jul-Sep quarter to calculate unpaid overtime rates every year on Work Your Proper Hours Day.  

- Choice of date for Work Your Proper hours Day (WYPHD): The date of Work Your Proper Hours Day is usually based on a calculation. We identify the day in the year when the average worker doing unpaid overtime effectively stops working for free – and WYPHD falls on the closest Friday. 

For the last few years before the pandemic, it has always fallen on the last Friday in February. Over the last two years, the calculation is significantly affected by people working reduced hours in the pandemic. That alters the ratio between unpaid overtime and paid hours, resulting in a later date. 

However, we decided not to move the date into March, as there is now widespread expectation that WYPHD will fall at the end of February. We will keep decisions on future dates under review with reference to any consistent pattern that emerges after the pandemic. 

Contacts:

Wales TUC

Liam Perry

lperry@tuc.org.uk   

07917 193257