Workers in the UK put in £31.5billion of unpaid overtime a year

date: 26 February 2016

UK workers gave their bosses £31.5 billion of unpaid overtime last year, according to a new analysis of official statistics published by the TUC today (Friday).

More than five million people put in an average of 7.7 hours extra work a week in unpaid overtime in 2015. This would add up to £6,114 a year each if they were paid the average wage for those hours.

The TUC’s 12^th annual Work Your Proper Hours Day is the day when the average person who does unpaid overtime would start getting paid if they worked all their unpaid hours from the beginning of the year.

To mark the day, the TUC is asking workers to take a proper lunch break and leave on time. Managers could lead by example and also think about how they can move away from over-reliance on their staff’s unpaid overtime.

Gender

The TUC study reveals that men work 1.1 billion unpaid overtime hours a year, compared to 0.9 billion hours for women. Around one in five (19.2%) men work unpaid overtime, averaging 8.5 hours per week. A similar percentage of women (19.5%) also put in unpaid hours. Despite the fact that many women work part-time the average for those undertaking unpaid overtime is still 7.1 hours a week.

Age

People aged 40 to 44 are most likely to do unpaid overtime, with more than one in four (26.9%) in this age group putting in unpaid hours compared to an average of one in five (19.4%) for all UK workers.

Industry

Public sector workers contributed £10.8 billion of unpaid overtime last year. Public sector employees make up a quarter (25.7%) of total employees but produce a third (33.6%) of all unpaid overtime.

The most unpaid overtime is done by teachers and education professionals (with more than half of them working an average of 11.9 hours unpaid every week), followed by financial institution managers  (11.2 hours), production managers (10.3 hours), functional managers such as financial, marketing, personnel managers (10.1 hours), and managers in health and care services (9.9 hours).

Region

Unpaid overtime workers in London and the West Midlands put in the most free hours, clocking up 8.2 hours a week (compared to the national average of 7.7 hours). They are followed by staff in the North West and Wales who put in 7.9 hours unpaid overtime a week, and those in the East Midlands who spend 7.8 hours a week working for free.

TUC General Secretary Frances O’Grady said: “Too many workplaces tolerate a long-hours culture. That is why we are calling on employees to take a stand today on Work Your Proper Hours Day and take a full lunch break and go home on time.

“We do not want to turn Britain into a nation of clock watchers. Few people mind putting in extra effort from time to time when it is needed, but it is too easy for extra time to be taken for granted and expected day in day out.

“I would urge anyone worried about a long-hours culture in their workplace to join their union, to make sure they are represented and their voices are heard.”

The TUC has designed a calculator at www.worksmart.org.uk/tools/overtime-calculator where employees can enter their actual hours each week alongside the hours they are contracted to do, plus their annual salary, to find out when their unpaid overtime comes to an end and when they start being paid for the job they are contracted to do.

Notes to editors

Who works the most unpaid overtime?

1. Unpaid overtime by gender

	Number working unpaid overtime	% working unpaid overtime	Average hours of unpaid overtime each week
Men	2,584,379	19.2%	8.5
Women	2,559,412	19.6%	7.1
Total	5,143,791	19.4%	7.7

2. Unpaid overtime by age

Age bands	Number working unpaid overtime	% working unpaid overtime	Average hours of unpaid overtime each week
16-19	10,272	0.9%	5.8
20-24	197,152	7.2%	6.2
25-29	553,400	17.3%	7.6
30-34	692,047	21.9%	7.6
35-39	674,717	23.6%	7.8
40-44	789,801	26.9%	7.8
45-49	793,116	24.7%	7.7
50-54	691,423	22.4%	7.6
55-59	476,867	20.3%	7.9
60-64	206,313	15.7%	6.8
65-69	47,028	10.1%	6.0
Total	5,143,791	19.4%	7.7

3. Top occupations by number of hours worked by those undertaking unpaid overtime

Occupation	Number working unpaid overtime	% working unpaid overtime	Average hours of unpaid overtime each week
Chief executives	17,487	20.0%	13.6
Teaching and education professional	723,674	50.1%	11.9
Financial institution managers	48,805	57.6%	11.2
Production managers	148,429	36.7%	10.3
Functional managers*	324,766	44.0%	10.1
Managers in health and care services	24,568	33.7	9.9
Managers in other services	90,014	30.0%	9.4
Legal professionals	68,966	59.5%	9.2
Health and social services managers	48,496	56.5%	8.7
Managers in transport and logistics	62,453	38.5%	8.7
Senior officers in protective services	12,695	26.0%	8.7

*Functional managers: financial managers, marketing and sales directors, purchasing managers, advertising and public relations directors, human resource managers, IT managers.

4. Unpaid overtime by region

	Number working unpaid overtime	% working unpaid overtime	Average hours of unpaid overtime each week
North East	157,773	15.0%	6.8
North West (including Merseyside)	470,193	16.1%	7.9
Yorkshire and Humberside	388,550	18.0%	7.4
East Midlands	366,179	18.6%	7.8
West Midlands	370,285	16.5%	8.2
Eastern	542,473	21.2%	7.7
London	882,902	25.0%	8.2
South East	858,203	38.3%	7.7
South West	459,456	20.5%	7.4
Wales	185,256	15.3%	7.9
Scotland	402,932	17.4%	7.4
Northern Ireland	58,000	8.3%	7.7
UK	5,142,264	19.4%	7.7

All figures on working hours are taken from the Labour Force Survey (July-September 2015 quarter). Results include both full-time and part-time employees in their main job. Note that 40.8% of women and 11.9% of men work part-time (employees). Those working less than one hour of unpaid overtime a week are excluded. Earnings data from ASHE 2015.

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