Overtime issues | Half of UK employees regularly work unpaid hours

Unpaid overtime appears to have become the norm in the UK, with new research revealing that millions of employees are regularly shortening their lunch breaks and finishing late to keep on top of their workload.

Ciphr polled 1,000 UK workers to find out how much unpaid overtime, if any, they each worked on average. According to the findings, there are significantly more employees who work unpaid hours than employees who receive overtime pay (49% compared to 23%).

Among those who do regularly work unpaid overtime, the average time clocked up each week is just over three hours (184 minutes). Over a five-day work week, that’s around 37 minutes extra per shift.

Around one in nine (11%) of those surveyed are posting five additional, unpaid hours a week.