UK employees work an extra day each week

The average UK employee works an additional day over their contracted hours each week, according to research from UIA Mutual Insurance.

Excluding planned overtime, the researchers found that UK workers spend an additional three hours at work each day, for around 2.75 days per week on average. Those in the IT and Telecoms industry do the most additional hours each day (3.73), culminating in an additional nine hours of work per week.

Just under half (47%) say this is because they feel they don’t have enough time at work to do what they need to. Half (50%) of all UK workers say they feel obligated to work beyond their contracted hours.

However, Cary Cooper, 50th Anniversary Professor of Organizational Psychology and Health at the Manchester Business School, told Grapevine that working longer hours does not lead to stronger productivity.