Long Hours: Don't squander your reserves

Unnecessary long hours are robbing companies of the ability to respond to sudden crises, warn recruitment experts.

Staff working long hours every day for the sake of it have nothing left to give when urgently needed, warns Dorset and Hampshire recruitment firm Hudson Cooper Professional People.

Burning the midnight oil during busy periods is a reality for most firms. Sometimes long hours are simply unavoidable.

But pointless ëpresentismí ñ workers staying late to avoid being first to leave ñ is damaging family life, workplace morale and firmsí ability to respond at critical times, says Hudson Cooper Managing Director Lee Cooper.

Bosses must lead from the front, he believes. They must stress to staff the importance of taking the appropriate holidays and time off to avoid burn-out and family work-life balance problems.

ìThe battle against long hours at work begins at the bossís desk. You have to have a really well-defined and structured way of approaching it that is not built on presentism,î said Lee.

ìWe need to get away from this culture of unnecessary long hours ñ itís not helpful,î he added.

His comments follow a new report which highlights the unprecedented strain being put on family life by Britainís long hours work culture.

Nearly two-thirds of parents believe they get insufficient time with their children. Half say they have to put work first, according to the survey of 1,148 adults by GfK NOP on behalf of the Childrenís Society.


Lee said: ìThereís a huge amount of pressure to juggle family and careers.

ìOn the one hand, we have this big political drive to make employers more flexible but, on the other, the demands on employees are increasing.

ìThe expectation is that you will get much more out of your working day. Itís a cultural thing, a UK plc issue.

ìItís not down to a company or any employee ñ there are expectations because we live in a 24/7 culture.î

The solution to the problem of overlong hours had to start at a local level, he stressed.

Bosses had to avoid imposing a regime of unnecessary long hours on their staff or even subconsciously implying that workers who left on time were not valued.

Hudson Cooper Professional People has offices in Bournemouth and Southampton.

The firm recruits quality candidates for employers through three divisions: Hudson Cooper Legal People; Hudson Cooper Financial People and Hudson Cooper Effective People.