Majority of long hours workers in the UK choose to work long hours

Following todayís vote by the European Parliament on working time, the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (CIPD), on behalf of the CIPDís 120,000 members in the UK and Ireland, will now urge the UK Government to seek to maintain the opt-out during the next stages of negotiations. The CIPDís opposition to the proposal to remove the working time opt-out is based on research among long hours workers published last year, which shows that individual choice is the main driver behind long hours working.

Ben Wilmott, Employee Relations Adviser comments, ìWhile we donít discount the problems that long hours working can create, we believe that this is the wrong way to address the issue. The small minority of cases of employer abuse should be tackled through better enforcement and raising awareness of existing regulations, while the health risks should be addressed by educating managers and employees of the need to focus more on work outputs than hours worked.

ìWe believe, instead that the Government should continue to encourage and extend flexible working arrangements, an area where the UK leads the rest of Europe.î

The Calling Time on Working Time? research report, a survey of 750 long hours workers who work more than 48 hours, addresses many of the issues covered in the European Parliament report that was approved today and shows that:

More than three-quarters of long hours workers say that they do so as a result of their own choice.
Fewer than a third of employees sign an opt-out clause at the same time as signing their employment contracts.
10% of employees report that long hours working causes damaging physical effects, while 17% cite mental health problems.

Wilmott concludes, ìWe believe that the opt-out should be maintained to give workers the freedom and choice to work the hours they wish, given that employees choose to work long hours in the vast majority of cases. Contrary to the views of many, including the European Parliamentís rapporteur, abuse of the opt-out is not widespread.

ìWe believe that better enforcement and awareness of legislation and greater access to flexible working beyond the current arrangements are the most effective ways of tackling the health and safety and productivity problems associated with long hours working. And with two-thirds of UK organisations having increased their flexible working provision in the past two years, we believe that the longstanding fall in the working hours of the average UK employee looks set to continue and accelerate.î