UK opt-out of 48-hour week welcomed

The UK's decision to opt-out of the European Union's working time directive has been welcomed by Louise Morgan, the senior policy advisor at the Confederation of British Industry (CBI).

She argued that businesses are primarily attracted to Britain because of its flexible labour market.

The EU's directive compromises this by regulating the market, stipulating appropriate working hours, breaks and holidays in order to protect employees.

Britain has agreed to the new legislation but has negotiated an opt-out of the law requiring employees to work no more than 48 hours a week.

It's about workers having the right to choose their own working hours and employers having the flexibility to respond to peaks in demand, Ms Morgan commented.

She concluded that although there are still restrictions in place, the opt-out is a good deal.

Thanks to advancing technology, the whole question of when and where you work is a grey area anyway, says ClickAJob chief executive Yngve Traberg.

Take working from home, doing research, thinking and planning or communicating via mobile from any remote location for example. If you add all this together, a lot of people are working for more than 48 hours per week, he continues.

One week more, one week less - we don't want to lose that kind of flexibility - which makes opting out a good idea.