Companies relying on good will from overworked employees are running into danger, as the European Commission orders Britain to close loopholes in labour laws.
Working time experts have issued the warning after the commission took action to limit the working week to 48 hours - without an ëopt out clauseí for those who want to work longer ñ the only exception being parts of the health sector and media.
Working time expert Kevin White says the action could send shockwaves across British industry, which is not prepared for such a dramatic change in legislation.
Kevin, of Manchester-based Working Time Solutions, said: ìThis does not have to be a hammer blow, but unfortunately for companies relying on the good will of staff who work overtime, it will be.
ìCompanies which operate a good human resources planning management system should not need to rely on overtime, but many do.
ìThe key is to make employees more productive. An over worked employee does not work to full capacity and the sooner companies realise this the better.î
The TUC estimates that more than four million people regularly work over 48 hours a week.
A survey carried out at the end of last year by Essex University suggested that more than a third of employees in the UK felt overworked.
Kevin says businesses should think about consulting with a working time expert to improve their practices.
ìMany companies donít consider the possibility of offering flexible working hours, but this could help boost productivity and cut down on overtime,î he said.
Forward thinking employers in the manufacturing industry, and other businesses operating shift patterns, are now seeing the benefits of demand-led rostering to allocate staff based on predicted requirements, while others are turning to a system of hours worked out over the whole year, called annualised hours.
Demand-led rostering and the annual hours theory create more efficient ways of utilising staff hours. Both methods can deal with unexpected variations in operational demand, as well as staff requests for leave, or for training. It can cut down on overtime, improve productivity and boost morale.
Unilever-owned Colmanís Mustard factory in Norwich recently saw absence rates halved and efficiency rise from 55% to 85% after Working Time Solutions introducing annualised hours.
Kevin added: ìEach company has individual needs from working patterns and the key is to identify these needs and provide answers.î
Working Time Solutions is a pioneer in the field of staff and work scheduling software tools, and consultancy.
It has made dramatic breakthroughs with its WORK Suiteô portfolio of products ñ which are highly effective at aligning staffing levels with work demand to cut down on overtime and improve staff morale.
British companies head for trouble over working hours
Companies relying on good will from overworked employees are running into danger, as the European Commission orders Britain to close loopholes in labour laws.
