Employees could be missing out on £4,785 a year from extra hours working from home

87% of UK workers want to keep some level of home working after the COVID-19 pandemic, despite over half (52%) saying they work extra hours.

According to a survey carried out by furniture ecommerce site Furniture at Work, (30%) people said that they work an extra three-four hours a week when working from home, with nearly half (45%) saying they do over five hours extra. Only 1% of those who do extra said they do less than one hour. 

The survey of 2,000 office workers, also found that employees who work extra were working an average of five hours and 54 minutes more every week, that would equal 40.9 days extra across a whole year of work. Based on the 2019 average weekly wage in the UK of £585, this means some employees could be providing free labour and missing out on £4,785.30 a year. 

Alternatively, one in four (25%) respondents said they do less hours when working from home. Of those 25%, nearly four in ten (39%) admitted to doing five+ hours less work during their week when compared to their working hours when office-based. 

Respondents also highlighted several positives to working from home. 78% said the lack of a daily commute has been a positive, with seven in ten (70%) saying they’ve saved money. 

A spokesperson for Furniture at Work commented on the findings: “There’s no doubt that everyone in the UK has been forced to adapt to a new way of life, and office workers are certainly no different. When offices were forced to close in March, many of us couldn’t imagine it lasting this long and it seems it’s had some long-term effects on our work-life balance. The fact that almost half of those remote working in the UK are doing five or more hours extra week is a shocking statistic. 

Perhaps saving money and not spending hours on a commute has helped to negate this fact, however, with 56% actually saying they feel their work-life balance has improved. All this means that maybe employees have more to do to ensure their staff are using their newfound time more wisely and not over-exerting themselves with work.”