Overworked Brits give 180 extra hours for free

Almost three quarters (71%) of office staff are so overwhelmed with work they have to put in 180 extra hours every year, according to new research.

Brits spend on average an extra 44 minutes every week – that’s 36 hours annually – checking emails, answering phone calls and completing other tasks originally scheduled for their contracted hours. More than 51 hours a year are spent working late, with two thirds (63%) of staff still in the office after hours at least once a week, while 6% never go home on time.

Employees are also having to toil away while they dine ‘al desko’, with the average worker grafting through lunchtime two days a week – totalling 93 hours a year – while more than half (53%) don’t escape the office for the entire day and 16% don’t get any screen breaks all day.

The shocking statistics, gathered by printer and ink supplier Printerland.co.uk, found that even during their hard-earned leisure time staff can struggle to relax. Of the 2000 surveyed, one in three workers would take business calls while on holiday, one in five would leave a family dinner early and 13% would risk answering a call in the bath.

And it’s not just the office staff who are under pressure to perform. A fifth (21%) of their other halves say their relationship is in trouble due to additional work commitments, and a staggering 9% of those questioned confessed they would answer work calls during sex.

But all the hard graft is not paying off for one in five Brits (21%), who admit they have taken time off work with a stress-related illness.

Catherine Bannan, HR Manager at Printerland.co.uk said: “It’s important to take time out of work to enjoy time with family and friends. It’s one thing to work an extremely long day once every now and again in order to meet a deadline or deal with a crisis, but it’s another story to make a routine out of staying late.

“Overworking can result in tiredness and mistakes being made, as well as having severely negative impacts on your health, happiness and quality of life – so to increase productivity, you need to make sure you leave work at work when you go home.”