Out of hours work by UK white-collar staff worth $60 billion
Financial and professional workers in the UK do about $60 billion worth of unpaid out of hours work according to specialist recruiter Marks Sattin.
According to the survey the average professional spends 2.1 hours per day on additional work or the equivalent of 9.2 weeks a year. In finance and professional services as a whole 19.1 million extra weeks of work is provided for no extra pay, says the Telegraph
The study was based on Marks Sattin research that showed an average salary of the financial and professional sector of about 2 million people is about $54 per hour.
The research came after employers and unions in France signed an agreement aimed at protecting the health and wellbeing of employees, giving “the opportunity to disconnect from the remote communication tools at its disposal," in other words shutting off mobile phones and laptops out of hours.
“Obviously no one can be expected to work 24 hours a day and it is important people get time to switch off from work,” Dave Way, the managing director of Marks Sattin said.
“However, in many sectors, particularly in financial and professional services, being responsive is vital, especially for people who work internationally across time zones.”
Not answering calls from another part of the globe when the work day is over at home could be extremely damaging to the national economy, says Way.
“However this could be another feather in London’s economic cap if we see an influx of high quality professionals from across the channel looking for a more competitive financial and professional services sector and perhaps international companies relocating offices here,” says Dave Way.
