A report said that 1 million people were working sustained long hours, according to employer estimates (that is, over 48 hours a week on average for a 17-week period, as specified in the working time regulations). A business need for long hours working was manifest in some cases, but in others it arose from custom and practice unrelated to the production process. Employers had found innovative alternatives to a dependence upon long hours working, but changing arrangements linked to payment systems could prove both difficult and protracted. Employers estimated around 3.8 million employees had signed an opt-out even though most were working fewer hours than the upper limit specified in the regulations.
Source: T. Hogarth et al., The Business Context to Long Hours Working, Employment Relations Research Series 23, Department of Trade and Industry (020 7215 5177)
Links: Report (pdf) | Appendices (pdf)
Date: 2003-Nov
A report brought together research which looked at working time patterns in the United Kingdom and made comparisons with European Union and other developed countries, with a view to explaining why the UK workforce had some of the longest working hours. After a period of long-term decline, the proportion of employees working over 48 hours a week had risen through most of the 1990s (though it had since started to decline again). Long hours working was mainly accounted for by overtime, and was more common amongst men, managers, professionals, and operative and assembly workers. Manual workers usually got paid for overtime, while managerial and professional employees did not. Manual workers saw the main benefit of long hours working in terms of increased earnings, while managerial and professional workers saw it in terms of improved promotion prospects and greater job security. Excessive long hours working was associated with (though not proved to cause) lower productivity, poor work performance, health problems and low employee motivation.
Source: J. Kodz et al., Working Long Hours: Review of the evidence, Employment Relations Research Series 16, Department of Trade and Industry (020 7215 5177)
Links: Report (pdf) | Appendices (pdf) | Summary
Date: 2003-Nov
A survey found that the proportion of those who worked more than 48 hours a week increased from 1 in 10 to 1 in 4 during the period 1998-2003. The average working week for women had increased by 3.5 hours to 33.9. The average working week for all workers was 39.6 hours, slightly up on figures for 1998.
Source: Living to Work?, Chartered Institute of Personnel Development (020 8971 9000)
Links: Report (pdf) | CIPD press release | Guardian report
Date: 2003-Oct
An article said that annual hours contracts offered a number of advantages for both companies and their staff - hourly wages tended to be higher; overtime was lower; job security was stronger; plant capacity was used more efficiently; and firms enjoyed greater flexibility in scheduling work and responding to demand for their products.
Source: David Bell and Robert Hart, 'Annualised hours contracts: the way forward in labour market flexibility?', National Institute Economic Review 185, July 2003, National Institute for Economic and Social Research (020 7654 1901)
Links: Summary (pdf)
Date: 2003-Jul
The government announced that, from 1 August 2003, the 1998 directive on working time would be extended to around 770,000 workers previously excluded from its scope (non-mobile workers in the road, rail, air and sea transport sectors; mobile workers in the rail and road transport sectors; offshore oil and gas workers; and doctors in training).
Source: The Working Time (Amendment) Regulations 2003, Statutory Instrument 2003/1684, TSO (0870 600 5522)
Links: Statutory Instrument | DTI press release
Date: 2003-Jul
Research found that the working time regulations (which came into effect in 1998) did not seem to have been an issue of major concern to most organisations interviewed. Nonetheless, there remained a few areas of concern and/or confusion arising from the regulations as originally drafted. Recent and forthcoming changes to the regulations were not seen as problematic by most employers.
Source: Fiona Neathey, Implementation of the Working Time Regulations: Follow-up study, Employment Relations Research Series 19, Department of Trade and Industry (0870 1502 500)
Links: Report (pdf) | Summary
Date: 2003-Jul
A study examined the benefits and challenges of combining self-employment with parenting, using representative survey data on more than 10,000 families with children under 15. Around one in four families were found to have at least one self-employed parent. The report considered the scope for extending statutory rights on working hours and leave to self-employed people.
Source: Alice Bell and Ivana La Valle, Combining Self-employment and Family Life, Policy Press for Joseph Rowntree Foundation, available from Marston Book Services (01235 465500)
Links: JRF Findings 663 | JRF press release
Date: 2003-Jun
Employers urged the government to protect the right of United Kingdom employees to work more than 48 hours a week if they wished to, under European Union legislation. They published a survey of 400 firms, of which 60 per cent said removal of the right would have 'a significant or severe' impact on business.
Source: The Working Time Directive and the Individual Opt-out, Confederation of British Industry (020 7395 8247)
Links: Report (pdf) | CBI press release
Date: 2003-Jun
A report said that flexible working policies in the National Health Service would not benefit employees unless more was done to tackle the barriers which prevented more people from having a say in the hours they worked. It said that a long hours culture was still entrenched in the NHS, and that many nurses had to accept demotion in order to move to part-time work, because some managers did not feel that higher-graded staff could work part-time.
Source: Angela Coyle, Women and Flexible Working in the NHS, Equal Opportunities Commission (0161 833 9244) and Women and Equality Unit/Department of Trade and Industry
Links: Report (pdf) | EOC press release
Date: 2003-Apr
Researchers analysed the health effects of several types of atypical or 'non-standard' employment - including seasonal and casual jobs, fixed-term contracts and part-time employment. They found that flexibility in the labour market may not have long-lasting detrimental effects on people's health.
Source: Elena Bardasi and Marco Francesconi, The Impact of Atypical Employment on Individual Wellbeing: Evidence from a panel of British workers, Working Paper 2003-02, Institute for Social and Economic Research/University of Essex (01206 873087)
Links: Paper (pdf) | Press release
Date: 2003-Feb