This Friday (22 February) is Work Your Proper Hours Day. The aim of the day is to get the average person who does unpaid overtime to just do their normal hours on this day and reflect on how well (or badly) they are balancing their life.
Scarily, nearly five million people in the UK regularly do unpaid overtime, giving their employers an average £4,955 of free work a year. But it's not just about the money. As a health and safety professional you are undoubtedly aware that long hours are not good for us!
Long working hours are bad for work-life balance, health, productivity and safety. In the UK we have reached epidemic levels. And overwork is definitely making us sick - a DTI survey found one in five men (19 per cent) had visited the doctor because of stress, rising to one quarter (23 per cent) of over 40s.
I for one will certainly be taking advantage of the promotion to work my proper hours in the hope I will enter the weekend far less stressed than I usually do ... I hope you do too!
Do you think campaigns such as Work Your Proper Hours Day help to alleviate stress in the workplace, therefore making it safer and healthier? Why not start the debate in our discussion forum?
