University News Last updated 25 September 2014
British people are working too many hours, according to a university professor who has been campaigning to bring back the half-day closing.
The extra time off for employees will reduce the burden placed on the NHS for work-related sickness, claims Craig Jackson – Professor of Occupational Health Psychology at Birmingham City University.
This week saw the awareness of work-life balance, brought to the fore through the National Work-Life Week campaign. Promoted by Working Families, the week long campaign is designed to help working parents, carers and their employers find better ways to balance both working and domestic lives, through initiatives like ‘Go Home On Time’ day.
“One of the issues I campaign most about as a psychologist is that of UK working hours." said Professor Craig Jackson.
"The UK workforce still has the highest mean number of full-time working hours of any European country. As a country we work too many hours – and we also rely on the culture of unpaid overtime and the willingness of millions of employees to work outside of the 9-5 for free, on a regular basis.
“Without the culture of unpaid overtime, many white-collar sectors would struggle to compete. Working unpaid overtime is now expected of workers in countless organisations, and technological advances facilitate this.
“It is no coincidence that the rise of email in the 1990s tied in with when the stress-epidemic began. E-technology facilitates and enables excessive working – on countless smartphones and tablets. The workplace pillow-email continues to exist.
“I have also maintained that since the trading laws were relaxed in the 1990s, millions of people in the retail sector in the UK have felt the effects of the shopping culture, and that a suitable remedy would be for companies to voluntarily bring back ‘half-day closing’ for one day each week. It would give workers a break, and allow them to do other beneficial things in their lives, and any lost ‘revenue’ that may occur as a result would easily be saved by fewer workers needing to access the NHS and their GPs for countless work-related / workload psychosocial issues such as stress.
“An interesting feature of the National Work-Life Week is the ‘Go Home on Time Day’ pledge, taking place today - Wednesday 24th September. As a token exercise it may just encourage some workers to think more carefully about what they could be doing if they were to leave work on time, which might lead to longer-term behavioural changes. Organisations will hopefully encourage their workers to take part and use it as a springboard towards more proactive activities that will increase worker satisfaction, health, and loyalty to the company.”