After Work Excess (After Work Series Book 1)

Do you work more than 39 hours a week? Your job could be killing you

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Overwork has become the norm in many companies — something expected and even admired.

Everything we do outside the office — no matter how rewarding — is quietly denigrated. Relaxation, hobbies, raising children or reading a book are dismissed as laziness. Technology was supposed to liberate us from much of the daily slog, but has often made things worse: Like our mobile phones, we only go on standby at the end of the day, as we crawl into bed exhausted. This unrelenting joylessness is especially evident where holidays are concerned. In the US, one of the richest economies in the world, employees are lucky to get two weeks off a year.

You might almost think this frenetic activity was directly linked to our biological preservation and that we would all starve without it. As if writing stupid emails all day in a cramped office was akin to hunting-and-gathering of a previous age … Thankfully, a sea change is taking place.

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The costs of overwork can no longer be ignored. Long-term stress, anxiety and prolonged inactivity have been exposed as potential killers.

Researchers at Columbia University Medical Center recently used activity trackers to monitor 8, workers over the age of The findings were striking. The average period of inactivity during each waking day was Employees who were sedentary for more than 13 hours a day were twice as likely to die prematurely as those who were inactive for The authors concluded that sitting in an office for long periods has a similar effect to smoking and ought to come with a health warning.

When researchers at University College London looked at 85, workers , mainly middle-aged men and women, they found a correlation between overwork and cardiovascular problems, especially an irregular heart beat or atrial fibrillation, which increases the chances of a stroke five-fold. Labour unions are increasingly raising concerns about excessive work, too, especially its impact on relationships and physical and mental health.

Take the case of the IG Metall union in Germany. Last week, 15, workers who manufacture car parts for firms such as Porsche called a strike , demanding a hour work week with unchanged pay and conditions. Science is on their side: Is there a healthy and acceptable level of work? Pang argues that the workday could easily be scaled back without undermining standards of living or prosperity. Other studies back up this observation.

The Swedish government, for example, funded an experiment where retirement home nurses worked six-hour days and still received an eight-hour salary. There's no legal right to pay for working extra hours and there are no minimum statutory levels of overtime pay, although your average pay rate must not fall below the National Minimum Wage. Your contract of employment should include details of overtime pay rates and how they're worked out. Overtime rates vary from employer to employer, some will pay extra for working weekends or Bank Holidays.

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Instead of paying for overtime, some employers offer 'time off in lieu'. This is agreed between you and your employer and any time you take off will normally be at a time that suits the employer. Some companies have rules on when time off can be taken, but others arrange time off on a case by case basis. Overtime isn't usually taken into account when working out holiday pay or paid maternity, paternity or adoption leave. However, it is taken into account when the overtime is guaranteed and you have to work the overtime as part of your contract of employment.

Your contract of employment should include the conditions for working overtime. You only have to work overtime if your contract says so. Even if it does you can't usually be forced to work more than an average of 48 hours per week. If you're told to work more than this and you don't want to, you should first take it up with your employer.

Overtime | nidirect

Unless your contract guarantees you overtime, your employer can stop you working it. But your employer must not discriminate against you, or bully you, by letting others work overtime while denying you the opportunity.

Your contract of employment should say what your normal working hours and days are and this may include or exclude working on Sundays. Whether this counts as overtime working depends on your contract of employment. Unless it says differently in their contract of employment, employers will usually only pay overtime to part-time workers when they work:. It is a legal requirement that part-time workers must not be treated less favourably than full-time staff.

Your employer may need to change your conditions or patterns of work because of business or economic factors. However, your contract of employment can only be changed if both you and your employer agree to this.

J. K. Rowling

Firstly, check your contract of employment for details of how overtime is worked out and what the rates of pay should be. If you don't have a written contract, you may find the article on contracts of employment helpful. Remember that your employer must, by law, give you written terms and conditions within two months of starting work.

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If anything isn't clear, you should take up the problem with your employer. You might find it helpful to ask an employee representative, like a trade union official, to help you.

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