Greybeard
20-08-2005, 21:46
A couple of recent articles in the press got me wondering about people's attitudes to work. From today's Guardian (http://money.guardian.co.uk/work/story/0,1456,1552801,00.html)
Professor Cary Cooper, a stress expert at Lancaster University Management School, says that "If you work consistently long hours, over 45 a week every week, it will damage your health, physically and psychologically. In the UK we have the second-longest working hours in the developed world, just behind the United States and we now have longer hours than Japan."
Derek Simpson, the general secretary of Amicus, claims that "UK employees work the longest hours in Europe, yet all the evidence shows that long working hours are bad for our health, equality, our families and for society. People's jobs are by far the biggest single cause of stress, and stress-related illness is the silent killer in our workplaces, impacting on workers' physical and mental health."
In a survey, Amicus found that almost one in five workers was put off sex because of long hours. The union found a third of people said they didn't have enough time to spend with partners or children. Community work, socialising, personal fitness and hobbies all lost out to excessive working hours.
It seems the number of people working over 48 hours has more than doubled since 1998, from 10% to 26%. And one in six of all workers is doing more than 60 hours.
Why do we do it, - is it just for the money ? Or ambition to get on ? Or because of pressure from 'above'?
An article in the Times (http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,2-1742598,00.html) today shows that some constables in the Metropolitan Police Force have been earning, with allowances and overtime, three times their basic salary. I would imagine once you get used to that kind of money, working on the bottom rung of the ladder, it's pretty hard to let go, - even though it's killing you and destroying your life.
And I suspect the employers really don't care very much, as long as they meet their targets at minimal cost.
Professor Cary Cooper, a stress expert at Lancaster University Management School, says that "If you work consistently long hours, over 45 a week every week, it will damage your health, physically and psychologically. In the UK we have the second-longest working hours in the developed world, just behind the United States and we now have longer hours than Japan."
Derek Simpson, the general secretary of Amicus, claims that "UK employees work the longest hours in Europe, yet all the evidence shows that long working hours are bad for our health, equality, our families and for society. People's jobs are by far the biggest single cause of stress, and stress-related illness is the silent killer in our workplaces, impacting on workers' physical and mental health."
In a survey, Amicus found that almost one in five workers was put off sex because of long hours. The union found a third of people said they didn't have enough time to spend with partners or children. Community work, socialising, personal fitness and hobbies all lost out to excessive working hours.
It seems the number of people working over 48 hours has more than doubled since 1998, from 10% to 26%. And one in six of all workers is doing more than 60 hours.
Why do we do it, - is it just for the money ? Or ambition to get on ? Or because of pressure from 'above'?
An article in the Times (http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,2-1742598,00.html) today shows that some constables in the Metropolitan Police Force have been earning, with allowances and overtime, three times their basic salary. I would imagine once you get used to that kind of money, working on the bottom rung of the ladder, it's pretty hard to let go, - even though it's killing you and destroying your life.
And I suspect the employers really don't care very much, as long as they meet their targets at minimal cost.