UK workers putting in ‘three weeks overtime’ a year

UK workers are putting in an average of three weeks overtime a year, just by answering calls and emails from home.

This is the conclusion of a new study, sponsored by Good Technology, that showed 93 percent of people continue to work even after they’ve left the office – for three hours and 31 minutes each week. This translates to 15 hours a month or 183 hours a year, the equivalent of 23 extra working days.

When asked the reason for this extra commitment, half say it is simply to stay organised, while 20 percent do it to impress the boss. Just over a third (37 percent) check and reply to emails in bed to keep on top of their workload.

Many workers are increasingly blurring the lines between work and personal time through mobile devices: close to two in five (38 percent) believe they couldn’t do their job without mobile access to email, while just 15 continue to carry separate phones for work and personal use.

''There was a time when it was difficult to continue working outside of the office without carrying a laptop," said Andy Jacques, General Manager of EMEA for mobile security software company Good Technology.

"But with today’s ‘always on’ society, people are pretty much working from the moment they wake up until the moment they fall asleep. While most of our customers believe their employees do work more hours as a result of this accessibility, they also appreciate and welcome the enhanced work-life balance that comes when employees have more freedom and choice as to where and when they get their work done.

"Smartphones and tablets have made it much easier to be able to work on the move, and that’s helping people choose when and where to get things done. At the school gate, on the train or in the queue at the coffee shop, this new wave of connected device is enabling people to be more productive than ever before.

''Today, many businesses are allowing employees to use their personal phones for work. In fact, 42 percent of the people we surveyed are using the same phone for work and personal activity, which means that they are now carrying around not only sensitive corporate information, but irreplaceable personal data on the same device.''

The study also revealed:

• 66 percent of people check their work emails before 7.00 a.m.
• The average UK worker checks their phone at 6:51 a.m.
• More than a third of people confess that they respond to work mails from bed
• 61 percent use their commute to read and reply to work emails
• The work day is getting longer — 15 percent still respond to work email after 10 p.m.
• 65 percent don’t go to sleep until they’ve had a final check of work emails
• 33 percent can’t get through Saturday morning without checking their work email
• 29 percent routinely check work emails whilst at the dinner table; another 16 percent report actually replying to work emails during their evening meal
• 38 percent now think their job would be impossible without mobile email
• 15 percent of UK workers even carry two phones — one for work, one for personal use
• 42 percent use the same device for both work and personal activity

Jacques added: “This research clearly highlights just how important smartphones and tablets are becoming to the UK workforce.”

"Employees are increasingly needed to be able to access company email wherever they are, on whatever device they choose and at any time. The challenge to IT departments is to ensure that workers can do this easily without putting company information at risk.”