West Midlands workers are giving away £2 billion of unpaid overtime

West midlands workers gave away over £2 billion in unpaid overtime in 2009, a TUC analysis of official statistics reveals today (Thursday).
The TUC analysis shows that 397,000 million people worked unpaid overtime in the west midlands in 2009, a decline of 34,000 since 2008.
Staff who did unpaid overtime worked an average of 7 hours 30 minutes a week, worth £5,156 a year and an increase of £484 since 2008.
The biggest rises in the value of unpaid overtime have taken place in London (+£498), the North West (+£492) and the North East (+£474). Wales is the only area in which the value of unpaid overtime fell (-£392).
Of the five million employees who worked unpaid overtime, nearly 900,000 worked more than ten hours a week for free. Workers in Northern Ireland (23.1 per cent), the East Midlands (21.3 per cent) and London (20.6 per cent) were the most likely to do more than ten hours of unpaid overtime a week.
With many employers and staff agreeing to reduce hours in order to avoid job losses, the reduction in working time has had a knock on effect on the number of people working paid and unpaid overtime, the TUC says.
If everyone who worked unpaid overtime did it from the start of the year, they would start getting paid on Friday 26 February. The TUC has declared this day “Work Your Proper Hours Day” and will call on bosses to thank staff for the extra work they are putting in to help businesses through the recession.
Midlands TUC Regional Secretary Cheryl Pidgeon said: “The recession has forced many employees to work less hours in an effort to save jobs and this has also had an effect on the amount of unpaid overtime worked.
“This flexibility and the sacrifices made by staff has saved jobs and kept companies afloat. Bosses should use Work Your Proper Hours Day to thank staff for the extra effort they are putting in to help their business through the recession.
“But there are still 397,000 workers in this region who are working too many hours for which they are not getting paid. This long hours culture causes stress and damages people’s health.
“Most employers are understandably focused on fighting their way through the recession. But they shouldn’t forget that working cultures such as pointless presenteeism – which keeps people at their desks for no good reason – is not just bad for staff but bad for business too.”