Breaking the Long Hours Culture (IES Report)

by Jenny Kodz, S. O'Regan, M.T. Stebler

A high proportion of UK employees work more than ten hours over and above their contracted hours. This is not an occasional effort to cope with emergencies of peak period, but rather a regular event. The European Community's Working Time Directive has made UK employers focus their attention on the matter of long hours. The fundamental business issue is not how best to circumvent the directive. Rather it is to understand the causes of long hours, note their consequences, and devise policies to ameliorate them. At heart, long hours working is a cultural attitude and the example is often set by senior management.

122 pages, Paperback

First published December 1, 1998