Earn Some Extra Cash by Working Over

Managed to score myself some paid overtime today. Bit of a rarity at my place of employment. So, although I don't really enjoy spending my Saturday's sitting behind a PC in a stuffy office - I am very grateful!

It got me thinking about the amount of unpaid overtime workers must do in a year. At most places I have worked, conscientious staff (myself included) will often work over to get a job completed. Paid overtime is generally reserved for when the boss has a special project which he wants you to work on, at peak business periods where it's all hands to deck, or where deadlines are looming scarily close by.

According to this news article on the BBC website:

"The number of people in the UK who work unpaid overtime has fallen for the fourth year in a row [...with] 4.76 million workers [doing] unpaid overtime last year"

Ahh, some good news...well, maybe, but I was quite shocked when I continued reading that 4.76 million workers did unpaid overtime last year and 45% of that group worked an average 12 hours each week unpaid, with their time valued at £24,000 a year each person. Slightly shocking, eh?

It seems our conscientiousness may have got in the way of our common sense!

Take a moment to think about it... How often do you get into the office early, have a working lunch at your desk and then stay over to finish a few emails that can't wait til morning? Do you get paid anything extra for that, or are you in effect slashing your salary? Time in lieu is sometimes offered for events outside normal working hours, but it's not exactly the same as a nice bonus on your monthly pay slip, courtesy of time-and-a-half or double-time is it?

The TUC has designated Friday 24th February as 'Work Your Proper Hours Day' as part of their campaign against people working unpaid overtime. Click the link (above) to take a look at their rather fab mini-site, where you can work out exactly how much you would be earning if that overtime was paid.

At the end of the day, everyones working situation is different. But I guess if we find ourselves continually working over (and not getting paid for it, or at least getting noticed for it by way of promotion) it's time to think about our work-life balance and maybe time to speak to the boss about whether there is any budget for overtime payments, or if there can be more delegation of your duties across the team. Yeh, I thought that sounded like a pretty daunting proposition too - hey, ho!