Australians Work Two Months Of Unpaid Overtime Every Year, So Go Home Right Now
Looking for a reason to leave work on time today? This is it.
If you’re in the habit of staying at work late, it’s time to cut it out: a new study has revealed that Australians work late so often that they end up working around two months of unpaid overtime each year.
Yep, two months. That’s because every time you work through your lunch break, arrive early or leave work late, you’re basically working for free — and it adds up. This year’s Go Home On Time Day survey by The Australia Institute found that the average Australian is working around six hours of unpaid overtime every week, which adds up to that staggering two months of unpaid work every year.
And that two months of unpaid work, multiplied by the number of people doing that unpaid work, really adds up. The Australia Institute calculated the total value of unpaid overtime work in Australia to be around $106 billion in 2018. That’s $106 billion dollars going to employers, not workers, for the work that we’re doing.
“Australians are working more unpaid overtime than ever before, and they’re paying a high price for it,” said Troy Henderson, Economist at the Centre for Future Work, and one of the authors of this year’s study.
“Time theft takes many forms, including employees staying late, coming in early, working through their lunch or other breaks, taking work home on evenings and weekends or being contacted to perform work out of hours.”
“Most Australians wouldn’t dream of working for two months without pay. But it’s spread out over the whole year, and has become part of the implicit expectations of too many jobs. ‘Time theft’ has thus become endemic across the whole labour market.”
There’s a calculator you can use here to work out how much of your time has been stolen by work this year. Once you’ve taken a look at it, pack up and get out of your office — on time, for once.
And if you’re an employer reading this (hello!), make sure you’re not stealing your employees’ free labour by expecting them to work late, early, or outside of usual hours. If your employees seem to be doing this routinely, it might be a sign that they’re overburdened and under-resourced, and need a bit of help from you to get by.
After all, as the study’s authors put it, everyone has the right to go home on time. You can check out the full study here.