Flexible working results in longer working hours

Many organisations are offering their employees greater autonomy to decide their work patterns and more employees than ever are embracing that. But, says a Personnel Today report, who’s winning and seeing the most benefit – employee or employer? Morgan McKinley’s 2019 working hours and flexible working survey of 1 500 respondents revealed that despite the increasing adoption of flexibility and the demand for a healthy work-life balance, 91% of white collar office professionals in the UK are working beyond their weekly contracted hours. Most do it because they feel pressured by their workload, yet they don’t feel more productive from working the extra hours. The report says 90% of those who work beyond their contracted hours receive no additional compensation. The boundaries of the working day are shifting – starting hours vary enormously and home time arrives at a range of hours. This may be a contributing factor to why people are going beyond their contracted hours, as the notion of clocking on and clocking off has disappeared for good.