Employees want to keep UK's working time opt-out

The study, conducted by the Charted Institute of Personnel and Development (CIPD), found that three-quarters of staff surveyed said that they chose to work more than 48 hours a week, with a minority feeling overly-pressured by employers to opt-out from the regulations.

The UK currently has an opt-out from the EU’s 48-hour week, meaning that, unlike other European countries, employees can sign a contract which enables them to ignore the rules and work as many hours as they like.

Businesses have largely supported the opt-out, claiming that workers should be given the option and that any change could severely impact on profitability and productivity.

But trade union groups have consistently urged the government to end the UK’s opt-out, arguing that workers’ health was being harmed by employers forcing them to work long hours. With the EU also putting pressure on UK ministers to adopt the 48-hour week, it looks increasingly likely that British firms will soon have to fall into line with their European counterparts.

However, the CIPD study found that the ‘long hours’ culture in the UK was widely accepted by employees, with 73 per cent of workers working over 48 hours most weeks.

Just 35 per cent of employees supported the end of the UK’s opt-out, with 66 per cent feeling the EU shouldn’t limit the number of hours they work.

However, the survey revealed that long hours were taking their toll on some workers, with 10 per cent admitting to physical ailments and 17 per cent to poor mental health because of long, hard weeks.

Although few felt direct pressure from employers, nearly half felt that their business encouraged the working of long hours.

Gerwyn Davies, author of the report said: “Our survey shows that long hours workers are opposed to the removal of the opt-out and in particular any moves to restrict their freedom to choose to work long hours.

“The issue of long hours working is complex, deep-seated and ingrained in the culture of organisations and cannot be addressed by a uniform ban.

“The negative effects of long hours working are evident from the report, but these are best solved by employer measures such as flexible working arrangements rather than a blanket ban on long hours working,” he said.