UK managers work an average 40 days a year longer than contract

UK managers are putting in too many hours for too few returns, according to latest figures from the Chartered Management Institute (CMI).

The data, which comes from its Quality of Working Life report, have been issued in support of the TUC's 'Work Your Proper Hours' campaign on Friday (22 February).

The TUC has calculated that this is the first day people would get paid if everyone in the UK who worked unpaid overtime did all their unpaid work at the start of the year.

Based on the views of 1,511 managers, the CMI report showed that 89% of managers regularly work more than their contracted hours - a figure that has barely fallen since 2000 (91%). The average manager works 1 hour 18 minutes longer than his contract each day - equivalent to roughly 40 days per year - the survey found.

On a personal level, two-thirds of respondents also said that working longer than contracted hours limited exercise time and nearly half (48%) claimed extra hours prevented them from developing skills.

The average manager only takes 3.5 days absence each year, according to the survey. It means that for every day lost to illness, the average manager provides almost 11.5 days 'free of charge' to their employer.

Jo Causon, director, marketing and corporate affairs at the CMI, said: "Surely, in today's results-driven environment, output is more important than input, so two questions need to be answered why are employers ignoring the impact of long hours on the health and performance of their employees and what responsibility are employees taking for how they manage themselves?"