While managers allocate overtime, they seldom benefit from it, the Employment Review survey shows.
Instead, paid overtime diminishes with seniority, while many in professional, managerial or executive roles are paid salaries that reflect the expectation that they will need to work the hours required for the job in hand.
One in five respondents had a clearly defined earnings cut-off above which they would not pay overtime. These cut-off figures ranged from £20,000 annual salary to £50,000.
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Three out of five organisations (59%) also required staff to work a certain amount of overtime before making payments. These were most commonly set at 30 minutes (23%) and 15 minutes (17%). One organisation began overtime payments only after a 10-hour qualifying period.
However, many organisations pay retrospectively for all overtime worked once the qualifying time is reached.
