Four out of Five Staff Work Weekends
Martin Wainwright - Tuesday September 7, 2004 - The Guardian
Britain is moving towards the abolition of the traditional weekend, according to an employment survey, which suggests that only one in five workers get a genuinely free Saturday and Sunday.
Children with homework are finding their catch-up grind shared by parents who have failed to finish work on time, or else are chasing promotion or extra money from overtime.
The change in lifestyle, encouraged by reforms which have blurred weekend boundaries, particularly Sunday opening of shops and businesses, was reported by more than 800 of 1,000 employees questioned.
Many took work home with them to finish off, instead of joining family outings. Others went back into offices or factories to work extra shifts, including staying late on both Saturday and Sunday nights.
The trend is alarming, according to the survey's organisers Payroll Portfolio, a London employment agency, and the employment law specialist Peninsula, which is based in Manchester.
Initial increases in productivity from the sheer amount of time worked are likely to be lost through stress, the firms say.
Danny Done, managing director of Portfolio, said that the spread of work across the full seven days of a week threatened a healthy work/life balance. The two firms recently surveyed a possibly related downside for employers - the number of workers lying about being sick to get a day off. Exactly the same proportion as the weekend workers, four fifths, of 927 employees questioned admitted the ploy.
Britain is moving towards the abolition of the traditional weekend, according to an employment survey, which suggests that only one in five workers get a genuinely free Saturday and Sunday.
Children with homework are finding their catch-up grind shared by parents who have failed to finish work on time, or else are chasing promotion or extra money from overtime.
The change in lifestyle, encouraged by reforms which have blurred weekend boundaries, particularly Sunday opening of shops and businesses, was reported by more than 800 of 1,000 employees questioned.
Many took work home with them to finish off, instead of joining family outings. Others went back into offices or factories to work extra shifts, including staying late on both Saturday and Sunday nights.
The trend is alarming, according to the survey's organisers Payroll Portfolio, a London employment agency, and the employment law specialist Peninsula, which is based in Manchester.
Initial increases in productivity from the sheer amount of time worked are likely to be lost through stress, the firms say.
Danny Done, managing director of Portfolio, said that the spread of work across the full seven days of a week threatened a healthy work/life balance. The two firms recently surveyed a possibly related downside for employers - the number of workers lying about being sick to get a day off. Exactly the same proportion as the weekend workers, four fifths, of 927 employees questioned admitted the ploy.
posted by Carole Spiers @ Tuesday, September 07, 2004
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