Working Hours within the UK

Do you work too many hours? Many of us are starting to feel that we are spending more and more time at work and less at home with our families. As the economic downturn continues companies are expecting more and more from their workforce in order to maintain profitability and survive the current recession. This has lead to an increased pressure on employees to to put in the extra effort and time, often for no extra pay, because it will help their employer through this difficult period and thus secure the employees position at a time when redundancies are common place.

Before we decide if we are in fact working above and beyond the statutory working hours, we first of all need to define work. This is the definition as taken from the Direct.gov website;

As well as carrying out your normal duties, your working week also includes;
Job related training
Job related travelling time, for example if you are a sales rep
Working lunches, for example business lunches
Time spent working abroad, if you work for a UK based company
Paid and some unpaid overtime
Time spent "on call"at the workplace

So the above is all classed as work. The following then for clarity is what is not classed as work. Again this is taken from the Direct.gov website;

Your working week does not include;
Breaks when no work is done, such as lunch breaks
Normal travel time to and from work
Time when you are on call away from the workplace
Evening and day release classes, not related to work
Travelling outside of normal working hours
Unpaid overtime that you have volunteered for, for example staying late to finish something off
Paid or unpaid holiday

The definition as directed by law is that you should not have to work more than 48 hours a week on average, unless you choose to, or work in a sector with its own special rules. Your normal working hours should be set out in your contract of employment or written statement of employment particulars.

Why then are we working such long hours when the directive limits the working week to 48hrs. For most of us I would say that it is within our nature to work hard. Many of us have a sense of loyalty to our employer and feel that we do not want to let the team down.

At JKL Clothing, we work a 40 hour week. Our offices are open from 9am to 5pm, Monday to Friday. During this time we strive to meet all the needs of our customers by ensuring orders are dispatched on time and we communicate information to clients when required. I hope that we can survive and grow by maintaining the current working hours and I certainly have no intention of asking any of JKL Clothing's employees to work over and above the 40 hours for no extra reward. If however our customers tell us we need to be open for longer, then this is something we must look at and try to cater for.

We have in recent months seen an increase in workwear enquiries that fall outside our current opening times. This is due to the types of people who purchase workwear and Hi Vis Clothing also working the core hours of 9 to 5 and then looking at a workwear clothing purchase after this time. We are therefore currently looking at extending our opening times to 6pm and possibly opening on Saturday morning.

This is all for the future. In the meantime we will continue to operate within a 40 hour week so that the staff at JKL Clothing can both work hard and also spend time playing hard with friends and family.