HR Club Sydney

HR Club Sydney

Is 50 hours per week too much?

Posted on | July 15, 2010 | View Comments

Although I’ve recently started in a new role about three months ago, I was feeling the other day like I probably needed short break because I realised it was going to be pedal to the metal at least until Christmas when lots of staff take leave in late December and January. I haven’t taken leave since my trip to Thailand in November last year so I’m thinking about going to Fiji in August (any hotel recommendations are welcome!).

The conversation about taking leave between myself and my partner actually started by talking about how many hours we were working in our jobs. My partner works in media and I work in the legal industry- both industries where there’s a huge expectation to just get things done and do whatever it takes. This norm is largely irrelevant of what salary you are on- the same expectation is placed upon juniors/coordinators who are on low salaries up to those earning over 100K.

In the media industry you are working to extremely tight deadlines and are frequently asked to do the impossible by working late, over weekends and even during the christmas/new year break. For lawyers, they must meet certain billable hours per day (ranging from around 5.5-to 7) depending on the firm and seniority. On top of this they are also expected to complete non-billable work such as marketing, personal development and spending time with clients. It may take an efficient lawyer 9-10 hours in the office to make 7 billable hours per day.

The AHRI people@work/2020 white paper states the following:

“there is little doubt work is becoming more demanding with approximately 20% of workers who report working in excess of 50 hours per week”

Is working 50 plus hours per week becoming the excepted norm? Will those who refuse to continually work the extra hours be left disadvantaged when promotions and salary reviews are conducted?

Considering that we are essentially paid for up to 38 hours per week- is 12 hours of unpaid overtime too much every week?
That’s 624 hours per year, which is of incredible benefit to the employer.

Where do you draw the line and should the employer be monitoring this for the health and safety of it’s employees?

I think from a HR standpoint we know the obvious answer here about running staff into the ground and the risk of burnout- but with businesses ultimately concerned with productivity and profitability in the wake of the GFC- will businesses push people too far?

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