Extra working hours we were happy to give

11:23am Monday 25th February 2008

FRIDAY was a "Work Your Proper Hours Day" organised by the TUC to draw attention to the calculation that nearly five million people in Britain regularly do unpaid overtime - giving their employers an average of £4,955 in free work each year.

This must be something to do with the "increased productivity" loved by politicians and economists.

The only consolation for wage slaves who think they are being exploited is the knowledge that managers think their own situation is even worse.

A recent survey of 1,500 managers by the Chartered Management Institute found that on average they worked one hour and 18 minutes over contract each day - leading to a calculation, somehow, that industry and commerce have been gifted with 184 million extra days of unpaid effort.

The downside, though, is lower morale, poor health and declining productivity.

This must all be deeply worrying for anybody involved in a working world which seems to insist on a long hours culture.

There must be many people of my retired generation who were always happy to put in the extra hours when necessary - knowing that such dedication was not required every day.

That's the difference.