Half of British workers keen to cut hours for better work-life balance
Your support helps us to tell the story
From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.
At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.
The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.
Your support makes all the difference.Almost half of employees want to work fewer hours and millions would give up pay for a better work-life balance, according to a study published today.
Research for the Trades Union Congress (TUC) showed that workers in education and financial services were among those most keen to cut the hours of their working week.
Hotel and restaurant staff were least likely to want to work fewer hours for less pay, although the TUC said that reflected the large number of people who were employed part-time in the industry.
An analysis of the working habits of 60,000 households showed that manufacturing workers are also unhappy with the number of hours they worked.
The research was published ahead of Work Your Proper Hours Day on Friday. It has been calculated by the TUC that, if people put together all their unpaid hours from a year and theoretically ran those hours from 1 January, Friday would be the first day that they actually got "paid" for work.
The union has urged people to work their proper hours on Friday and take a full lunch break, and called on firms to thank staff for their hard work by treating them to lunch.
Brendan Barber, the general secretary of the TUC, said: "Most people enjoy their jobs most of the time, but nearly half would like to work fewer hours.
"More than two million are so desperate to downshift they would give up pay in return for a better work-life balance. But all our long hours are not making us more productive. Too many workplaces are gripped by a long hours culture, which staff and managers could work together to tackle."
Join our commenting forum
Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies
Comments