longer working hours

We now have the highest percentage of people doing more than 60 hours a week in Europe.
Is it me or does anyone think this is a big problem?
It seems to me that it is now a badge of honour to work 60 hours and if you try to go home before 6 you are a slacker!
In my previous work it was suggested i should cut back on my out of hours hobbies (which generally began at 8).
I was also told that "lunch was for pussies".
anyone else have the same???

Agreed - so much for the 48 hour maximum working week as provided for in the Organisation of Working Time Act.

People probably need the extra money to pay for their mortgages and cars.

Considering, we as a country are simply following world trends (e.g.) in the states people work more than 2 jobs to allow them to have the funds to sustain the lifestyle they have become accustomed to...

Given that the majority of this country works on a PAYE basis and get paid by the hour I would have no problem with doing over 50-60 hour per week and reap the financial rewards..

Cast your minds back ( if you can ) to the mid eighties when there wasn't enough work for everyone and most people could only get a part-time job, then consider yourself lucky that there is even enough work there now...

I have noticed a worrying trend appearing in Ireland...

Irish people are afraid of work and look for ANY excuse to avoid it if at all possible... We are part of the EU people.... there are plenty of others from the EU who would gladly work 50 hours a week minimum and would work as many as possible.. simply because they can...

Lets not " outsource" all of our available work and grab the hours that we can... after all it not as if we don't get paid for them...

I don't know where that paid by the hour idea comes from Thomas. It's not always true.

If you work salary you can often still be expected to work every hour god sends without the hourly financial rewards. It's something that has become the norm in Irish business life.

As long as people are willing to work long hours (i.e. are not bullied into it) and they are rewarded for those hours than there shouldn't be such a nanny state approach. In other words the EU working time directive is a step too far and an attempt by the sick economies of Europe to bring everyone down to their level.

ThomasJ said:

Given that the majority of this country ...... get paid by the hour

Lets not " outsource" all of our available work and grab the hours that we can... after all it not as if we don't get paid for them...

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Perhaps you can back up your view that the majority of workers get paid by the hour ThomasJ but the majority of people I know with regular jobs have either fixed working hours (e.g. 9-5.30) or number of hours (e.g. 37.5) written into their contracts or terms of employment. Even though there is no overtime payable many of these work way beyond what they are being paid for and would welcome a move to hourly rates of pay.

Purple said:

As long as people are willing to work long hours (i.e. are not bullied into it) and they are rewarded for those hours than there shouldn't be such a nanny state approach.

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I think the issue of why [in particular salaried] people are working longer and longer hours is a bit more subtle than this.
It's not so clear cut, there is no overt bullying going on, yet the rewards are very often not there.

I take your point Gabriel but most of the onus must still be on the individual to have the confidence to get up at 5.30 (or whenever) and go home.
If the person doing the job is competent and the word load requires regular overtime then is would be reasonable to ask for a pay rise or that another person takes part of the workload.
Personally I have never worked fewer hours (about 48 a week, averaged over the year).

I would agree with that Purple, the onus is on the individual to get up and go at 5.30 if they are entilted to. In my old job, plenty of people were influenced by what those around them were doing, i.e. staying late (even if there was no real need to). I never worked much overtime (despite being entitled to pay/time in lieu), and it didn't affect my annual appraisals.

However, in some jobs it may be necessary to put in the hours to earn promotion, so I'm sure every case is different. Equally, if you are happy to stay at your current level, working 9-5.30 will probably do, unless your contract stipulates otherwise.

I also second what you say about the 'sick' economies of Europe and the WTA.

Cast your minds back ( if you can ) to the mid eighties when there wasn't enough work for everyone and most people could only get a part-time job, then consider yourself lucky that there is even enough work there now...

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Lucky? - If there were no jobs in Ireland, I would move to somewhere where I could get a job.

umop3p!sdn said:

Lucky? - If there were no jobs in Ireland, I would move to somewhere where I could get a job.

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That's all well and good if you don't have a tribe of kids or a dependant parent or a spouse with a job here etc etc.
It's never a good thing when employers have too much power over their employees but the opposite is just as bad. Managers and directors need to be able to run businesses without running everything by the people they employ. A balance needs to be struck somewhere in the middle.

I would agree with that Purple, the onus is on the individual to get up and go at 5.30 if they are entilted to

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All well and good but most contracts of employment these days state that employees are required to work "reasonable overtime" when required to.

The definition of reasonable can become very blurred when the sh*t hits the fan and dealines are fast approaching.

It's too easy to say if you can't get x or y done by 5:30 then you should approach your boss about extra money or taking on more help. Small firms in particular have tight budgets. In the real world most of us are happy to have jobs and do everything in our power to protect them. Sure...everyone likes to get out of work on time...but if I were to add up the extra hours I do free gratis every year I'd probably scare myself.

Gabriel said:

The definition of reasonable can become very blurred when the sh*t hits the fan and deadlines are fast approaching.

In the real world most of us are happy to have jobs and do everything in our power to protect them.

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I agree with your first point and I think it is reasonable to expect people to work extra when the sh*t hits the fan. It's when the sh*t is not hitting the fan and long hours are expected without any reward that it can be regarded as unreasonable.

As for your second point I agree there as well but you are obviously referring to us poor saps in the private sector.

As for your second point I agree there as well but you are obviously referring to us poor saps in the private sector.

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Yes...I was