Chartered Secretary recently published a piece about the new Working Time Directive. They tell us that 3.3 million people are now working more than 48 hours a week – and many of those are senior employees, according to a new report.

The Trades Union Congress is warning that the number of people working long hours has increased by 180,000 people over the last year. The union reckons the increase is due to the challenging economic climate, which has made employers more reluctant to recruit new staff and instead work existing employees harder.

The sharpest increase has taken place in the east of England and London, and that 85 per cent of those working long hours are male. It surmises this is because senior roles are increasingly reliant on long hours – and it is concerned that this expectation could exclude women with childcare responsibilities from taking on top jobs.

‘Employees across the UK already work the longest hours in Western Europe,’ TUC General Secretary Brendan Barber adds. ‘The recent increase will mean lower productivity, more stress and less time to have a life outside the office with friends and family.'

The TUC had been hoping that EU employment ministers would side with Britain’s workers to end the excessive working time.

That was not to be and as I’m sure you all know by now, Britain has secured a right to opt out of the EU’s mandatory 48-hour working week. The new rules mean that UK employees will have a legal cap of between 60 and 65 hours a week, averaged over three months.

Our recent CSS Salary Survey found that 74% of company secretaries work longer than their contractual hours. If you’d like to receive a copy of the survey results, please contact css@blt.co.uk

Are you one of them? Does working longer hours decrease your productivity, increase your stress levels and have a detrimental affect on your family life?

As always we’d love to hear your comments…