This comes from new research by recruitment company, Reed, which found that 48% of employees in Northern Ireland feel they’re working more than their contracted hours.
In fact, workers claim they’re working an average of nearly eight hours (7.9) on top of their contracted working time, compared to the national average of 7.1 hours. The survey also highlighted that workers in Northern Ireland feel under pressure, with 35% saying they have more work to do than working hours in their day, while 24% say the overtime they work is necessary because their job role and responsibilities require the extra hours.
However, in stark comparison to the rest of the UK, the survey found that 41% of those in Northern Ireland that say they’re working additional hours, do so because they enjoy their jobs, compared to only 26% across the rest of the UK.
When asked if they’re compensated for the extra hours they work, 29% of workers in Northern Ireland say they’re paid overtime, 45% said they could accrue their hours, while, alarmingly, just under a quarter (24%) said they weren’t compensated in any way.
Paula Gallagher, Regional Manager for Reed’s Northern Ireland office, said: “The employment market is tight, with 27% of Northern Ireland’s population classed as economically inactive, higher than the UK average of 21%. Because of this, many employees feel they need to pick up the slack or work extra hours to account for the lack of people within the market at the moment.
“It’s clear that we’re a country of hard workers, shown by their dedication to their roles and the extra hours they put in. However, it’s important for employees to ensure they don’t give themselves additional stress or burnout.
“Adding fuel to the fire, we continue to see businesses struggling to meet rising costs and taxes. Clocking extra hours could be a sign of people wanting to prove their worth to avoid their roles being made redundant if businesses are having to make cuts, or simply working hard to keep things going, while their company struggles to make the books balance.
“What we do know, however, is that reviving Northern Ireland’s workforce and bringing more people into the workforce has never been more critical.”
As part of its annual salary guides research, Reed analysed more than 21 million job adverts and asked 5,000 workers across the UK regions a range of questions on their salary and work life. The research also looked at how many hours UK employees work per week and how much they are compensated for it.
Reed has produced a suite of 10 sector-specific salary guides, you can download them here.