Weekends off? I'm far too busy

By ANDREW MOODY
Updated:

 

WORKING through lunch is all too common, but more people are now finding that they have to put in extra hours at weekends as well. Employees now routinely take office work home on Fridays because they don't have the time to finish it during the week.

Eight out of ten office workers are victims, according to research by employment law firm Peninsula and recruitment consultancy Portfolio Payroll.

Danny Done, managing director of Payroll Portfolio, says that too many employees are becoming overloaded. 'Working from home occasionally is acceptable, but if it is on a regular basis, a boss should find out if anything can be done to ensure work is carried out in the workplace,' he says.

Julie Hurst, director of the Work Life Balance Centre in Newton Burgoland, Leicestershire, says: 'People may be catching up on work, but they're ignoring their families, friends and hobbies and not getting rest.'

But evidence also shows that people are not being forced to take work home - it is their own decision. Hurst says: 'Many are driven by the desire to do a good job, but the more they do, the more there is to do.'

Cary Cooper, professor of organisational psychology at Lancaster University, says: 'Some people don't recognise that they are workaholics.'

Angie Robinson, 47, from Congleton, Cheshire, is a regular weekend worker. 'It can be paperwork, planning ahead or preparing a speech,' she says. 'I tend to work on Sunday nights, getting my office head back on again.'

Angie, chief executive of Greater Manchester Chamber of Commerce, otherwise has a normal weekend. 'I go to the shops on Saturday and we have a family lunch on Sunday,' she says. 'Working later doesn't spoil my weekend.'

But some argue that working weekends result from inefficiency. Employees are failing to prioritise work and are too easily distracted by phone calls and e-mails.

Hurst says: 'These people's desks are a mess. The average employee spends about 150 hours a year looking for things they've lost under mounds of paper.'

Cooper says people who work at weekends should start early. 'Get up at 6am on a Saturday if necessary and work until you've finished,' he says. 'You can then have the rest of the weekend free.'

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