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Media professionals give away thousands in overtime

Media professionals are giving away £5,884 a year in unpaid overtime, according to a new analysis of official statistics released last week.

The Trades Union Congress found that people working in the media, including journalists, public relations officers, photographers and broadcasters, are fifty per cent more likely to work unpaid overtime than the rest of the working population.

Four in ten (40.3%) media professionals work an average of six hours 42 minutes unpaid overtime every week, worth £5,884 a year per person. Across the sector, 49,000 employees are working unpaid overtime, worth a total of £288 million a year.

In an attempt to make sure that this work does not go unnoticed, the TUC has named Friday 22 February ‘Work Your Proper Hours Day’. If employees did all their unpaid overtime at the start of the year, 22 February would be the first day they would get paid.

The TUC is now looking for the best and worst workplaces for unpaid overtime. By taking a quiz available at www.workyourproperhoursday.com, people can find out whether they have a long hours problem, rate workplaces (past and present) for work-life balance and post a message on the ‘Work Your Proper Hours Day’ rant blog.

TUC General Secretary Brendan Barber said: “The media industry is notorious for its long hours culture and today’s figures show that many employees are not getting paid for putting in all those extra hours. In sectors such as PR, where working time is closely monitored for clients, the same rules don’t apply to staff.

“Long hours and unpaid overtime will always be part of the media industry. But on ‘Work Your Proper Hours Day’ we want bosses to thank staff for all the extra effort they put in. They could even show their appreciation by chipping in for those much needed after work drinks.”

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Ruth Mitchell .