UK workers could be missing out on almost £100,000 in their lifetime as they work the equivalent of approximately 22 working days of unpaid overtime each year.
The new data, collated by Small Business Prices, discovered that UK workers are doing, on average, around 3.9 hours overtime per week, meaning they could be missing out on £60.80 every week.
This equates to £243.20 worth of free work every month, meaning the average UK worker will work for “free” for around 176.7 hours (equivalent to approximately 22 working days) every year, losing out on roughly £2,754.30 per annum.
The data means that over the average work life of 35.6 years, the average worker will accumulate £98,344.68 worth of overtime.
The stats also revealed that the average woman in the UK works 4.5 hours overtime per week compared to just 2.8 hours for men.
Does this ring true with you? Read our guide on six ways stressed-out managers can find a work-life balance.
The research investigated which countries have the best work-life balance by analysing average hourly pay, hours worked per week, and annual leave days, as well as giving a happiness score. The UK placed eleventh in the final rankings out of 37 countries analysed.
The Netherlands ranked first for best work-life balance, with women working an average of 25 hours per week and men 34, which is three-to-10 hours below the average UK working week.
The country also has benefits including generous annual leave rules, as well as generous maternity leave in many companies.
Western Europe and the Nordic regions ranked highly for work-life balance too, with Denmark and Norway coming second and third respectively, and Iceland coming fifth.
All of the countries in the top five benefitted from having relatively low weekly working hours in comparison to other nations, with a high average pay per hour and happiness score to match.
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