Company bosses reclaim weekends

Fewer managers are working more than 50 hours a week

The long hours, 'lunch is for wimps' business culture, which saw British managers become some of the world's hardest working, is on the wane, a survey has revealed.

The number of managers working six days a week has fallen from one-in-five three years ago to one-in-10 today, a report by business magazine Management Today said.

And one-in-five executives works more than 50 hours a week, compared with a quarter three years ago.

But business leaders are proving unwilling to let this relaxation in working culture spread lower down the company hierarchy.

The battle to win more flexible working practices throughout firms has reached a "stalemate", with high demand among employees for reform, but few organisations offering what staff want, the magazine said.

And more than half of the 1,200 managers interviewed believes that government efforts to tip the balance between work and home lives away from the company grindstone will fail.

"The findings show that the demand for flexible working is high, but the barriers are failing to shift," said Penny de Valk, managing director of Ceridian Performance Partners, which helped conduct the survey.

Rufus Olins, Management Today's editor, said: "For many people, balance is no longer seen as an aspiration but as an entitlement."

Fewer managers seemed to be prepared to make sacrifices, such as working weekends, to meet demands of work.

"They want it all," Mr Olins said.