One-third of Britons overworked

Working late again? Many Britons are

A new survey has underlined Britain's status as the "long hours" capital of Europe, with more than one-third of employees saying they felt overworked.

The report shows that 36% of men and 40% of women would like to spend less time at work - even if that meant less money.

Less than 10% of those surveyed said they wanted to work longer hours.

Flouting rules

British workers already spend longer at work than their European counterparts.

Average working hours per week:

UK: 43.6

Greece: 40.8

Spain: 40.6

Portugal: 40.6

Austria: 40.2

Sweden: 40.1

Germany: 40.1

Ireland: 40

Luxembourg: 39.7

France: 39.6

Finland: 39.3

Netherlands: 39

Denmark : 38.9

Italy: 38.5

Belgium : 38.4

Source: Workplace Employee Relations Survey 1998

Four million people regularly flout the European Working Time Directive by putting in more than 48 hours a week, according to the Trades Union Congress and the Industrial Society.

While more bosses are getting round the rules by making employees take work home, the TUC has claimed.

Not surprisingly, workers found it far easier to increase their hours than reduce them, according to the survey by Essex University's Institute for Social Economic Research.

However, most employees do have some degree of control over the amount of hours they work.

The survey found employees who wanted to reduce their working hours are 7% more likely to actually have their hours reduced than people who were satisfied with their hours.

Job insecurity

Dr Mark Taylor, co-author of the study, said: "Although a large proportion of employees in Britain work more hours than they wish, there does appear to be some flexibility that allows hours to be adjusted.

"But some jobs are more rigid in their hours, which may be caused by employer preferences, technology or industrial relations.

"What is more, the costs of changing jobs mean that some people persistently work more hours than they would prefer."

The survey found people increased the number of hours they worked when local unemployment rates were high, suggesting job insecurity was the main reason for the long hours culture.

Some 3,000 people were interviewed for the study.