Kevin Rowan column

Jan 9 2006 By Kevin Rowan, The Journal

Among the New Year's resolutions made little over a week ago many people, mostly men, probably committed to spending less time at work and making more effort to spend `quality time' with their families.

In the current work environment, this is more of an aspiration than an achievable ambition. Not only does this region endure some of the longest working hours in the UK, a report published last week by the TUC shows that thousands of workers are putting in extra, unpaid hours, too.

Nearly five million workers in the UK work an extra seven and a half hours each week, more or less the equivalent of an extra day. The figure for the North-East is 153,000 workers, about 14% of the workforce. This isn't overtime - this is additional, unpaid time that workers put in each week.

The consequences of working long hours are well rehearsed: stress-related and cardio-vascular illnesses are now among the most prominent occupational injuries; and it is now the consensus that longer working weeks are a productivity problem rather than a solution to poor competitiveness.

There is little chance for workers to pursue any personal development, picking up any new skills or engaging in any new areas of learning while working 50 hours or more each week.

Workers too are increasingly articulating anxieties about the social consequences of not having any time for themselves or their families. Long working hours are cited more in relationship breakdowns than ever before. As the cultural and leisure opportunities form an increasing part of what the region has to offer, workers in the region are, in large numbers, alienated from these developments as they simply have no time to enjoy them.

Despite the best efforts of a range of organisations and individuals, women still bear the greatest burden of domestic responsibilities. The requirement, contractual or cultural, for workers to crack long hours in every week excludes many able and qualified individuals from participating in those jobs, meaning that employers are missing out on much of the available talent in the labour market.

Flexible working is more prevalent than it was even a couple of years ago, but the predominance of long working hours is still a major challenge.

If we are going to improve our productivity in the region, if we are going to enable the 30% of the labour market currently not economically active to participate, and if we are going to enable that the talented people we have are able to work to their full potential, then we really need to think about working time and the organisation of work a bit more radically.