Tuesday, April 15, 2008

Article - Australians work longer than many others

I saw this article today on NineMSN. Apparently, on average, Australians work longer hours than workers in other developed countries.

Wow, more than 43 hours per week. And hey, the Europeans & Americans have lighter workloads. Maybe they work more efficiently than Australians in the hours they are at work? Who knows??

My official weekly hours is 37.5 (7.5 hours daily). But last week was horrible, one of the worst weeks in my career. I was totally snowed in - I estimate that I must have worked about 44-45 hours last week. It was so bad that I had to give last Monday's Clay a miss. And last Friday was the only day I arrived home before 7pm (& only because it's a Friday). Last week was very stressful & I'm not sure if the next couple of months will be much better if at all. The stress has brought the worst out of me, causing me to be moody, grumpy & snappy.

I don't like working excessive hours. It takes away from my "free time" which I could spend on other things. But with my work schedule over the next couple of months, it looks like there will be some days at work where I stay back for quite a while. Not good. However, the one possible "silver lining" is that working longer increases my chance of getting a decent bonus. The bonus is payable if I exceed my annual billing target - so the longer productive hours I put in, the better the chance of getting over that target. Not saying I will definitely get the bonus (I wasn't even told what my target is), but it'll be good if I did. And then, next in line hopefully will be a hefty payrise. Go DT!

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Aussies work longer than many, including US workers

From smartcompany.com.au

April 2008

Australians are working longer average weekly hours than their colleagues in other developed countries, according to new data from the OECD compiled by a Sydney academic.

Brigid van Wanrooy, at the University of Sydney, says there is a chronic culture of overworking among Australian full-time employees, which needs government intervention.

Australian employees' average full-time weekly hours exceed 43. By comparison, British workers do just over 42 hours, US workers less than 42, Spanish workers less than 41, German workers less than 40, and full-time workers in the Netherlands work on average less than 38 hours a week.

The data is being used to call for a cap on working hours because long hours can damage safety standards and productivity. Van Wanrooy told The Australian Financial Review that 48 hours of work a week is the tipping point. Working 48 hours in a week is likely to result in fatigue, poor performance and risks to health and safety.


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