Unpaid overtime has increased since the beginning of the pandemic

Khevna.P.Shah, INN/Bangalore

@Shahkhevna1, @Infodeaofficial

According to a  study by ADP Research Institute, the amount of unpaid overtime that workers around the world are doing has increased in the past year, with the average amount of free time worked increasing by almost two hours per person per week since the Covid-19 pandemic hit.

The free time work ranges from working over breaks and starting early or staying up late, to regularly putting in extra work for no additional pay.

In India, employees are believed to have to work an extra 11.1 hours per week for free. More than 82 percent of the respondents surveyed believe they have been underpaid at some point in time. Additionally, about 40 percent of the respondents work long hours during normal working weeks, and almost 39 percent are increasing efforts to network and develop contacts within the organization.

The managing director (India & Southeast Asia) of ADP, a global leader in payroll and HCM solutions, Rahul Goyal said: “Workers are now routinely clocking up what amounts to more than a working day’s worth of unpaid overtime every single week.” and that  “The arrival of COVID-19 has spurred many people to work harder than ever. Essential workers may have been struggling to keep up with the extra workload COVID-19 has created.

“Non-essential workers may be going the extra mile due to concerns about their job security, to compensate when colleagues have lost their jobs, or because the boundaries between work and home life have been blurred when working remotely,” he further said.

One in 10 workers that is only  10 percent globally is now giving away in excess of 20 hours per week for free to their employers. Moreover, given the demanding nature of their jobs, essential workers are putting in more unpaid overtime than non-essential workers – at 10.1 hours per week on average, compared to 8.1 hours.

ADP Research Institute surveyed 32,471 workers in 17 countries around the world between November 17 and December 11, 2020.

The pandemic has also made individuals more tech-savvy, and about 50 percent of the respondents started using mobile applications or tools to manage their finances. Over 52 percent of the respondents also aim at becoming certified in new technologies to be successful in new jobs that are created during the pandemic.

Globally, those who work from the home estimate they are putting in more unpaid overtime than those when compared in the workplace or on-site, at 9.4 hours per week on average, compared to 8.7 hours.

However, those who are opting for a hybrid approach, that is combining home working for part of the week and on-site working the rest of the time, believe they are doing the most of all, at 9.8 hours.

Solving this growing issue is neither easy nor straightforward; it requires a major cultural shift within companies to change the status quo and their  attitudes towards overwork, starting with a commitment from leadership, said the ADP Research Institute report