According to this article, British employers work the longest hours within the “developed world”. The United Nations report stated that a quarter of the workforce worked more than 48 hours per week (the limit defined by the Working Time Regulations Act that Britain retains a veto of).
I’m sure that many companies in the UK have a long hours culture; by that I mean that the success and dedication of employees is determined by the length of time that they are present in the office. Surely a more accurate measure of the success and dedication of employees is their accomplishment within the hours stated on their contracts for example. I have a working week of significantly less than 48 hours and manage to get all of my work done during that time. I have plenty to do, believe me 
, but I apply myself and am always looking for ways to work smarter – not longer.
I have worked for two companies in the past where, if you left before a certain time (not the earlier time as defined by your contract), that there would be blatant watch-tapping and plenty of comments such as, “leaving already?”. Why should employees feel shamed into working longer hours? Surely there are those who choose not to apply themselves during their working day (or perhaps need some guidance on working smarter) and therefore need to do longer hours to accomplish tasks that should be manageable during a regular working week? Why are those people then considered by some employers to be more dedicated and harder working?
I recall liaising with a fellow member of a HR professionals group who shared some information regarding the content of their staff performance evaluation form. Can you believe that one of the criteria for measuring staff was defined as the amount of hours they put in?! So a staff member was considered to be “average” if they did a little more than their contractual hours per week. First of all, as mentioned above, it’s an inaccurate measure of performance and secondly, it discriminates against those who have personal/family commitments that don’t allow them to work excess hours. I just couldn’t believe that this performance evaluation criteria was being used by a reputable company.
Assess staff by results, not by hours!
