Lecturers doing even more unpaid overtime

Almost half of staff teaching in universities (45.7%) said they did unpaid overtime and, on average, put in an extra 52 days' work over the course of the year, way above the national average of 41 days.

'Rising class and seminar sizes, increased bureaucracy and ever greater pressure to compete make a mockery of the work life balance for many staff.'
Sally HuntToday is the TUC's Work Your Proper Hours Day when the average person who does unpaid overtime would start to get paid if they did all their unpaid overtime at the start of the year. Teaching professionals across education again top the TUC's chart of occupations that put in the most extra unpaid hours, although higher education was the only sector to see a rise in the number of days of unpaid overtime worked a year.

UCU general secretary, Sally Hunt, said: 'It comes as little surprise that university staff are working extra hours to get the job done. Rising class and seminar sizes, increased bureaucracy and ever greater pressure to compete make a mockery of the work life balance for many staff. Their continued commitment to the profession must be properly recognised by our institutions who must understand that we cannot build a world class education sector on just the goodwill of staff.'

More details on Work Your Proper Hours Day can be found at:  www.workyourproperhoursday.com

Unpaid overtime in education 2008

Top five occupations for unpaid overtime in 2008