It’s Go Home on Time Day – but who will actually manage it?

John Maynard Keynes predicted that, by 2030, we would all be working no more than a 15-hour week. Something, clearly, has gone wrong. So wrong in fact that we now have to rely on a designated day to remind us to leave work.

Wednesday is Go Home on Time Day, set up by the charity Working Families to highlight how work increasingly encroaches on family life. In a survey this year, the organisation found that fewer than half of parents left work on time every day, with 9% never doing so. Most of those who worked late (70%) blamed the pressures of their workload, but more than half said it was also due to the culture in their workplace and the expectations of their employer. Nearly a quarter reported that work and family time were in “constant conflict”.

Those with children, or other caring responsibilities, may find it particularly difficult, but the long hours culture affects us all. Brits work some of the longest full-time hours in Europe and studies link this with stress, heart disease and mental-health issues. And it could all be for nothing anyway – long working hours do not equal higher productivity.

So why do we do it? For some of us – those on low pay – there is no choice except to work punishingly long days, sometimes at more than one job. Others forced unhappily into part-time jobs would leap at the chance for more hours. But many of us will be familiar with not wanting to be the first to be seen leaving the office, or the feeling that the boss just likes to see you at your desk. The shocking news is that some of us may even enjoy our work and are fulfilled by putting the hours in. Here, people who work late in a variety of jobs tell us how long they stay and why.

Graeme Thomson, secondary school teacher, Glasgow

What hours do you work?

I arrive around 8.20am. The school day finishes at 3.35pm, but I usually stay until around 6pm or 7pm, marking or preparing lessons for the next day. There is no pressure on me to work longer but it’s something I choose to do because I really enjoy my work.

Could you do your job in fewer hours?

I’ve been teaching for four years so I’m relatively inexperienced. If I put in less time, my work would suffer. My lessons would absolutely fall apart. I wouldn’t get work marked, or be able to give feedback. I would feel like I was letting my pupils down.

Do you take work home in the evenings?

If I’ve got any marking left over, I’ll take that home. I sometimes have to catch up on work at the weekend.

Do you have a work-life balance?

I feel like I could work less if I wanted do. It does impact on my social life, but it’s a conscious choice I’m making. It’s a tough job to do well but I do make sure I have time for myself. I’ll go out on a Friday or Saturday night.

Do you get paid extra for the hours?

There are things like Easter school, where you come in during the holidays and get paid, and I get paid for a certain amount of supported study, but most of the hours I choose to do. I want to look back at my pupils and know I did the best for them.

Rebecca Forsythe, vet, Oxfordshire

What hours do you work?

I get in about 8.45am, and consultations or operations begin at 9am. Yesterday, we had only two vets on and we were both consulting as well as doing six or seven operations. I was also on call so I worked till 11pm. In the afternoon, you might be consulting from 2pm-4pm, so when you finish writing your notes up, you might finish at 5pm, which is the earliest. Other days we finish consulting later.

How often do you work late?

I live in a flat right opposite the practice so when I’m on call once a week I try to get away at 5pm and on call starts at 7pm. There are times when that doesn’t work, like yesterday, when I was in until 7pm and then got called out at 8pm.It can be everything from a calving cow to a cat that’s been hit by a car, and you can end any time of the night. You can be working on and off all through the night, then you go back into work the next day.

Do you get time off in lieu?

We get a half day off every week. Being newly qualified means I probably spend longer on reading. Some of the more senior vets are quite good at leaving on time.

What would happen if you didn’t want to do those hours?

You can find practices where you don’t do out-of-hours work. But some of the most interesting work is on call, and you can learn the most, especially as a new graduate.

Sarah Wilde, medical statistician, Nottingham

What hours do you work?

Officially, working hours are 9-5, but the department allows for very flexible working, as long as you are in the office for eight hours a day and are present for all appropriate meetings.

What time do you normally leave work?

I usually leave around 5pm, except on Friday when I leave early to attend medical appointments.

How often do you stay late at work?

I stay late at work once or twice a week. Usually until about 6.30pm, but occasionally until 9pm or 10pm.

Are you paid more for working late?

I am not paid more for working late. I could take time off in lieu, but in practice don’t.

Why do you need to work late?

Sometimes it is because I have work I have not finished. Sometimes it is because I have taken time off for medical appointments and though I am entitled to, I feel guilty and put in extra hours. Sometimes it is because there is an urgent deadline to submit a paper or funding application and everyone needs to put in extra time to get it done. I could do the job without working late, but I would have difficulty doing it to the same standard.

What would happen if you refused to work late?

Usually the only person asking me to work late is myself. I would not lose my job if I decided not to, but I would feel that my work suffered and lose confidence in my ability to do enough in a week to be well thought of in the department.

Jenny Willott, Liberal Democrat MP, Cardiff

What hours do you work?

I start around 9am. When I finish depends which day of the week it is. Parliament sits until 10pm on a Monday so I’m normally there until about 10.30pm, depending on how many votes there are. On a Tuesday or Wednesday, it’s generally about 7.30pm when we finish voting. On Thursday I’m in the office until about 6pm, then have three hours’ travel to get home. On Friday, I tend to start about 10am and finish about 8.30pm. Weekends can vary but I probably do six hours or so over the weekend, and then travel back to Westminster on Sunday night. When I was a minister I was doing much longer hours, and would rarely finish before midnight every day – you do your normal day’s work, and then you get home and have a ministerial box to do.

What is the effect on your family?

I’m married with two small children. They often come in to the office in the evenings, otherwise I would never see them. We’ll have dinner together, then my husband will take the kids home and I’ll carry on working.

Could the hours be changed?

There is a limit to how much you can do about the hours, because it’s two jobs put together – if you reduce the number of hours that parliament sits, you don’t get the scrutiny of the legislation you need. Then because you have the constituency side of things, if you’re a responsible constituencyMP you have to catch up with that at the weekend.

What would happen if you said you wanted to leave at 6pm every night?

[Laughs] The whips would kill me – I say that as a whip. You just can’t do it, because there are votes in the evenings. The amount of work there is, if you did fewer hours, you wouldn’t get through it all. Parts of the job are fabulous – people wouldn’t do it if it were a dreadful job as well.

Caroline White, CEO, Youth Hostel Association, Derbyshire

What hours do you work?

I think I’m supposed to do a 38-hour week, and I get 30 days’ holiday a year, but I probably work about 40-45 hours, then I have a lot of travelling on top of that, often working on the train. I don’t have a set time for leaving work at all.

What time do you normally leave work?

If I’m in the office in London, probably about 6pm. But this evening for instance I’ve got an induction with new trustees, so I’m having dinner at one of our hostels. Tomorrow night I’ll be driving over to Wales because we’ve got the formal opening of a hostel in Snowdonia. It does vary every single day.

How often do you stay late at work?

Probably three to four days each week, and a bit at weekends as well. We do have quite a lot of meetings at weekends.

Do you work in the evenings at home?

Occasionally. But I try to make home quite sacrosanct. If I’m working at home it’s normally because I’ve got a deadline to meet. Even so I would always stop work and have dinner with my family.

Are you paid more for working late?

No. I don’t get paid overtime or anything like that! Although my chairman will be quite insistent that if we have board meetings or events at the weekend I should try to take a day off afterwards in lieu, just to recharge my batteries.

Could you do your job if you didn’t work late?

I travel around a lot because I believe in being visible and seeing what we’re doing. We’re also a 24-hour operation so if we had a major incident I would need to be on call. For the way I would want to do the job, it would be impossible to work within normal hours.

What would happen if you refused to?

It probably wouldn’t make a difference for a couple of months. Everybody knows what they’re doing, so they’d keep going. But as a leader I want to drive change. I don’t know how long it would be sustainable. You’re paid a good salary as a chief executive, so working late is part of the job. All chief executives are workaholics really, I think.

Additional reporting by Leo Benedictus and Tom Meltzer. Some names have been changed