The Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (CIPD) has urged the Government to support a repeal of Directive 93/104/EC, which aims to limit working hours.
The CIPD state that employers are not convinced about the working time Directive’s merits and that surveys consistently show the UK continues to have a long hours working culture as many workers opt out of the 48-hour weekly limit.
Further, a CIPD survey of 800 employers found that one in four gave no paid paternity leave above the statutory minimum, with only two out of five offering two weeks pay.
The CIPD’s Mike Emmott said, "While employers are supportive of the national minimum wage and a plethora of equality rights, they are yet to be convinced about the merits of the working time Directive. The CIPD believes that the working time provisions have negligible value in limiting unhealthy workplace behaviour.”
He adds, "If flexible parental leave is going to become a reality, we need a step-change in the reward policies of UK organisations that encourages more fathers to take their statutory rights. This is something that will only be achieved through cultural change and legislation is emphatically not the answer."
However, TUC general secretary Brendan Barber said: "Too many employees are still being put under pressure to work long hours by their employers, and excessive working time makes for unhealthy employees.
Moreover, Mr Barber stressed, "Recent research has shown that over-long hours increase the risk of contracting heart disease, whilst the CIPD's own research indicates that a quarter of employees who worked long hours became ill. We shouldn't be allowing the UK's long hours culture to put the safety, health and well-being of workers at risk, and that must mean strengthening the working time rules not relaxing them."
