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- Up to a million people are workaholics, averaging 60
hours a week, but their "addiction" to work often hits their
productivity and personal lives, research shows.
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- Managers, craft and professional workers are most likely
to put in extra hours, blaming heavy workloads or "sheer love of the
job".
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- But 75% of people working over 48 hours a week admitted
they had made mistakes because of tiredness and only a minority believed
workaholics are more productive.
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- A third of people working long hours conceded that relationships
with a spouse or partner had been strained, while one in eight said they
had broken up with their partner because of the amount of time they spent
at work.
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- The Institute of Personnel and Development said its survey
of 8,000 people across the UK showed that one in three people working over
48 hours claimed to be addicted to their job.
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- A similar proportion said they spent a lot of time solving
problems caused by inefficiency in their organisation.
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- "While it is undoubtedly true that many people are
straining under heavy workloads, the results suggest there is still scope
for organisations and individuals to find ways of working smarter rather
than harder," said the report's author Melissa Compton-Edwards.
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- She added that the findings showed long-hours workers
were not all "downtrodden drudges", but enthusiasts who worked
long hours out of choice.
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- But she warned: "While there is nothing wrong with
having a passion for work, regularly burning the midnight oil could result
in accidents or costly mistakes being made."
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- Roger Lyons, general secretary of the Manufacturing,
Science and Finance union said: "The fact that large numbers choose
to work long hours despite the detrimental effects on their family lives
and health, only strengthens the need for regulation of working hours."
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