Most people overworked

The majority of Maltese employees work well over eight hours a day, with two in every five regularly taking work home to finish in the evenings, a private sector study has found.

The study, commissioned and published by flexible workplace provider Regus, also found that 13 per cent of Maltese regularly work more than 11 hours a day – more than the global average of 10 per cent but a smaller percentage than in France, Japan or South Africa.

Brazilian workers come out on top, with 17 per cent saying their average working day is at least 11 hours long.

A 2010 study by University College London found that people working such long hours increased their risk of having a heart attack by 60 per cent.

According to Labour Studies lecturer Anna Borg, increased work hours can be the result of two contrasting scenarios.

“If you afford workers the freedom and flexibility to shape their work around their schedule, they can often end up working longer hours as they no longer think of work as being a nine-to-five endeavour,” she said.

“On the other hand, if longer hours come about due to work pressures and heightened demands on worker availability, then the longer working hours are not much of a choice.”

The study, which surveyed 12,000 business people in 85 countries, appears to corroborate Ms Borg’s analysis, finding that remote and mobile workers generally work longer hours.

A number of studies, including one which sampled 10,000 US workers, have, however, found that, despite the longer hours, remote workers are systematically happier and more productive than their office-bound colleagues. “Unfortunately, local employers remain overly tied to traditional working models. Many employers don’t realise that they can get a lot more out of workers if they allow them flexibility in their working patterns,” Ms Borg said. The concept rang true for Sean Fenech Adami, a data and research manager with online auto-matching service Fix The Odds.

“Working from home means I can work with maximum comfort and no distractions,” Mr Fenech Adami said. “Although it takes time to get used to not being around other people, not having to deal with traffic congestion every day more than makes up for it.”

Many Maltese workplaces have yet to adapt to modern productivity models, said Ms Borg.

“Locally, many workplaces associate employee success with visibility rather than output. Employees who work long hours are often seen in a favourable light.”

According to Ms Borg, adapting to an output-based employment model requires investment in infrastructure such as laptops, but the greatest shift required was an increase in employer trust levels.

“Many employers still don’t trust their employees enough to allow them flexibility in their working conditions. It’s not only a Maltese problem,” Ms Borg hastens to add, “but we’re still struggling to introduce such a flexible workplace mindset.”

Report findings

• Locally

52 per cent of Maltese employees work more than nine hours a day.

13 per cent regularly work more than 11 hours a day.

65 per cent take work home with them at least once a week.

• Globally

Only five per cent of women work 60-hour weeks compared to 12 per cent of men.

Workers in smaller companies are more likely to regularly take work home with them than those in larger firms.

Remote workers are more likely to work longer hours and take work home with them than office workers.