According to an estimate conducted by the Regus company, these Canadians who do overtime perform between 8 and 12 additional hours each week. A trend that is not surprising in an increasingly connected society.
In its survey of 44,000 companies around the world, Regus found that 41% of Canadian professionals tend to rack up overtime hours during the week. For most of them it is the equivalent of a day’s work. These results are not surprising globally. The survey reveals that overtime hours have become the norm over much of the globe. Most workers finish their work week with at least several additional hours in the bank.
Above the global average
In general, most workers globally take in between 2 and 4 hours of additional work each week. Canadian professionals are above this average since most of them work between 8 and 12 hours additional each week. More unsettling: 16% of Canadians in this survey also said they perform more than 15 hours of overtime each week. This places these workers at the limit of professional burnout.
Preventing overheating
This work overload obviously creates stress, which can rapidly become chronic if the situation persists over time. The issue has been raised by many organizations in recent years. In 2014, the Canadian Mental Health Association made a slogan in Quebec for the National Mental Health Week: “Take a break, it’ll do you good!” In any case it’s a first preventative step to avoid fatigue and stress that too often is work-related.