Latest news from Loughborough University

27 Mar 2015

Research calls for greater flexibility in working hours to protect national wellbeing

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Government and employer policies that give people greater flexibility to choose the hours they want to work would help to protect our national wellbeing levels, claims new research from Loughborough University.

The study by Professor Andy Charlwood found people who become overworked are less satisfied with their lives and experience lower levels of psychological wellbeing.

But while it is often assumed that working long hours reduces wellbeing the key factor to happiness, according to the study, was whether the hours people work reflect the hours they want to work. However many working the longest hours would like to do less.

Professor Charlwood, based in the University’s School of Business and Economics examined the working time patterns and wellbeing levels of 20,000 individuals over an 18 year period using data from the British Household Panel Survey.

“When workers are overworked – working more hours a week than they would like – life satisfaction and psychological wellbeing deteriorate,” he explains.  “Your risk of being overworked rises the more hours you work, with those who work the longest hours being the most likely to work more than they want.”

The research team found that more than 55% of workers who regularly work 50 or more hours a week would like to work less, as would around 40% of workers who work between 40 and 49 hours a week.

Professor Charlwood added: “Thankfully, most workers who experience overwork are able to rearrange their lives so that the hours they work and the hours they want to work come back into balance.  But around 1 in 8 workers who become overworked are in the same situation two years later, and this appears to be a significant source of worry and unhappiness.

“To help protect our national wellbeing levels Government and employer policies need to give workers greater flexibility to choose the hours that they work.”

The study has been published in the journal Human Relations and was co-authored with David Angrave from the University of York. The full article can be viewed here.

Notes for editors

Article reference number: PR 15/40

Loughborough is one of the country’s leading universities, with an international reputation for research that matters, excellence in teaching, strong links with industry, and unrivalled achievement in sport and its underpinning academic disciplines.

It has been awarded five stars in the independent QS Stars university rating scheme, putting it among the best universities in the world, and was named Sports University of the Year 2013-14 by The Times and Sunday Times. Loughborough is consistently ranked in the top twenty of UK universities in the Times Higher Education’s ‘table of tables’ and has been voted England's Best Student Experience for six years running in the Times Higher Education league. In recognition of its contribution to the sector, Loughborough has been awarded seven Queen's Anniversary Prizes.

In 2015 the University will open an additional academic campus in London’s new innovation quarter. Loughborough University in London, based on the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park, will offer postgraduate and executive-level education, as well as research and enterprise opportunities.

Contact for all media enquiries

Judy Wing

PR Manager
Loughborough University
T: 01509 228697
E: J.L.Wing@lboro.ac.uk