Average Working Hours Per Week

To discover the average number of hours you work in a week, divide the number of hours you have worked over a period of time by the number of weeks in that period (excluding rest days). For most adult workers, this period should be 17 weeks and the average number of working hours in a week should not exceed 48.

Average Working Hours Per Day

To discover the average number of hours you work in a day, divide the number of hours you have worked over a set period of time by the number of days you were required to work during that that period. As a night worker, this period should be 119 days (17 weeks) and the average number of working hours in a day should not exceed 8.

Working Hours within Shift Cycles

To discover your average working hours from shift cycles requires a little more effort.

To start with, divide the number of days in a period of time by the total number of days in your shift cycle to discover how many cycles you have worked in that period. Then multiply the number of hours you work in a cycle by the number of cycles you have worked and add any overtime – this will be the total number of hours you have worked in the period of time.

Subtract the number of rest days to which you are entitled from the total number of days in the period and, finally, divide the number of hours you have worked by the number of days you have been required to work. The resulting number is the average number of hours worked in a day which, for night workers, should not exceed 8.

Otherwise, as with all changes to employment contracts, employers must have the agreement of the employee before they can make changes to the working times and hours. Although they often offer incentives to work at night, employers are not required by law to offer extra pay, bonuses or rewards for working at night or during antisocial hours. They are required, however, to give special consideration to pregnant women and new parents, to whom night work might be especially inconvenient.

To protect night workers, an average night working limit is in place, dictating that night workers shouldn’t work more than an average of eight hours in twenty-four hour periods. Should the type of work involve significant amounts of mental or physical strain, an absolute limit of eight hours in any twenty-four hour period applies, including overtime in both the night and day.

Surveillance and security workers, workers who travel longer distances to work and those who work in many different places are all exempt from night working limits, as are various employees in the rail industry and those who work in environments that require constant staffing. Other workers excluded from night working limits include the emergency services, armed forces, domestic servants and workers who freely choose their own working hours.

Workers can choose to opt out of the 48 hours limit and work longer than 48 hours per week, but they must do so freely and in writing. They can also choose to opt back into the 48 hour limit, without suffering any unfair treatment or dismissal for doing so. Employees must, however, give ample notice to their employer that they wish to opt back into the limit.

This 48 hour period for adult workers can be calculated by taking the average number of hours of work an employee does per week over a 17 week period. Work counts as all their normal responsibilities, as well as any training, extra work-related travel time, overtime, working lunches and time spend on-call in the workplace. However, lunch breaks, travelling to and from work, holiday, volunteered overtime and time spent on-call away from the workplace do not count as working hours.

One possible alternative to overtime payment is offering time off in lieu, which allows the employee to take as many hours off as they have worked extra. The specific details of when time can be taken off vary from company to company. Employees only have to work overtime if their employment contract states that they have to, though even then they can refuse to do so if it will take their working hours above 48 per week. Exactly what counts as overtime should be outlined in the employee’s contract however; if the employment contract includes Sunday working hours, for example, then working on a Sunday will not count as working overtime.

Part time workers will usually only be paid overtime when they work antisocial hours for which full time staff would receive extra pay, longer hours than a full time worker or longer hours than are outlined in their employment contract.

Although full-time workers normally work around thirty-five hours per week, there is no specific number of hours employees must work to class as either full-time or part-time. Indeed, a part-time worker for one company may work longer hours than a full-time worker for another!

Job-sharing and term-time working are two ways in which part-time employment can greatly benefit family life. Job-sharing involves splitting one position between two part-time employees and term-term working involves reducing the number of hours an employee is required to work during school holidays. In some cases, part-time employees can take school holidays off work to spend with their family.

Please note: any and all changes in working hours must be agreed between employer and employee. 

In other cases, it may be the employee who requires a change in their contract. This may be because their circumstances have changed, because they are unhappy with the way things are or because they feel they would be better in a different role. Employees typically request higher rates of pay and working hours, more of less work or holiday and improved conditions for work, as well as the ability to work from home or have flexible hours.

Both employers and employees have the right to request these changes to their employment contract, but neither can do so without the agreement of the other. In some cases, employers negotiate with their staff on the whole, or with a trade union instead of individual employees; this is deemed an acceptable way of making changes to employment contracts and will affect all employees, even if they are not a member of the union or associate in questions. In other cases, the pre-existing employment contract may contain implied changes that are due to happen in the future, to which the employee agrees.

Designed to reward employees for working harder and distribute pay more fairly, performance-related pay helps employers attract talent and ensure all employees are working to the best of their potential. However, to ensure these scheme are executed fairly and with a minimum of favouritism, it is imperative that the criteria for different rates of pay are clearly set out, agreed by both employer and employees and, most importantly, objective and measurable.

The type of targets and rewards will largely depend on the objective or purpose of the scheme. To encourage loyalty to the company, employers often offer reward schemes and shares for employees, depending on length of service and achieving long-term targets. If an employer is simply trying to improve employee performance, they will likely use short-term commission-based schemes, or bonuses. The details regarding all bonuses, rewards or payments should be outlined in the employment contract or other written documents.

By starting a job for an employer, an employee accepts the terms of the employment contract, even if they don’t know what these terms are! They are then bound to the contract until it ends or is changed via an agreement between employer and employee. For this reason it is absolutely essential that all potential employees ensure they totally understand the employment contract they are entering before they start work.

An employment contract is not the same as a contract to provide services, which is normally a contract between a self-employed person and a client. In these contracts, the self-employed person agrees to provide or undertake some work or services or somebody else, but does not then become an employee of that person. To this extent, a contract to provide services does not come with the same rights as a contract of employment.

Employers who have employees working from home must, amongst other things, ensure their employees are safe at work. This includes full training in using the equipment or machinery, handling hazardous substances and lifting heavy loads. Employees must also be made fully aware of the dangers involved in their home-work role, including the elongated use of computer screens or other display units. In short, many of the health and safety requirements for employees in the workplace are also the case for employees working from home. Of course, employers cannot be held responsible for any environmental hazards in the employee’s own home.

Employers are legally required to consider requests to work from home from parents of young and/or disabled children. They are not, however, legally required to allow these employees to work from home or to pay them for time taken to look after dependents. Conversely, unless stated in the employment contract, employers cannot force employees to work from home against their will or make employees take work home with them.