40 Hour week dead 10:20am 24.04.08

The 40 hour week is dead and buried, with 67.9 percent of Australians saying they work more than 40 hours a week on a regular basis, according to a Talent2 survey.

Workers in the construction, engineering and manufacturing industries topped the list of overtime workers, followed by the property sector, legal and HR. 
“Twenty or thirty years ago there was a perception that Australians were lazy layabouts with a beer in one hand and a TV remote in the other. Today, workers from all over Australia are undeniably some of the hardest working people on the planet, with working hours comparable to those in any of the great international cities like New York, London or Paris,” says Laura Mabikafola, general manager of Talent2 Adelaide.

“Over the last few decades we have been conditioned to believe work does not just begin at 9am and finish at 5pm. With the advent of the internet, Blackberries and mobile phones, work goes wherever we do, whenever that might be.
“The modern workplace is not ruled by a particular start and finish time, but instead the hours we work are outcome driven, rather than process driven.”