This means that this year’s Work Your Proper Hours Day falls on Friday 24 February. If workers who regularly put in unpaid overtime worked all their hours from the start of the year, the 24th Feb is first day they would get paid. 

Whilst reducing the amount of unpaid overtime would not translate precisely into extra jobs (for starters, a huge amount of this time is a result of a British work culture of pointless and unproductive presenteeism) we’re concerned that persistent and excessive hours of unpaid overtime are holding back job creation, as well as hurting the people who end up working late day after day. Rather than forcing staff to work extremely long hours that damage their health, taking on a few extra employees would in many cases be far more productive for employers, as well as providing much needed jobs.

Overall, the number of workers doing unpaid overtime has increased by more than a million since records began in 1992, when 4.2 million people regularly did unpaid overtime, to 5.3 million people in 2011. The proportion of those doing unpaid overtime has also increased slightly, from 19.7% in 1992 to 21.1% in 2011.

The TUC’s Brendan Barber said:

“The heroic amount of extra unpaid hours put in by millions of workers make a vital – but often unsung – contribution to the UK economy. While many politicians and financial institutions have spectacularly failed to do their bit to help the UK economy, millions of hard-working staff clearly have and we hope employers congratulate them for their efforts on Work Your Proper Hours Day this year.

“But while many of the extra unpaid hours worked could easily be reduced by improving work practices, a small number of employers are exploiting staff by regularly forcing them to do excessive amounts of extra work for no extra pay. This attitude is not only bad for workers’ health, it’s bad for the economy too as it reduces productivity and holds back job creation.

“No-one wants to see us to become a nation of clock-watchers. But a more sensible and grown up attitude to working time could cut out needless unpaid hours and help more people into work.”

Arbitration service ACAS has issued new guidance to employers on how to manage the challenges and risks of social networking, from workplace bullying, recruitment, performance management to defamation and disciplinaries. It’s clear many employers need the prompt – research last year showed only 16% of UK employees were aware of any company guidelines in this area.

Your employer may be happy that you can pick up work email on the move with a smart phone, but less chuffed when you start using it to swop LOLcats with your friends in working hours, or to tweet about a client’s disgusting personal habits.

Unlike a comment in a pub, a status update, blogpost or tweet can be copied, viewed and saved many times, and reach a wider audience. This means a much higher chance that your whinge about your disastrous project could do real damage to your company’s reputation, and also that your boss could find out about it. There have been plenty of high-profile cases, such as the women who was sacked (on facebook) for her status update about how she hated her job and her ‘pervy boss’, having forgotten she’d ‘Friended’ him previously.

In one recent case though, the Tribunal ruled that a worker had been unfairly dismissed, after she was sacked for stating on Facebook, “I think I work in a nursery and I do not mean working with plants”. The ruling stated that the company hadn’t properly looked into the real impact of the comments, and had not considered discipline short of dismissal as a more proportionate response to actions by a member of staff with a good record.

Employers need clear guidance, and proper procedures, before sacking people for comments that would have passed unnoticed in the pub. According to research last year, 70% of UK workers were unaware whether their company had any policies or guidelines around the use of social media.

If you’re wondering how to make sure your time on social networks doesn’t land you out of a job, take a look at our Not Safe for Work training tool. And if your workplace is one of those with no guidance for staff on the subject – maybe it’s time you or your union rep raised it with your HR department.

Chen, an employee of Wuhan Zoo, in China has been forced into stripes every day, not by his employer, but by his demanding charge – a baby zebra.

The zebra foal, named ‘Little Five’ after the number of days his mother lived to see him, will only accept milk when his feeder is wearing the striped shirt. Says Chen, “He also looks for nipples on me. I had to give him my thumbs.”

Thankfully, most of us aren’t forced to wear the same stripes every day, but if it’s in your contract, your employer can lay down rules about how you dress for work. If there is  a uniform or dress code it will usually be to give a good, consistent, professional image to customers or the public.

Check your contract or staff handbook to make sure you know what the rules are. And if the rules say something vague, like ‘smart dress’, query it, as your idea of smart may not be the same as your boss’s.

Visit our rights pages for more information on dress regulations and codes.

New research from the Aragon Institute of Health Sciences in Spain shows that long hours increases the risk of “burnout syndrome”: long-term exhaustion, a loss of interest in your work, and high levels of irritability.

“This condition is increasing in prevalence in Spain and poses a serious problem to society because of the economic losses it causes and its consequences for health,” says researcher Jesus Montero-Marin.

The Working Time Regulations put a normal ceiling on the working week of 48 hours, as well as giving you other rights, such as paid breaks and holiday. The rules are complicated though – for example, the 48 hours is taken as an average over several weeks – and there are different rules for different kinds of jobs. See our guide to your working time rights in a nutshell.

As well as this ‘frenetic’ burnout, researchers identified ‘underchallenged’ burnout syndrome, associated with monotonous tasks, and those who were ‘worn out’ after too long in the same job, frustrated by lack of recognition.

Employees with more than 16 years of service in the same place of work are 5 times more likely to develop this ‘worn out’ syndrome than those who have worked fewer than 4 years at the same company.

If you’re feeling stuck in a rut maybe it’s time to move on. Visit our your career section for ideas on finding a new job, or approaching your boss about a promotion or change of role.

17% of employers said they had taken on interns in order to get work done more cheaply in a survey carried out by YouGov on behalf of Internocracy, a social enterprise working for better internships. And 95% of the 218 businesses questioned said that interns were very useful to their organisations.

These statistics show clearly how businesses are benefiting from the work done by interns eager to gain that vital work experience. But anyone doing real work deserves to be paid in real money, not just in ‘learning opportunities’.

A quarter of a million people are estimated to be working in internships in the UK, the vast majority unpaid.

The Deputy Prime Minister has announced a social mobility strategy, aiming to put an end to unpaid internships which offer opportunity only to those who have someone to support them while they work for nothing. This will include pushing employers to pay at least the National Minimum Wage to young people doing extended work experience.

Most interns are already entitled to the Minimum Wage – find out more about interns’ rights at work.