It sounds like a simple idea – to go home from work on time. Yet how often to you manage to do it? 

Every year, The Australia Institute highlights the incidence of overwork among Australians with its Go Home on Time Day (GHOTD) initiative. For the ninth year, the Canberra-based organisation has worked to estimate the value of unpaid overtime which Australian workers perform in their workplaces. 

With barely half of working Australians now employed in standard full-time jobs, there is an increasing gap in Australian employment patterns, between those with full-time, relatively secure jobs, and a growing portion working part-time, casual, temporary, or insecure positions.  

This has led to a situation where many full-time workers want to work fewer hours, but most of those in part-time or casual positions want more hours. 

Across all forms of employment, Australians work an average of 5.1 hours of unpaid labour per week (up from 4.6 hours in 2016). This unpaid labour represents a large proportion of the total time spent working by Australian employees - between 14 percent and 20 percent. 

The aggregate value of this time is huge, with the report estimating the total value of unpaid overtime in the national economy at over $130 billion in 2016-2017, up from $116 billion last year.

It is clear that there would be significant economic, social, and health benefits from providing workers with stronger protections against unpaid overtime, and finding ways to better share available work.

It is possible that new technology in the workplace, including computerisation, automation, and digital platforms may lead to higher incomes, shorter working hours, or a combination of the two. 

However, the report found that Australians fear employers will use new technology primarily to reduce employment levels (rather than increasing incomes or reducing average working hours).  57 percent of workers think their employer will respond to new technology by reducing employment. Only 18 percent expect shorter working hours to be the outcome of technological change, and only 14 percent expect higher incomes.

Access the full 2017 report, Excessive Hours, Unpaid Overtime and the Future of Work by Troy Henderson and Tom Swann, here.