Business owners risking health

Business owners are risking not only their own health but that of their company by working up to 100 hours a week, a new survey has revealed.

More than a third of bosses questioned admitted routinely working more than 48 hours a week, the current limit set by the European Working Time Directive. Of those, the average working week lasted around 58 hours. Some bosses even admitted to spending an average 80 hours a week in the office - with that figure occasionally rising to as much as 100 hours a week.

Says Peter Mooney of Employment Law Advisory Services, the company that commissioned the research: “Signing an opt-out to enable staff to work more than 48 hours a week is one thing, but to work such long hours routinely has a negative effect.

“Apart from lower morale, owner managers suffer higher degrees of stress, which in turn leads to more time off work. In addition, stress and fatigue may be a factor in workplace accidents and could end up with owner managers being prosecuted in the criminal courts as well as being sued in the civil courts by any injured employees.”