Germany: employees work on average three hours extra per week and the trend is tending lower (consultants data)

According to data published by the independent advisory firm Compensation Partner, more than half of Germany’s employees (54%) are working overtime, amounting to an average three hours per week. More males than females are working extra hours, as are more senior staff compared with regular employees, and higher paid cohorts vis-à-vis those on more modest salaries. Compensation Partner analyzed more than 200,000 pieces of working time data within Germany. Since 2009 when employees were working 6.5 hours extra per week the number has been consistently falling. Tim Böger, Managing Director of Compensation Partner puts this development down to the fact that Germany is ‘undergoing a period of robust economic growth where work-life balance is more important and the propensity to work extra hours is lower.” Nonetheless many employees are not paid for the overtime work (one third of regular employees and approximately three quarters of senior managers), with regular employees working a total of 13 months for free over the course of their careers and senior managers working 21 months (Compensation Partner calculations).