We are proud to annouce the inaugural Met IBB " Stick to your hours day"

Earlier this week I noticed that The Chartered Management Institute (CMI) had published a report in which they stated that the average manager in the UK puts in the equivalent of an extra 40 days a year to help them cope with their workload.

It said that almost nine in 10 managers work longer than their contracted hours, typically for an hour and 18 minutes a day.

Well that got me wondering as to how we would compare. When we published our Working Time Survey report last June we did some interesting calculations but we didn’t present our findings in the same way as the CMI have chosen

So I dug out the report and my calculator and it came as no surprise to learn that typically the average Met Inspector or Chief Inspector works for an extra 2 hours and 15 minutes per day.

Those surveyed by the CMI said they had to do the extra work to meet deadlines or to cope with a high volume of work. We didn’t ask that question but we would guess that the vast majority of our members are similarly not doing it because they want to!

Interestingly ‘the average manager in the UK’ might reasonably expect to be rewarded come appraisal time for their dedication & commitment and receive a handsome bonus to take home to placate the long suffering partner and neglected children. Police Inspectors it occurs to me get little thanks let alone a tangible monetary bonus. I could at this point of course mention again the dishonorable Jacqui Smith but I suspect that particular point is not lost upon any of you, so I’ll move on.

I understand that the demands of your role invariably mean that your ‘extra’ hours just have to be done. You can’t just say "that’s it I’m off"  half way through a critical incident, Firearms operation or Murder investigation.  You operate in a ‘here and now’ environment. There is no “Oh I’ll leave that until tomorrow” option.

The TUC have long been urging their members to only work their contracted hours and similarly we would still urge you our members to talk with your managers and manage your hours appropriately so that you can stay within the Working Time Regulations and perhaps restore your work/life balance to a more equal setting. But I know in reality it’s not as easy as that. The simple truth of the matter is that there is far too much going on in the ‘here & now’ world for the few of you who exist there to cope with.

Too much work being done by too few people has long been and will continue to be our mantra until the Service begins to take meaningful steps to comply with it's legal obligation to ALL of you  & your families.

But I suppose I should welcome the CMI’s input because it does illustrate that, albeit rarely, management organisations and staff associations can agree on workplace issues.

Jo Causon the CMI director for marketing and corporate affairs is quoted as saying "Why are employers ignoring the impact of long hours on the health and performance of their employees and what responsibility are employees taking for how they manage themselves?" 

Indeed Jo. Couldn’t have put it better myself.

Finally and this is the good bit- the TUC have declared today the 22nd February  as “Stick to your hours day” after calculating that if employees worked all their unpaid overtime from the start of the year, February 22 would be the first day they would be paid.

So never having been one to let a good idea go to waste and after one last blast on the calculator, I’m pleased to announce that the Met IBB have declared Friday 7th March 2008 as our very own “Stick to your hours day”.  But please tell your colleagues, partner, children or friends in advance otherwise the shock of you going home on time might  just be too much!