Britain's workaholic culture branded an 'urban myth'

A leading employers' association has dismissed Britain's workaholic culture as an "urban myth".

The Institute of Directors (IoD), which is campaigning against a European Commission proposal to end Britain's opt-out of the Working Time Directive, has slammed "highly selective and distorted claims about the British workplace".

The IoD says official data shows that the average working week for a full-time male worker is fewer than 40 hours, and fewer than 35 hours for women, with those who work longer than 48 hours a week doing so voluntarily to further their careers or earn more money.

Research also shows that most employees see work as a positive part of their lives, insists the IoD, pointing out that employed people understandably tend to be happier, healthier and better off than the unemployed.

Ruth Lea, head of the IoD Policy Unit, said: "Everyone should be able to balance their work lives and home and family lives satisfactorily. British employers know this and are some of the most flexible in the world.

"But the work-life balance protagonists ignore this and run an anti-business agenda that seems hell-bent on demonising the workplace with a collection of, for want of a better phrase, urban myths."

However, according to a recent Sky survey, almost two-thirds of licensees said that lack of family time and a poor social life away from work were among their main personal concerns.

More than half worry about their ability to maintain a personal relationship, with poor diet, poor health, and uncertainty about the future also high among the worries of the 1,600 tenants, lessees and managers surveyed by the company.

In November, the European Commission will consider whether to veto Britain's opt-out of the Working Time Directive. This would cap employees' working hours at 48 hours a week.

Currently, many pub operators ask managers to sign an opt-out clause and agree to work longer than the 48-hour minimum. Tenants, lessees and freetraders are classed as self-employed and so are exempt from the directive.