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New research draws attention to how the COVID-19 pandemic has exacerbated the problem of hidden overtime and how this has negatively impacted people’s ability to disconnect from work. A new report by Autonomy, an independent think-tank, reveals that the shift to remote working has led to significantly longer hours and negatively affected the mental health of staff. A survey cited in the study, conducted by LinkedIn, showed that people working from home were working on average an extra 28 hours a month. In addition to this, the number of meetings per person had risen by 12.9 per cent whilst the average working day had been extended by around 49 minutes each day. As such, this had worrying repercussions on the mental and physical health of UK workers. By the end of 2020, the prevalence of mental distress among workers was 49 per cent higher compared to 2017-19, and had increased across all major sectors apart from Agriculture, Forestry and Mining. Furthermore, over half of respondents reported feeling more anxious since the start of the pandemic whilst a third were having trouble sleeping. This “always on” culture was documented to lead to lower levels of employee engagement the next day and
