Us Irish can't seem to spend enough time in work, according to a new survey, which shows that a fair whack of us are doing extra hours outside those stated in the contract and essentially working for free. 

The problem, it seems, is a pretty common one, with four out of ten professionals stating that they spend more time in the office than they're contracted for, and therefore do several hours per week 'for free'.

According to The Independent, staff are putting in around six extra hours per week, and after crunching the numbers on that, they've found that the workforce is spending 4.2 million extra hours working that go unpaid by employers. They also factored in that nearly half of workers surveyed said they skipped lunch while a similar figure said that they didn't take their full holiday allocation every year. 

The total money then lost out on is pretty staggering, as they estimate it at around €92,736,000 every week. The research was performed by Citrix Work Life Barometer, and there are plenty of other findings from what they discovered, most notably that all these extra hours we're putting in are giving us a load of stress, with 55% of workers stating that they felt stress as a direct result of work.

The solution then, as proposed by Citrix Ireand's Grace O'Rourke Veitch, is for employers to realise this and recognise that workers don't have to be in the office from 9-5 to be productive. With plenty of time lost on long commutes, she told The Independent that its time for "unlocking the barriers to productivity for all employees by giving professionals the flexibility to balance their work and personal lives". 

Via The Independent. Main pic via picjumbo.com