European Commission plans to regulate working hours may put increased pressure on Northern Ireland's competitiveness, leading business advisors warned today.
Northern Ireland company employees work among the longest hours in the UK and moves to introduce a maximum 48 hour week could hit hard, said PricewaterhouseCoopers.
But they said the long hours were often a substitute for efficiency and there needed to be greater investment in innovation, technology and quality.
They said 65 per cent of employees worked a basic week of over 38 hours and three quarters of them routinely worked an additional eight hours of overtime.
Last week the EC allowed the UK to retain its opt-out of the 48 hour maximum week, but said companies must negotiate opt-outs with unions where collective bargaining agreements covering terms and conditions exist.
Mr Paul Terrington, PwC's human resource consulting partner, said local firms were already finding it difficult to remain competitive with the basic working week.
He said about 6 per cent of all hourly-paid workers in Northern Ireland regularly worked more than a 48 hour week, so a 48 hour ceiling would be a serious issue for a number of firms.
The situation was made worse by the fact that 65% of manufacturing and service companies reported vacancies hard to fill. "More companies are experiencing hard to fill vacancies, most are experiencing spiralling recruitment and training costs and many routinely offer regular and increased overtime to remain competitive," Mr Terrington said.
"There is no indication that this situation is improving so further constraints on the length of the working week may directly impact on competitiveness," he added.
The PwC Salary Survey also reported that local managers worked even longer hours than hourly paid workers, with only 8 per cent of Northern Ireland managers working their contracted hours and over 30 per cent regularly working the equivalent of a six day week.
PA