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Many workers in the UK work unsocial hours. For example, approximately 12% of employees in the UK work night time shifts. If your business has employees working unsocial hours, you should be aware of your obligations. This article will explain what you as an employer should know about your staff working unsocial working hours. It will explain what is meant by unsocial working hours and the rules to be aware of.
What Are Unsocial Working Hours?
There is no official definition of unsocial working hours. Unsocial working hours, also called anti-social hours, generally refer to any period an employee works outside of conventional working hours. Conventional working hours are usually either/or:
- standard business hours between 9 am and 5 pm; or
- standard business working days (i.e.Monday through Friday).
Therefore, weekends can be unsocial working hours. However, such hours can depend on what an individual business deems their regular working hours.
Shift workers often work unsocial working hours, which can include, for example:
- night shifts;
- evening shifts;
- early morning shifts; and
- rotating shifts.
Pay and Unsocial Working Hours
When your staff work unsocial hours, you must, like your other workers, ensure you pay them the National Minimum Wage (NMW) where applicable. However, employment law does not require you to pay them any more than this simply because they work unsocial hours.
You can, of course, choose to pay your staff higher wages when they work unsocial hours. Your employment contract with them should state that you do this, and you will typically place a clause in it stating this.
Paying your staff more because they work unsocial hours is a discretionary payment called a shift allowance. If you do not pay your staff the shift allowance when their employment contract states that you do, you breach their employment contract. This could result in an employee claiming against you for constructive dismissal at an employment tribunal.
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Associated Risks
If you have staff working unsocial hours, you should be aware of the risks that can arise as an employer. There are two main areas where risks can occur for your employees: their social life and sleep.
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Social life |
If your employees are working such hours, it can affect their relationships, which can negatively impact their mental health, causing, for example, depression and stress. |
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Sleep |
Working unsocial hours, such as night shifts, can cause havoc with your employees’ body clocks, disrupting their sleep patterns. This can result in regular tiredness as well as insomnia. In the long run, studies show that shift workers face higher risks of heart attacks and stroke. Lack of sleep can also lead to mental health issues. |
In all cases, you owe a general obligation to promote your employee’s well-being. Where such hours impact their well-being, you may be in breach of this fundamental obligation.
Therefore, you must take steps to alleviate the effects of working such hours. This may mean allowing employees the option to vary shifts outside of conventional work hours. Alternatively, where employees work substantial overtime, you should consider adjusting their workload or granting additional paid time off.
Employer Obligations
Whether your staff work traditional business hours or unsocial working hours, the law details the maximum hours they can work, and the rest breaks they are entitled to. Employees should not work for more than 48 hours per week unless they voluntarily choose to do so by opting out. You should ideally record this in the relevant employees’ employment contract.
In all cases, all your employees are entitled to a 20-minute break for every six hours worked. There are also rules about set breaks between shifts.
Where your staff work unsocial hours, especially nighttime hours, you must offer them a free health assessment. You must provide this before your staff become night-time workers, and a qualified health professional should carry it out. It will allow you to assess the risks and hazards nighttime working might raise regarding your staff’s health. Once your staff works night shifts, you must regularly conduct health assessments.
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Key Takeaways
Whilst there is no official definition of unsocial working hours, the law takes a broad view that it is any work outside of normal working hours or business days. This includes night-time shifts or excessive overtime work. You owe certain duties to employees working such hours, including promoting their welfare.
If you need help to understand what you need to know about unsocial working hours in the UK, our experienced employment lawyers can assist as part of our LegalVision membership. For a low monthly fee, you will have unlimited access to lawyers to answer your questions and draft and review your documents for a low monthly fee. So call us today on 0808 196 8584 or visit our membership page.
Frequently Asked Questions
Unsocial working hours are not officially defined but are generally considered working hours, which are not standard 9 am to 5 pm hours on working business days. Night-time shifts are typical unsocial working hours.
No law states that you have to pay your staff more than the National Minimum Wage for working unsocial hours. However, you can choose to pay them a shift allowance which you should detail in their employment contract.
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