Table of Contents
In Short
- What are unsocial hours? Unsocial hours typically include work outside 9 a.m.–5 p.m. business hours, such as night, weekend, or rotating shifts.
- Pay and health checks: There’s no legal requirement to pay extra for unsocial hours, but you must ensure the National Minimum/Living Wage and provide free health assessments for night workers.
- Employee welfare: Employers must mitigate risks to health and well-being, conduct risk assessments, and comply with Working Time Regulations.
Tips for Businesses
Unsocial working hours pose risks to employee well-being. Regularly assess the impact on staff health and consider measures such as shift rotation or additional rest breaks. Clearly outline unsocial hour pay (if applicable) in contracts, comply with legal obligations, and maintain open communication to address employee concerns effectively.
In the modern UK labour market, a significant portion of the workforce operates outside traditional business hours. For example, in 2022, approximately 27% of the workforce worked night-time shifts. The prevalence of unsocial working hours brings unique challenges and responsibilities for employers. Whether your business operates in healthcare, hospitality, manufacturing, or any other sector requiring round-the-clock staffing, this article will explore the legal framework and provide information on best practices surrounding unsocial hours.
What Are Unsocial Working Hours?
While there is no official definition of unsocial working hours, unsocial working hours (also commonly referred to as anti-social hours) generally refer to any period an employee works outside 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) or the National Living Wage (NLW), where applicable. However, employment law does not require you to pay them more than this set rate 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 have a clause in the contract stating the rate you will pay your employees when they work unsocial hours and what constitutes unsocial working hours in your business.
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 would, you will likely be in breach of contract. This could result in an employee lodging a claim against you.
Associated Risks
If you have staff working unsocial hours, you should be aware of the risks that can arise as an employer.
Risks can occur for your employees in two main areas: their social lives and sleep.
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.
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.
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In all cases, you owe a general duty to protect your employee’s health, safety and well-being whilst they work for you. Where such hours impact their well-being, you may breach this fundamental obligation.
Therefore, you must take steps to alleviate the effects of working such hours by conducting risk assessments to understand the potential impact on your staff. This may allow employees to vary shifts outside conventional work hours. Alternatively, where employees work substantial overtime, consider adjusting their workload or granting additional paid time off.
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Employer Obligations
Whether your staff work traditional or unsocial business hours, the law details the maximum hours they can work, and the rest breaks they are entitled to. Employees should not work more than 48 hours per week unless they voluntarily choose to do so by opting out of the 48-hour rule. You should record their decision in their personnel file.
Where your staff work unsocial hours, especially night-time 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 night-time working might have on your staff’s health. Once your staff works night shifts, you must regularly conduct health assessments to ensure they remain fit to work those shifts.
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 regular working hours or usual business days. This includes night-time shifts or excessive overtime work. You owe specific duties to employees working such hours, including promoting their welfare.
If you need help understanding what you need to know about unsocial working hours in the UK, LegalVision’s experienced employment lawyers can assist you 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 that are not the standard 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. hours on business days. Night shifts are typical examples of unsocial working hours.
Yes, the Working Time Regulations 1998 apply. These regulations limit the average working week to 48 hours, usually averaged over 17 weeks (unless the employee opts out), mandate rest breaks, and require at least 11 consecutive hours of daily rest in any 24-hour period.
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