Not long now ... Are you planning to leave on the dot today? Photograph: Walter Hodges/Getty
Congratulations, from today onwards you are working for yourself. Or rather, you're getting paid. According to the TUC, if an averagely overburdened employee calculated the amount of free overtime they did each year, it would add up to more than six extra weeks at the grindstone. For most people who do unpaid overtime, today is the day they stop working for free and start earning a wage.
And it's already nearly March.
Doing unpaid overtime is easy - it starts with getting in half an hour early to go through emails, or maybe "grabbing a coffee" with a client? That's work. By lunchtime, far too much stuff is piling up on your desk for you to be able to take more than 20 minutes. And then, come hometime, there are always more emails, and one report that you really, really want to finish before you leave.
If you are a single woman in your 30s it is even more likely you will be staying at work long after your contracted hours.
But there is no reason why you should work for free. Today is Work your proper hours Day, so if you're going to stand up for your rights, and your lunchbreak, any day of the year it should be today.
Are you working your proper hours today? Let us know by voting in our poll. And if you are working more, or less, than you should be, let us know why.
