Employees are feeling increasingly obligated to work unpaid overtime, with the average Australian doing more than nine hours every week.
Nearly nine-in-10 workers (86 per cent) did at least some unpaid overtime each week, with the education sector racking up the most free hours on average at 12.2 per week.
Unions NSW surveyed almost 5500 people across multiple industries, finding a majority of employees (64 per cent) thought they would be limiting their career prospects if they didn't do extra hours.
Using the average Australian annual salary of $96,660, the association considered it a $21,000 donation from workers to their employers each year.
Unions NSW secretary Mark Morey called for changes to the Fair Work Act, which permits unpaid overtime if "additional hours are reasonable".
He said the scale of the data showed sectors had become reliant on the extra hours.
"More often than not, workers are required to work through lunch breaks, turn up early and finish late, and put in extra hours on the weekend," he said.
"This is affecting their physical and mental wellbeing, preventing them from spending time with their families and contributing to their communities … fears of reprisal, missing out on promotion, and threats from employers to give staff a worse roster all prevent workers from leaving on time."
Education (12.2 hours per week), agriculture, forestry and fishing (12 hours) and transport, postal and warehousing (8.99 hours) were the sectors doing the most unpaid overtime.
Part-time and casual workers also found themselves chipping in for free, working about 6.5 unpaid hours on average.
Two-thirds of workers felt their bosses had become reliant on unpaid overtime, with respondents worried refusing to stay late would push them down the organisational pecking order.
"If I assert my right to work during work hours only I'm compared to other single youngsters who are working extended hours to please the boss and have support from their families," one respondent reported.
"I feel alienated from the staff that are in the office as this work style is forced to become the norm."
Another said refusing to work unpaid hours would be viewed by management as a "work performance issue" rather than "the work overload and bullying issue it actually is".
The study talked to both union and non-union workers between November 2023 and February 2024.
