Workers are giving up an average 7.8 hours of free labour a week, a union survey finds, as calls for leave and public holiday reform grow
Australian workers give their employers an average of 7.8 hours of unpaid overtime every week, according to a new Unions NSW report. The finding has prompted a campaign to lift minimum annual leave from four to five weeks.
Unions NSW launched its Give Workers Their Time Back campaign today (24 September). It is calling on the NSW and federal governments to increase annual leave to five weeks and to give NSW workers as many public holidays as workers in other states and territories.
The Finance Sector Union (FSU) promoted the campaign to its members. It argued that unpaid overtime has quietly become normal across the workforce, including in the finance sector.
The report found 88 per cent of workers regularly work beyond their paid hours. Unions NSW says this adds up to more than 11 weeks of free work a year, worth almost $22,000 in lost wages per worker.
Among respondents:
- 77 per cent believe their workplace relies on them doing unpaid overtime
- 78 per cent fear their career or job would suffer if they refused
- 75 per cent regularly work unpaid on weekends
- 63 per cent say their workplace has no formal overtime policy
The union also linked the problem to artificial intelligence (AI). It argued that productivity gains from new technology are too often turning into more work for employees rather than more time off.
The campaign builds on a national push that began earlier in 2026. In March, the Australian Council of Trade Unions (ACTU) began a bid for the extra week of leave through a House of Representatives inquiry into the National Employment Standards (NES) (ACTU, 3 March 2026). HRD Australia covered the unions' campaign for five weeks' annual leave and its impact on HR at the time.
That bid relied on Centre for Future Work research showing more than four weeks of unpaid labour each year. Business groups pushed back. Innes Willox, chief executive of the Australian Industry Group, called the ACTU proposal "out of touch with reality".
Section 62 of the Fair Work Act 2009 bars employers from requesting or requiring full-time employees to work more than 38 hours a week unless the additional hours are reasonable.
The finding that 63 per cent of workplaces lack a formal overtime policy points to a governance gap HR teams can close now, whether or not the leave campaign succeeds.
Leaders can also review how Australia's right to disconnect laws have affected unpaid overtime since they took effect in August 2024.
