The TUC’s ‘Work Your Proper Hours Day’ is on Friday 22nd February and it aims to encourage the people in the UK who regularly do unpaid overtime to finish the unpaid days they do and start earning for themselves.

Nearly 5 million people in the UK regularly do unpaid overtime and the TUC’s annual survey 2005 showed that teachers topped the list for working, on average, the longest unpaid hours out of all professions.

If you’re one of those teachers, why not take time to reflect on how well you’re balancing your life? Take a look at some tips for maintaining a healthy work-life balance.

Long hours and excessive workloads aren’t good for us; they cause stress, they are bad for our health and can lead to low morale and tired, burnt out staff. Teacher’s commitment to their job has seen teachers working longer hours, spending excessive time on administration and in meetings and increasingly taking part in after school activities. Click to see the scale and impact of extra working hours and overtime.

Why not use ‘Work Your Proper Hours Day’ to make a stand and see what a difference it can make? Here are some ideas to try:

• Treat yourself to a nice lunch – take your full lunch break!
• Arrange with friends or work colleagues to go out and make the most of your Friday evening.
• Try some quick relaxation techniquea

If you are feeling stressed out or having trouble with your workload then the following fact sheets might be helpful:

• Understanding Stress
• Dealing With Stress
• Time Management

Visit the official Work Your Proper Hours Day (http://www.worksmart.org.uk/workyourproperhoursday/) website which is full of interactive features to test your work life balance and calculate how much your unpaid overtime is worth.