Extra work demands on staff cost employers more than overtime pay, ADP Time & Attendance Poll reveals

    21 per cent of Canadians working extra hours, often without extra pay

    TORONTO, March 12 /CNW/ - Employers take note: if your employees are
working longer hours without reward, 62 per cent of them will find ways to
reward themselves at your expense, according to the ADP Time & Attendance
Poll. The poll, commissioned by ADP Canada, revealed that 21 per cent of
Canadians are now working more hours per week to keep up, and among them, four
in 10 (37 per cent) receive no additional compensation or time off.
    "If you don't compensate people who are working extra hard, many will
reward themselves - at your expense," said Heather Nairn-Rand, ADP Canada's
Vice President, Marketing. "Time and attendance solutions, such as those
offered by ADP, level the playing field for both employers and employees by
creating a clear and accountable reporting system for both parties."

    Slowing economy, changing work habits

    Regardless of how, or if, they get compensated or rewarded, today's lean
economy is requiring many Canadians to change their work habits, according to
the ADP Time & Attendance Poll.

        -  Twenty per cent of working Canadians say they are changing their
           work habits, doing things such as taking work home more often,
           working through lunch or avoiding taking sick days, as a result of
           the slowing economy.
        -  Twenty-one per cent of working Canadians say they're working more
           hours per week.
        -  Among the 21 per cent working more hours:
           -  Twenty-eight per cent are logging from one to five hours more
              per week;
           -  Four in 10 (42 per cent) say they are working from six to 10
              additional hours per week; and
           -  Twenty-eight per cent are working 11 or more additional hours
              per week.

    "Working longer doesn't always mean working smarter," said ADP Canada's
Nairn-Rand. "With the right time and attendance management tools, employers
can properly compensate employees and anticipate and adjust staffing
requirements to ensure that resources are properly allocated."

    Working hard, or hardly working?

    According to the ADP Time & Attendance Poll, employees who take their own
payback for extra work typically do the following:

        -  Leave early (53 per cent)
        -  Work at a more leisurely pace (27 per cent)
        -  Take sick days when they are not sick (23 per cent)
        -  Take longer lunch breaks (21 per cent)
        -  Arrive late (16 per cent)

    However, more than one third (35 per cent) of those who are working
longer hours say they do receive extra pay, and 17 per cent receive extra time
off. Quebeckers are most likely (53 per cent) to receive extra pay for extra
work, followed by those in Atlantic Canada (37 per cent) and BC (35 per cent
each); Ontarians are least likely to receive extra pay (21 per cent). Atlantic
Canadians are most likely to receive extra time off (21 per cent).

    Sick day policies

    Perhaps another area of concern for employers is losses from employee
absence, with 11 per cent of Canadians planning to use all of their sick days
this year. Younger employees aged 18-29 are more than twice as likely (18 per
cent) to max out their sick days versus their much older colleagues who are 50
and up (7 per cent), according to the ADP Time & Attendance Poll. Other sick
day stats:

        -  Eight in 10 (81 per cent) working Canadians say they are allotted
           a certain number of sick days by their employer. Eleven per cent
           of Canadians say their employer does not have a sick day policy
           and five per cent don't know.
        -  Employees in Manitoba and Saskatchewan report that they receive
           the greatest number of sick days, with over half (58 per cent)
           saying that they receive 10 or more sick days per year. Just 27
           per cent of workers in Quebec say they receive the same allotment.
        -  Women are more likely to take sick days even if they are not sick
           at 14 per cent, compared to eight per cent for men.

    ADP offers time and attendance solutions and time collection systems that
help organizations forecast, track, analyze and report labour force activity,
while allowing employees to log and review hours, check vacation balances and
request time off. Some of the benefits of time and attendance systems include:

        -  Ensuring recognition for employees and encouraging fair practices;
           and
        -  Increasing levels of organizational efficiency and productivity by
           addressing breaks, lateness and absenteeism, as well as
           implementing overtime pay policies.

    According to ADP, approximately one half of employers still rely on
manual time capture. This method can be unreliable for tracking overtime pay
and absenteeism and can result in financial losses for employers. Time and
attendance systems monitor and identify trends and chronic behaviour that
would be less evident with manual tracking.

    About ADP Canada

    ADP Canada Employer Services (ADP) is the country's leading provider of
integrated business solutions that help its 50,000 clients increase
productivity, ensure regulatory compliance, improve employee retention and
control costs. ADP offers traditional and Web-based services for payroll,
human resources management and time and labour management. ADP pays one in
five Canadians. For more information about ADP call 1-866-228-9675 or visit
www.adp.ca

    About the survey

    During the period from January 22 to 28, 2009, Environics Research Group
interviewed 956 respondents who are employed full time/part time and the
margin of error is +/-3.17 per cent at 95 per cent. Margins of error will be
higher when looking at regional samples. The results have been statistically
weighted according to 2006 age, gender and region Census data to ensure a
sample representative of the Canada's entire adult population. Discrepancies
in or between totals are due to rounding.

For further information: Meredith Adolph, Environics Communications,
(416) 969-2667, madolph@environicspr.com