Rising unpaid overtime: a critical approach to existing theories

Abstract

In recent years there has been observed the phenomenon of employees working long hours without been paid. This trend is quite strong during the last fifteen years but there is ample evidence that it is a tendency generated even before. While there have been various explanations why employees work paid overtime, there is little theoretical interpretation of working unpaid overtime. This essay tries to analyse critical the existing interpretations and add some new explanations. We will try to pinpoint the main reasons and explain why this phenomenon takes place especially in three last decades.