Getty Images Spending too long at the office causes stress and unhappiness

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The shocking discovery was made by website TotallyMoney.com, who found that despite slogging away for long hours in the office, 70 per cent of British workers were not paid for their overtime. This means from as early in the year as September 14th, Brits are essentially working for free, having already completed our contracted hours for the year.

Some occupations fare worse than others with those working in the caring professions, such as hard working nurses, being hardest hit. Teachers were putting in lots of extra time, working on average 54 days free work each year.

Getty Images Brits are giving their bosses hours of extra time a day

An overwhelming majority were unpaid for this extra time, up to 87 per cent. Overtime doesn’t have to mean staying late after work, it can also mean grabbing lunch at your desk - working through the lunch hour - or arriving at work a few minutes early. Joe Gardiner, from TotallyMoney.com reflected on the state of Britain’s working lives and said: "It’s quite a depressing situation. We all want to do a good job when we’re at work, but there’s a line that it seems many of us cross when we’re giving our employers more time than we’re actually getting paid for."

Getty Images Brits already work the longest hours in Europe

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Whilst Britons as a whole put in many extra hours, some regions stay in the office longer than others. Those in London work an extra 8.9 hours a week, more than a standard day in the office, whilst those in the West Midlands and the Northwest have the best work/life balance and manage to get away with only 8.1 hours extra. Surprised by the results of their survey, TotallyMoney.com have launched an online overtime calculator where you can see for yourself just how much extra time you are handing over to your boss.