To Compensate for Labor Shortages and to Meet War-Time Demand, More than Half of Russians are Working Overtime – and Many Aren’t Happy, Head Hunter Poll Finds

Paul Goble

            Staunton, Sept. 9 – One of the ways Russian employers are trying to compensate for the shortage of workers at a time of increasing demand for output to support Putin’s war in Ukraine is to force their employees to work overtime, a practice that is boosting incomes but isn’t especially welcome by many workers, a Head Hunter survey finds.

            Almost a third of all Russians of working age (29 percent) are working overtime every day or almost every day, the survey found, with another quarter (23 percent) doing so two to three days a week (rbc.ru/society/09/09/2024/66de514c9a794717bfac197a and moscowtimes.ru/2024/09/09/rossiyane-massovo-pozhalovalis-na-pererabotki-a141652).

            Among the others, 12 percent of workers say they are required to work overtime “not less than once a month,” and 17 percent say they work overtime twice a month. Only about one Russian employee in four – 23 percent – says that he or she has never had to work beyond the normal work week.

            Nearly half of those surveyed – 48 percent – said they weren’t adequately compensated for overtime, and almost the same share – 49 percent – said that overtime work was having a negative impact on their health, with 20 percent saying it has had a serious impact in that regard and leaving them with less time for family, friends and hobbies.

            If the Russian government drives out more migrant workers or if more Russians leave the country because of Putin’s war, pressure on employers to pressure their workers to put in overtime hours will likely increase, something that will undoubtedly anger many of them even if their incomes rise as a result.