Which Canadian workers log the most unpaid time at work?

Long hours and unpaid work are a defining feature of many Canadian jobs, particularly in management and higher-educated roles, putting employers at risk of having to deal with issues such as burnout, turnover and potential legal and reputational risks around wage and hour compliance.

According to Statistics Canada’s Canadian Survey on Working Conditions, 2024–2025, 17.0 per cent of workers did unpaid work in their free time several times a month at times they “were not originally scheduled to work.” Among managers, that share more than doubled to 34.6 per cent, with over one in three completing unpaid work several times a month or more to meet job demands.

The proportion was also elevated among workers in jobs that usually require a bachelor’s degree or higher, at 29.5 per cent.

By contrast, unpaid work was less common in jobs requiring a college diploma or an apprenticeship (12.8 per cent) and in roles needing a high school diploma or less (6.0 per cent).

Time pressure was also markedly higher for managers. In 2024–2025, 50.2 per cent of workers in management roles said they were “frequently working to tight deadlines” at least half the time during the previous 12 months, compared with 31.6 per cent of workers in jobs that usually require a high school diploma or less.

Longer hours by sector, gender

The survey also highlighted very long days and short rest periods in specific sectors. In natural resources, agriculture and related production, 66.4 per cent of workers usually worked more than 10 hours a day at least once a month. One-third (33.5 per cent) in this group reported having “less than 11 hours of rest between two workdays” at least once in the previous month, the highest rate among all occupations.

Men were more likely than women to have worked at night at least once a month (22.3 per cent versus 14.5 per cent) and to have had workdays exceeding 10 hours (43.3 per cent versus 25.1 per cent) at least once a month.

Only a fifth of Canadian professionals are sticking to their traditional core office hours, with the majority working beyond the standard workday to keep up with demands, according to a previous report/

Flexible schedules remain limited

In addition, most Canadian employees have limited control over when they work. Nationally, 58.9 per cent reported that their schedules were set by their employer, while 8.9 per cent could choose between fixed schedules, according to StatCan. Only 26.2 per cent said they could “adapt their working hours within certain limits,” and just 6.3 per cent had full control to determine their own working hours.

Access to flexibility varied sharply by industry. Employees in professional, scientific and technical services were most likely (58.3 per cent) to say they could adapt their schedule or set their own hours. At the other end of the spectrum, only 24.2 per cent of employees in business, building and other support services reported that level of flexibility.

Parents of young children did not see a major advantage. Core-aged parents living with a child under six (33.7 per cent) were about as likely to have adaptable or self-determined working hours as core-aged employees without children (32.7 per cent), suggesting family responsibilities do not strongly influence access to flexible schedules.

Most employees feel supported – somewhat

The survey also found that most employees feel supported at work, but support levels differ by industry and racial identity. In 2024–2025, 79.5 per cent of employees said their colleagues helped and supported them always or most of the time, and 73.6 per cent reported that their manager was usually supportive.

Colleague support was strongest in construction (83.9 per cent) and agriculture (83.8 per cent). Manager support was highest in finance, insurance, real estate, rental and leasing (80.8 per cent) and in natural resources (79.9 per cent).

However, support was weaker in other sectors. In health care and social assistance, 66.2 per cent of employees said their manager supported them most of the time or always, the lowest proportion among all industries. Employees in transportation and warehousing also reported a below-average rate of frequent support from their manager (67.9 per cent) and were least likely to receive frequent support from colleagues (71.4 per cent).

Racialized workers were less likely to feel frequently supported by colleagues. The share of employees reporting frequent colleague support was 69.4 per cent for Black employees, 70.7 per cent for Southeast Asian employees and 72.3 per cent for Arab employees, compared with 81.6 per cent among non-racialized, non-Indigenous employees. Black employees (66.2 per cent) were also less likely to report frequent support from their manager than non-racialized, non-Indigenous employees (74.0 per cent).

Despite the mix of long hours, unpaid work, uneven support and multiple risks, most workers still see their jobs as meaningful. In 2024–2025, 81.9 per cent of workers said they were “doing useful work” most of the time or always. That sense of usefulness was particularly strong in agriculture (92.3 per cent), construction (88.5 per cent) and health care and social assistance (87.2 per cent).

'Pervasive': overtime trends

For employers to avoid any fallout from long working hours and unpaid hours, it is important that they know the reason behind these phenomena.

Long and irregular hours are strongly linked to poorer health, work–life conflict and performance problems, according to the International Labour Organization report titled Working Time and Work-Life Balance Around the World. It notes that “regular long working hours” have “well-known adverse effects” on workers’ health, well-being and performance, yet many workers continue to work beyond normal hours.

Meanwhile, Eurofound—in its report titled Overtime in Europe: Regulation and practice—finds that although overtime is usually compensated, “unpaid overtime still seems to be pervasive … generally resulting from pressure exerted on workers.” That pressure often stems from overambitious targets or under-resourcing rather than genuine short-term spikes.

In 2025, the federal government started investigating the issue of unpaid work in the airline sector.