Work without pay: what are we thinking? The 9 to 5 work day is long gone. If you're thinking about giving your employer a Christmas present this year, consider this: you've probably already given them much more than you meant to. The Australia Institute estimates the value of unpaid overtime worked by Australians across a year is $110 billion. So why do we do it? Here's what the experts reckon: We're wedded to tasks, not hours The fixed 9 to 5 work day has long gone. Jobs demand we complete a set number of tasks rather than hours. But some employers exhibit a wilful blindness about the amount of work they expect from their employees in a single day. Professor Lyn Craig from the Social Policy Research Centre at the University of NSW says: "People absorb that responsibility. Before, you could only do overtime if you were present in the workplace. Now you can do the work from home. "That technology and flexibility is good, except when you have too much to do and you are under pressure to finish the job," says Barbara Pocock, an adjunct professor at the University of South Australia school of business. We're scared of losing our jobs People are readily going beyond the call of duty to justify their existence in a soft job market says Commsec economist, Craig James. Businesses are focused on keeping costs under control and not employing to the same extent they should be, which is putting pressure on existing employees to work harder and longer. Australia used to have the largest proportion of people working standard hours of between 35 to 40 hours. But the proportion of men working more than 40 hours a week grew from 33.1 per cent to 37.5 per cent between 1980 and 2007, according to Professor John Buchanan from the University of Sydney's Workplace Research Centre. For women, the proportion increased from 11.6 to 15.9 per cent over the same period. Workaholic culture We don't want to be the odd one out. Some sectors are known for their workaholic culture, like law firms, also known as pin-striped prisons. It's not unusual for lawyers to work from 7am to 7pm, says Sara Charlesworth, a professor of management in the RMIT school of management said . Those who clock off at 5pm risk being criticised for not pulling their weight. And billable hours targets can result in people working longer hours: "You may need to work about 10 hours to achieve seven billable hours," she said. Professor Pocock said men mostly worked longer hours, making it difficult for women to compete for management jobs. "It's one explanation for why we have so few women leaders at top of Australian workplaces," she said. Not enough people The downsizing of many companies has meant fewer people are doing more with the same number of hours. "Some people feel that to keep on top of their job and impossible deadlines, they need to put in time over the weekend and a few nights," Professor Charlesworth says. We love our jobs We may not love doing overtime, but many us love our jobs or feel a responsibility to the people we are helping. Health care workers, teachers who are committed to helping their students out of hours and people who work with animals are among those who readily give up the time to work extra unpaid hours. But there is a flip side, warns Professor Pocock. Family and friends who miss time with us or we're stressed and tired when we see them. They don't see the rewards we see of a job well done, a patient cured, an animal rescued. People who over-work can finish up with health problems, too. "Your friends and family shrink away and you wake up with a great CV and not a lot of social connection," says Professor Pocock. But Professor Mark Wooden, a researcher from the Melbourne Institute of Applied Economics and Social Research, says the only people who can truly say they are doing unpaid overtime are blue collar workers who are literally held back by an employer to work another half hour or hour. He says it's a myth that Australians are working increasingly longer hours, because the overall number of people putting in more than 45 hours a week into work has dipped in the past decade, following a dramatic rise in the 1980s and a peak in the late 1990s. Most salaried workers get a salary and expectation on hours of work are vague. I don't believe in concept of unpaid time.