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If you expect employees to work regular overtime, it's a good idea to state this clearly in the employment contract, together with:

• whether overtime is guaranteed or non-guaranteed
• whether overtime is compulsory or voluntary
• whether payment or time off in lieu (TOIL) is given
• rates of overtime pay/how TOIL is worked out
• when overtime becomes payable/when TOIL becomes applicable
• any notice arrangements for overtime working
• the authorisation process, eg overtime must be agreed in advance and in writing by the employee's manager

Overtime payment rates

Overtime rates are for you to agree with your employees. There are no minimum statutory levels, but rates may be fixed by an industry-wide agreement.

Overtime pay varies from business to business. Some of the more typical overtime rates are:

• weekdays and Saturday mornings - time-and-a-half
• Saturday afternoons, Sundays, and public holidays - double-time (Sunday shop workers may be an exception)
• Christmas Day and New Year's Eve - double-time and above

Overtime can also be paid at a basic rate.

When does overtime become payable?

It's important to define the point at which overtime becomes payable. Many employers expect employees to be reasonable in finishing a task without demanding overtime payment. This may be up to 15 minutes for manual workers or as long as an hour for supervisory or management posts. You will need to ensure that when pay is averaged out, the national minimum, at least, has been paid for each hour worked.

Other organisations vary premiums according to the length of time worked, eg time-and-a-third for the first two hours and time-and-a-half after that.

Call-out payments

Employees who are called out from home to perform urgent duties normally receive call-out allowances or guaranteed hours at overtime rates. As call-out is likely to occur at nights, weekends, or statutory holidays, it's usually paid at the relevant overtime rate.

Many organisations pay agreed travelling time as well as actual hours worked. Usually, employees are paid for being on standby ready to respond to any call outs. You may decide to pay at different rates for time on standby or pay a separate fixed allowance. See pay: employer obligations.

Advantages of overtime

The potential advantages of using overtime working include:

• a more flexible workforce
• the ability to deal with bottlenecks, busy periods, cover of absences and staff shortages without the need to recruit extra staff
• increased earning for employees and mutual employer benefit
• avoidance of disruption to jobs where the workload is more difficult to share, eg transport and driving
• the ability to carry out repair and maintenance which has to be done outside normal working hours

Disadvantages of overtime

However, disadvantages of using overtime may include:

• the expense of premium overtime rates
• inefficiency if employee's pace of work, through poor management, is slack and it becomes necessary to compensate by providing overtime
• regular long working hours, which can adversely affect employees' work, health and home lives - read how to promote healthy work-life balance in your business
• fatigue, which may increase absence levels and lead to unsafe working practices
• employee expectations of overtime, leading to resentment and inflexibility if you try to withdraw it

Use of part-time staff or other forms of flexible working could reduce your dependency on overtime.

Employers are free to make their own arrangements concerning overtime rates for part-time staff. You can insist that part-time workers work the normal full-time hours in your organisation at basic rates before being entitled to an overtime premium. Otherwise, they could earn more than their full-time counterparts. Full-time hours can vary in organisations eg the full-time hours in one organisation could be 37.5 hours and in another it could be 40 hours.

However, once a part-time worker has worked more than the normal full-time hours, you must pay them the same hourly rate of overtime as a comparable full-time worker. Employing part-time workers.

When allocating overtime, you need to be aware of health and safety considerations.

Health and safety considerations for overtime

Fatigue

Excessive overtime may make workers tired. They may then pose a risk to themselves or others, particularly if they are driving a vehicle or using dangerous or heavy machinery. Carry out risk assessments to ensure any dangers are identified and effectively managed.

Compliance with legal requirements

For example, maximum working week and night working limits are provided for by the .

Avoid allocating excessive overtime to shift workers

Particularly those working at night. Any health problems that may result from disturbance of the body's normal rhythms, for example, diabetes, will be made worse by fatigue. Read how you can promote healthy work-life balance in your business.

Avoid situations where employees work alone

This is particularly important in potentially hazardous environments such as factories or where employees are otherwise vulnerable. If working alone is the only solution, check that employees do not have any medical condition making it unsuitable for them to work alone, for example, epilepsy. You have a responsibility to provide a safe and healthy workplace. See how to ensure lone workers' safety.

You may also want to consider additional security for staff working late at night, eg improved car park lighting or safe transport home.

Flexible working practices often provide cost-effective alternatives to overtime. These include shift work, annual hours, flexitime, seasonal and term-time working, and job sharing. Read more on flexible working: the law and best practice.

Recruitment options

Staff recruitment options include recruiting agency workers or recruiting seasonal staff. You may also want to contract work out by using contractors and subcontractors.

An alternative to paying for overtime is to offer time off in lieu (TOIL). The practice is particularly common among higher-paid staff who work overtime.

Workers must agree to TOIL. They must also arrange to take it at a time that is convenient for the employer.

As with all forms of reward for overtime, TOIL needs careful management, and the ground rules should be set out clearly. One of the main problems with TOIL arrangements is the accumulation of owed time, which can amount to several weeks by the end of a year.

TOIL and employment contracts

This can be overcome with wording in the employment contract such as:

"No more than seven hours may be accumulated in any one month, and the time off must be taken in the following month. No entitlement can be carried forward without prior agreement. Any entitlement not taken will be lost."

In some businesses, time off is given in addition to overtime payment, especially for work on statutory holidays. You may also want to set out the minimum amount of time that can be recorded, eg 15 minutes. Again, the written terms and conditions or a company handbook should spell out what employees can expect.

For many businesses, overtime is a useful way of dealing with fluctuations in demand or coping with production bottlenecks. However, where it is used excessively it can be an expensive and inefficient way of organising work.

Where needed, ensure there are managers or supervisors in place, for example, to make sure that health and safety regulations are being followed. See overtime and health and safety issues.

Working time regulations

• Limit maximum weekly working hours and set minimum daily and weekly rest periods. See hours, rest breaks, and the working week. If necessary, you can ask employees, but not young workers, to sign individual agreements opting out of some of the regulations. Do not pressure them to do so - they must willingly agree. Note that employees who opt-out will also have the right to opt back into the regulations after giving the notice contained in the individual agreement.
• Restrict night-work shifts to an average of eight hours daily, including overtime, and offer health assessments to night workers. See Sunday working and night working. You should note that where a night worker's shift involves special hazards or heavy physical or mental strain, there is an absolute limit of 8 hours on the worker's working time each day - this is not an average.  
• Set minimum paid annual holidays - see know how much holiday to give to your staff.

Guarding against excessive overtime

To help guard against any excessive overtime, many employers:

• Monitor overtime levels to identify areas where it could be reduced.
• Watch out for instances where overtime working becomes regular and unvarying.
• Limit the overtime employees may work over a given period.
• Reduce basic working hours, eg from 40 to 38, and ensure that employees work the first two hours of overtime at a flat rate. Note that reducing hours may constitute a variation of a contractual term and would therefore require agreement.
• Enhance employees' annual earnings or basic hourly rate, or pay them a lump sum, to compensate for the loss of overtime.

If you're planning on reducing basic working hours, note that this may potentially constitute a variation of contractual hours and must be agreed upon with the employee.

The Labour Relations Agency (LRA) can .

If your workers get overtime, commission, or bonuses you must include these payments in at least four weeks of their paid holiday.

The Working Time (Amendment) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2023, which came into effect in January 2024, have brought significant changes regarding how overtime affects paid annual leave entitlement.

Under these amendments, all types of overtime - both compulsory and voluntary - must be included in the calculation of paid annual leave entitlement.

Key points of these amendments include:

• The inclusion of regular overtime when calculating an employee鈥檚 paid holiday entitlement. Therefore, if an employee regularly works overtime, their holiday pay should reflect their normal earnings, including the overtime pay.
• Holiday pay should be based on the employee鈥檚 "normal remuneration," which includes regular overtime, rather than just their basic salary. The reference period for calculating holiday pay is typically the 12 weeks leading up to the leave, although there may be variations depending on specific employment contracts or agreements.
• Employers need to adjust their payroll systems to ensure that holiday pay calculations include all regular overtime. Therefore, in order to comply with these regulations accurate records of overtime worked need to be maintained.

These changes apply to the four weeks of annual leave that are derived from the EU Working Time Directive. They do not necessarily apply to the additional 1.6 weeks of leave (statutory annual leave) provided by Northern Ireland law, although many employers apply a uniform approach to avoid administrative complexities.

In summary, under the new regulations, overtime, commission, and bonus payments must be factored into employees in Northern Ireland鈥檚 holiday pay calculations, ensuring that holiday pay reflects their normal earnings, including regular overtime payments. For further advice, you can contact the Labour Relations Agency (LRA) Workplace Information Service on Tel 03300 555 300.