NUJ supports Go Home on Time day to encourage better work/life balance

The National Union of Journalists has backed a day of action to urge employees to leave work on time.

The union said it supported the national Go Home on Time day on 25 September to help journalists achieve better work/life balance in the face of increasingly demanding news cycles and industry cutbacks.

NUJ general secretary Michelle Stanistreet said: “The NUJ is supportingGoHome on Time day – the day we remember we should have a work/life balance. We should have time to be with our loved ones, to have time to read a book or go out with our friends as well as doing a day's or night's work.

"We work under the pressure of a 24-hour news cycle, to tight deadlines. With the many cuts in our industry, we are often doing more than one person's job and taking on more and more tasks. On 25 September, we will be encouraging our members and their colleagues to put on their coats when their shift is over and go home."

The day is sponsored by the Working Families campaign, which is encouraging employees to organise special events to mark the occasion.

The campaign said: “A mid-week breather can help energise us for the rest of the week and does wonders for our work-life balance. We all need a bit of down time to spend doing the things we love: the simple pleasures of a family meal round the table, catching up with friends we don’t see often enough, putting our feet up with a favourite DVD or getting involved in local community life. But too often we let our working hours stretch longer and longer, eating in to that precious time.”