Australians in 2011 are under more pressure than ever before, working longer hours than they are paid for and increasingly having work invade their home life, totally shattering the myth that employees are to blame for the nation's productivity, a new national survey of 42,000 workers has found.

Although the census only sampled union members, not employees generally, it is the largest ever survey of Australian workers.

It found that while the modern workplace is for some less physically demanding than in the past, but instead of making jobs easier, working hours have increased and new forms of stress have emerged.

ACTU President Ged Kearney said the Working Australia Census 2011 exposed the misleading blame game being played by employers.

"Work is bleeding into the rest of a worker's life, and we do not have the means of recognising or dealing with this in a way that suits workers," Kearney said in her address to the National Press Club on Wednesday.

"Instead we have an increase in stress, and insecurity for workers. This is particularly the case for people in casual jobs, who fear they will lose shifts if they do not comply. Business is shifting more and more financial risk and responsibility onto the workforce.

"We have a Productivity Squeeze which means that we are achieving productivity through unpaid work and greater pressure on workers.

"This should be a wake up call at a time when we are saturated with urging from employer and business groups about the need to effectively take away more rights and reduce pay and conditions to improve productivity and flexibility.

"Rarely do we hear from the millions of Australian workers what productivity and flexibility mean to them and their lives. The Census shows they are not abstract terms. What workers told us was that the 38 hour week is often an aspiration, not a reality, while the idea of working overtime means longer hours for no extra pay."

Kearney said the Census, which would help inform the future direction of union campaigns in the interest of all Australian workers and workplaces, backed up recent Australia Institute findings that Australians worked the longest hours of any developed nation.

The Census, which surveyed more than 42,000 Australian workers, found:

  • 73% are regularly contacted outside of work hours about their job
  • 61% work more hours than they are paid for
  • 47% receive no compensation for their extra hours
  • 58% have paid for work-related expenses and not been compensated

"The Census also found that a third of workers see senior management as having no real understanding of their business, and no plan for the future," Kearney said.

"This is a disturbing finding. It suggests also that company managements are often ignoring some of the most innovative and creative people in their organisation, people who could help create productivity solutions: the workers."

The Census also found many workers were concerned about job security, with 22.3% of respondents the issue as among their greatest concerns and one in seven (14.3%) of employed Census respondents were in a form of non-permanent work arrangement. And one in six (16.5%) respondents said they were in non-permanent work part time arrangements because they couldn't find full time work.