Many working 10 hours extra per week

Nearly 73% of Irish employees work longer than their contracted hours.

New claims from Morgan McKinley also show around one in five work an extra 10 hours per week, with four out of five workers not compensated for working overtime.

A total of 62% of workers felt they had no choice but to work overtime, and 43% said they felt they were more productive in the 'extra' hours as there were fewer distractions at those times.

Their study includes a variety of sectors including finance, tech and engineering.

Director of Morgan McKinley's Inward Investment Tracey Keevans said the research proved people need to work smarter not harder.

She said: "Employees are looking for more flexible working solutions - there's a need for these to improve productivity during the contracted working hours."

Meanwhile, Irish workers are the fourth happiest in the world and the happiest in the EU, according to a study by Indeed.

The study reviewed 35 countries and found Columbia ranked top for job happiness and China ranked the lowest.

In a city-by-city study, Dublin came top in Europe, beating London, Stockholm and Rome.

Ranked in order of importance were: work-life balance, quality of management, office culture, job security and benefits.