New research has revealed that even though English police forces fully embrace flexible working, there are opportunities to better implement technology to reduce overtime and enhance work-life balance.
Citrix carried out the research from a sample of 24 of the 39 police forces across England. There was a 18% rise in overtime in the past five years.
Overtime increased to 9.2 million hours from about 7.8 million between 2010/2011 and last year, an average of more than 380,000 extra hours per force.
The figures suggest that each force was paid for more than 9,500 additional 40-hour working weeks in overtime in 2014. The work could have been undertaken by 182 extra full-time police officers.
There was an increase in overtime despite extensive access across English police forces to remote working technology.
All the survey respondents confirmed that every member of the police force can request and receive access to their emails or work information remotely.
Citrix said there is an opportunity for English police forces for advocating better working practices due to the disconnect between increased overtime and widespread access to remote working technology.
Citrix UK & Ireland country manager Jason Tooley said: "Harnessing the flexible working technology already in place to improve employee performance and productivity will enable English police forces to find vital cost-savings, increase efficiency and maintain service levels.
"In fact, as digital services become more prominent in front line services, encouraging police officers to embrace flexible working and improve their work-life balance will be key for effective policing."
