The debate over who puts in the longest hours is set to be stoked by new research revealing which Midland professionals are most likely to be burning the midnight oil.

The region’s financial risk professionals have emerged as the hardest grafters – whereas perhaps unsurprisingly public sector workers and secretaries enjoy the best work/life balance.

Midland lawyers and HR professionals are also in the top three of the professions with their nose to the grindstone for the largest part of their waking life.

Alongside marketing professionals, lawyers are also most likely to work weekends, according to research by recruitment firm Robert Walters.

Thirty one per cent of risk professionals, 30 per cent of lawyers and 26 per cent of HR professionals claim to put in more than 50 hours a week, whereas only seven per cent of Midland public sector workers do the same, the survey found.

Accountants hover in the middle – 80 per cent work less than 50 hours with around half working between 40 and 50 hours.

The survey also shows that Midland professionals have a better work/life balance than those working in the South-east – where 18 per cent regularly work 50 plus hours compared to eight per cent overall in the Midlands.

Sydney Mitchell partner and president of Birmingham Law Society Dean Parnell said he wasn’t surprised that lawyers worked some of the longest hours in the region.

The downturn has also exacerbated the long hours culture.

“I think it would be unfair to say that law firms are cracking the whip and making people work longer,” Mr Parnell said.

“It’s more a case that it is an incredibly competitive environment where people need to show they are better than their colleagues because job security isn’t there any more.

“I’ve been at firms where people have been working flat out, sometimes unnecessarily, but they feel they have to prove their worth to the firm.

‘‘Often it’s a lack of communication from up top to junior members saying ‘go home and have a life.”

But he said the legal sector was becoming increasingly aware of the demands it puts on lawyers.