flexible working time arrangements and gender equality: a comparative review of 30 european...

8/3/2019 Flexible working time arrangements and gender equality: a comparative review of 30 European countries

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exeCUtIVe sUmmARY

Increasing the eibility o working time is an impor-tant element o the European employment strat-

egy (Employment Guideline 21). Enterprises shouldbecome more eible in order to respond to suddenchanges in demand, adapt to new technologies andbe in a position to innovate constantly in order toremain competitive. Fleibility, however, is not onlyidentied as an important ingredient in the uest orcompetitiveness by employers. Also on the supplyside, contemporary employees demand non-ull-timeworking hours and/or eible working time schedulesin order to suit their preerred liestyles and to recon-

cile work and amily lie. However, employer-riendlyand employee-riendly eibility do not necessarilyconverge, creating new tensions between employ-ers and employees and between men and women.This report provides an overview on eible workingtime arrangements and gender euality in the 27 EUMember States and the three EEAEFTA countries. Theocus is on internal uantitative eibility. On the onehand, this reers to eibility in the length o workingtime, such as part-time work, overtime work and longhours and, on the other hand, to eible organisationo working time, such as eible working time sched-

ules, homeworking and work at atypical hours.

The length o the working week is an importantelement o the employment contract. For a long time,the trend has been towards a progressive regulationand a shortening o the ull-time working week. Yet, atthe end o the 20th century, the emphasis has shitedin avour o more eible and individualised workinghours. In order to accommodate these developments,the regulatory ramework has become more ocusedon allowing tailor-made solutions within the bound-aries o a commonly agreed ramework. The resultmay depend on the system o industrial relations and

the strength o the dierent parties involved, withdierent roles or legislation measures, collectivebargaining and bilateral negotiations between theemployer and the employee. In this respect, it shouldbe noted that legislation does not necessarily resultin a better position or employees. In some countriesthe strengths and coverage o collective agreementsmay be comparable or even better than nationallegislation in other countries.

Dierences in the length o working time betweenthe European Member States are still very large.

For eample, individualised working hours appearto be relatively widespread in the northern and

western EU Member States, whereas, especially inthe new Member States, the traditional 40-hourworking week is still very much intact. In regard tothe lie course perspective, part-time work is leastcommon or male employees in the prime agegroup, suggesting that part-time work acilitates acombination o work with education or the youngage group and phased retirement in the old agegroup (although the levels remain low comparedto emale employees). Working overtime and longhours is more common in the prime age group andthe older age group. In some countries, however,

long hours are more common among youngemployees. The main orm o eibility in workingtime among emale employees is part-time work.Although having children is an important reasonto work part-time, part-time rates in the prime agegroup are not consistently the highest.

When looking at the overall pattern o eibility inthe length o working time, it appears that Austriaand the United Kingdom have a high ranking on allthree indicators. The Netherlands has a high scoreon part-time employment and working overtime,

whereas Iceland and the Czech Republic have highscores on working overtime and working long hours.At the other end, our countries are the least eibleand score low on all three indicators: Portugal,Lithuania, Cyprus and Hungary. This implies that themajority o countries have some level o eibility inthe length o working hours.

From a gender euality point o view, the increasedeibility in working hours should be rated positivelyinasmuch as more individualised working hours canhelp employees to reconcile their work obligationsand personal lie. It is thereore likely that more indi-

vidualised working hours have a positive eect onthe emale participation rate. Greater eibility inthe length o working time, however, also seems tohave some adverse eects on gender euality, takinginto account that the main orm o eibility amongemale employees is part-time work. In most coun-tries, part-time work is still concentrated in low-paidsectors with low career and training opportunities.It is thus difcult to claim that greater eibility interms o the length o the working time will havethe desired eect o greater gender euality.

Whereas increased eibility in the length o workingtime can be relatively easily documented rom labour


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LExIBLE WORKING TIME ARRANGEMENTS AND GENDER EqUALITY

orce survey data, the increased eibility in theorganisation o working time is much more difcult toascertain. This is partly attributable to the act that theeible organisation o working time is oten nego-tiated at the level o the rm, independently romstatutory regulation and/or the system o collectivebargaining. As a result, the statistical processing othese developments is ar rom complete. Never-theless, despite the statistical deciencies, it canbe concluded that also on this dimension Europedisplays large dierences, particularly with regard toeible working time schedules. Fleible working time

schedules reer to arrangements such as staggeredworking hours, eitime arrangement and workingtime banking. Fleible working time schedules arerather widespread in Denmark and Sweden with atleast 60 % o men and women having access to eibleworking time schedules. Also Germany, Finland andNorway score relatively high with a little more thanhal o all employees working with some kind o e-ibility in their working hours. Low scores are concen-trated in the southern EU Member States and in thenew Member States o eastern Europe.

Furthermore, the mi o eible working timeschedules is dierent across countries. In Denmarkeitime arrangements and (to a lesser etent)working time banking are common, whereas inSweden staggered hours are an important orm oeible working time schedules. In Germany workingtime banking is the main orm and it is also thecountry with the highest share o employees havingaccess to this schedule. In the southern and easternEuropean Member States, working time banking isstill an unamiliar phenomenon. The limited eibilitymainly reers to staggered hours and eibility instarting and ending the working day or determining

personal working schedules. The available inor-mation with regard to homeworking suggests thatthe incidence o, or eample, telework has increasedsignicantly over the past decade as a result o newtechnologies. At the same time, however, the numbero ull-time teleworkers remains relatively small as aproportion o the overall workorce. Finally, inor-mation on atypical hours indicates that the (male andemale) share o persons working on Saturday and/or at night has remained relatively stable. There is aslight increase in the share o employees working inthe evening, on Sunday and in shits, but the devel-

opments do not seem to indicate a trend towards a24-hour economy.

From a gender perspective, it is generally assumedthat a eible organisation o working time supportsthe reconciliation o work and private lie and as suchshould avour gender euality. Yet, eible workingtime schedules should be careully designed inorder to take the preerences o the employees intoaccount. In addition, the organisational culture hasa large impact on the actual use o these schedules.As long as eibility is still considered a emale wayo organising working time, eible working timeschedules are more likely to conrm gender dier-ences than to change them. A eible organisation o

working time may also contribute to the blurring oboundaries between work and leisure/private time.Fleibility in this respect demands a certain levelo sel discipline. I there are no strict boundariesbetween paid work and leisure, there is a dangerthat evening or weekend work becomes normalised,which may put a strain on private and/or amily lie.

It is possible to categorise the dierent realities othe EU Member States and classiy the dierentMember States in terms o gender euality workingtime regimes by combining the national scores on

working time eibility and on gender eualityin employment. Gender euality is measured bythe standardised gender gap in employment, thegender pay gap and the working time dissimilarityinde. Working time eibility is charted using theshape o the working time distribution (kurtosis) oall employees; the percentage o employees usuallyworking at home and the percentage o employeesmaking use o eible working time schedules. Onthe basis o this categorisation, Denmark, Finland,France, Slovenia and Sweden are placed in the upperright uadrant; they score above average in termso both gender euality and eibility. A number o

countries, most notably Spain and Greece, perormpoorly in both gender euality and eibility andare placed in the lower let uadrant. Both countriescombine a relatively large gender employment gapwith relatively little eible working time schedulesand homeworking. The Netherlands, Austria, theUnited Kingdom and to a lesser etent Germany andLuembourg combine eibility with relatively lowgender euality. Especially or the Netherlands andAustria, the poor rating in gender euality is to a largeetent due to the larger share o women workingpart-time compared to men. Finally, Lithuania,

Portugal, Hungary, Latvia, Poland, Bulgaria andRomania combine low eibility with high levels o


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ExECUTIVE SUMMARY

gender euality and are thereore placed in the lowerright uadrant.

The relatively diverse positions o EU Member Stateswithin the eibility/euality spectrum indicate theimportance o policy measures. In act, workingtime eibility is on the policy agenda in severalcountries, although the specic topics vary, asdoes the ocus on gender euality. Some countriesocus on eibility as an instrument to increase theparticipation rate (both in persons and in hours). Aninnovative element in this respect is that part-time

working hours no longer reer almost eclusivelyto women, but also become a policy instrumentwithin the contet o active ageing. Especially in theNordic countries, involuntary part-time work is animportant issue, leading to policy measures, which

try to create a new balance between eibility andsecurity. Time banking and annualised hours arealso part o the current policy agenda in some coun-tries connected with the debate on lowering theprevalence o overtime. In addition, there is a cleareect rom the current nancial and economic crisis.Within this contet, eibility is seen as an importantpolicy instrument in order to allow employers toadjust to changing economic circumstances. In thecurrent debate, however, the gender dimensiondoes not gure prominently. As such it is importantthat, despite the recent economic developments,

the progress made in amily-riendly labour marketstructures will be maintained. This implies that botheibility in working time arrangements and gendereuality are identied as important preconditions oeconomic recovery.


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Laccroissement de la eibilit du temps de tra-vail est un lment important de la stratgie eu-

ropenne de lemploi (ligne directrice de lemploin 21). Les entreprises doivent pouvoir se montrerplus eibles an de rpondre au changementssoudains de la demande, sadapter au nouvellestechnologies et tre en position dinnover constam-ment pour rester comptitives. Cependant, la ei-bilit nest pas uniuement un ingrdient importantde la recherche de comptitivit des employeurs. Duct de lore galement, les salaris recherchentdornavant des horaires de travail autres u temps

plein et/ou des horaires de travail eibles adapts leurs styles de vie prrs et permettant de conciliertravail et amille. Touteois, la eibilit convenant lemployeur ne saccorde pas ncessairement aveccelle convenant lemploy, ce ui cre de nouvellestensions entre employeurs et employs et entre hom-mes et emmes. Ce rapport donne un aperu gnralsur les amnagements de temps de travail eibleset lgalit entre les hommes et les emmes dansles 27 tats membres de lUnion europenne (UE)et les trois pays de lEEE-AELE (Espace conomiueeuropen - Association europenne de libre-change).

Il est ocalis sur la eibilit uantitative interne.Il se rre, dune part, une eibilit dans la duredu temps de travail, comme le travail temps partiel,les heures supplmentaires et les longues journesde travail, et, dautre part, lorganisation eible dutemps de travail, comme les horaires eibles, le tra-vail domicile et le travail des heures atypiues.

La dure de la semaine de travail est un lmentimportant du contrat de travail. Pendant denombreuses annes, la tendance est alle la rgu-lation progressive et la rduction de la dure de lasemaine de travail temps plein. Cependant, la n

du xxe sicle, laccent a plus particulirement t missur une plus grande eibilit et individualisation dutemps de travail. An dintroduire ces changements,le cadre lgislati sest davantage concentr surlore de solutions sur mesure dans les limites duncadre communment accept. Le rsultat dpenddu systme des rapports sociau et de la orcedes direntes parties impliues, avec des rlesdirents pour les mesures lgislatives, les conven-tions collectives et les ngociations bilatrales entrelemployeur et le salari. cet gard, il aut noter uela lgislation ne met pas ncessairement les salaris

dans une position plus avorable: dans certains pays,la orce et la couverture des conventions collectives

peuvent tre comparables la lgislation nationaledautres pays, voire meilleures.

Les dirences en matire de dure du temps detravail entre les tats membres de lUE sont encoretrs importantes. Par eemple, lindividualisation desheures de travail semble relativement rpandue dansles tats membres du nord et de louest de lUE, alorsue, spcialement dans les nouveau tats membres,la semaine traditionnelle de 40 heures de travail estencore de mise. En ce ui concerne la perspectivedu cycle de vie, le travail temps partiel est le moins

ruent parmi les salaris masculins dans la orcede lge (25-49 ans), ce ui laisse penser ue letravail temps partiel acilite la combinaison travailet ormation chez les jeunes et ltape vers la retraitechez les seniors (bien ue les niveau restent aiblescompars au emmes). Les heures supplmentaireset les longues journes de travail sont plus rpandueschez les salaris dans la orce de lge et chez lesseniors. Dans certains pays, cependant, les longues journes de travail sont plus rpandues chez les jeunes. Chez les emmes, le temps partiel constituela principale orme de eibilit du temps de travail.

Bien ue le ait davoir des enants soit une raisonimportante de travailler temps partiel, les tau detemps partiel des salaris dans la orce de lge nesont pas toujours les plus levs.

Lorsuon observe le modle gnral de eibilitdans la dure du temps de travail, on constate uelAutriche et le Royaume-Uni afchent un score levpour les trois indicateurs. Les Pays-Bas prsententun tau lev demploi temps partiel et dheuressupplmentaires, alors ue lIslande et la Rpubliuetchue atteignent des niveau levs dheuressupplmentaires et de longues journes de travail.

linverse, uatre pays sont moins eibles etobtiennent un aible rsultat pour les trois indica-teurs: le Portugal, la Lituanie, Chypre et la Hongrie.Au nal, la plupart des pays pratiuent un certainniveau de eibilit dans la dure du temps de travail.

Du point de vue de lgalit entre hommes etemmes, la eibilit accrue en matire de temps detravail devrait tre value de manire positive, dansle sens o des heures de travail plus individualisespeuvent aider les employs concilier leurs obliga-tions proessionnelles et leur vie personnelle. Il est

donc vraisemblable uune plus grande individuali-sation du temps de travail aura un eet positi sur le

RsUm


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Aus Sicht der Gleichstellung der Geschlechter solltedie Fleibilisierung positiv bewertet werden, daindividualisierte Arbeitszeiten im Sinne des Arbeit-nehmers die Vereinbarung von beruichen Pichtenund Privatleben erleichtern. Es ist daher wahr-scheinlich, dass sich individualisierte Arbeitszeitenpositiv au die Entwicklung des Frauenanteils imArbeitsleben auswirken. In Anbetracht der Tatsache,dass die wichtigste Art der Fleibilitt unter denArbeitnehmerinnen die Teilzeitarbeit ist, scheintsich jedoch eine grere Fleibilitt in der Dauer derArbeitszeit in einigen Situationen trotz allem negativ

au die Gleichstellung der Geschlechter auszuwirken.In der Mehrzahl der Lnder konzentriert sich die Teil-zeitarbeit nach wie vor in schlechtbezahlten Berus-segmenten mit geringen Karriere- und Fortbildungs-aussichten. Daher lsst sich die Behauptung, grereFleibilitt bei der Dauer der Arbeitszeit wrde zumgewnschten Eekt einer umassenderen Gleich-stellung der Geschlechter hren, nur schwer halten.

Whrend eine Fleibilisierung in der Dauer derArbeitszeit anhand von EU-Arbeitskrteerhebungenleicht dokumentiert werden kann, lsst sich eine

Fleibilisierung bei der Organisation der Arbeitszeitschwerer bestimmen. Teilweise beruht dies auder Tatsache, dass die eible Organisation derArbeitszeit hug au Unternehmensebene und somitunabhngig von gesetzlichen Regelungen und/oderdem Tarisystem ausgehandelt wird. StatistischeErhebungen zu diesen Vorgngen sind letztlichuerst unvollstndig. Fleible Regelungen derArbeitszeit beruhen hug au gestaelten Arbeits-zeiten, Gleitzeitmodellen und Arbeitszeitkonten. InDnemark und Schweden sind eible Arbeitszeitenmit einem Anteil von nahezu 60 % unter Mnnernund Frauen verhltnismig weit verbreitet. Auch

Deutschland, Finnland und Norwegen schneidenmit knapp ber 50 % der Arbeitnehmer/-innen ineiblen Arbeitsstellungen vergleichsweise gutab. Geringe Werte werden hingegen r die LnderSdeuropas und die neuen Mitgliedstaaten inOsteuropa ausgewiesen.

Die Kombination der eiblen Arbeitszeitmodelle istzudem in den einzelnen Lndern nicht einheitlich.Fleitime-Modelle und in geringerem Umang auchArbeitszeitkonten sind in Dnemark durchaus blich,wohingegen in Schweden die gestaelte Arbeitszeit

eine bedeutende Form der eiblen Arbeitszeitge-staltung ist. In Deutschland ist das Arbeitszeit-Banking

die meistgenutzte Form, und hier ndet sich auch derhchste Anteil an Arbeitnehmern/-innen, denen diesesModell zur Vergung steht. In den sdlichen undstlichen Mitgliedstaaten konnten sich Arbeitszeit-konten bisher nicht etablieren. Die gering entwickelteFleibilitt beschrnkt sich hauptschlich au gesta-elte Arbeitszeiten sowie Beginn und Ende des Arbeits-tages bzw. eine individuelle Ablauplanung. Die Daten,die zur Heimarbeit vorliegen, zeigen, dass im Laue derletzten zehn Jahre augrund der Entwicklung neuerTechnologien beispielsweise die Telearbeit deutlichzugenommen hat. Der Anteil an Heimarbeitern in

Vollzeit an der gesamten arbeitsttigen Bevlkerungbleibt jedoch dessen ungeachtet vergleichsweisegering. Angaben zu atypischen Arbeitszeiten deutendarau hin, dass der Anteil (mnnlicher wie weiblicher)Berusttiger, die samstags oder nachts arbeiten,vergleichsweise stabil geblieben ist. Ein leichterZuwachs zeigt sich bei den Arbeitnehmern/-innen, diein den Abendstunden, sonntags und nachts arbeiten.Die Entwicklungen lassen jedoch nicht au einen Trendhin zu einer 24-Stunden-Wirtschat schlieen.

Unter dem Aspekt der Gleichstellung geht man

grundstzlich davon aus, dass eine eible Organi-sation der Arbeitszeit die Vereinbarkeit von Beruund Privatleben begnstigt und dementsprechendder Gleichstellung der Geschlechter Vorschub leistenmsse. Fleible Ablauplanungen der Arbeitszeitsollten jedoch mit Bedacht zusammengestelltwerden, um die Vorlieben der Arbeitnehmer/-innen zu bercksichtigen. Die Art der Einteilung hatdarber hinaus groen Einuss au die tatschlicheUmsetzung und Einhaltung dieser Plne. SolangeFleibilitt als eine typisch weibliche Art der Arbeits-organisation gilt, ist es umso wahrscheinlicher, dassentsprechende Arbeitszeitmodelle die unterschied-

liche Position der Geschlechter besttigen, anstatt siezu ndern. Eine eible Organisation der Arbeitszeitkann gleichalls zum Verschwimmen der Grenzenzwischen Arbeit und Freizeit/Privatleben beitragen.In diesem Zusammenhang verlangt die Fleibilittnach einem gewissen Ma an Selbstdisziplin. Sindkeine klaren Grenzen zwischen bezahlter Arbeit undFreizeit gesetzt, besteht die Geahr, dass das Arbeitenin den spten Abend hinein oder am Wochenendezum Normalall wird und letztlich das Privat- undFamilienleben belastet.

Durch das Zusammenhren der nationalenIndizes zur Fleibilitt und zur Gleichstellung der


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The growth in the interest and use o eibilitycan be tied to several developments both on

the demand and on the supply side o the labourmarket. On the demand side, the need or eibil-ity has increased because o more volatile marketconditions, increased competition and the need tohave a labour orce that can adapt easily to tech-nological developments. On the supply side thereis a large demand or a better balance o work andamily lie, which may also translate into a higherdemand or working time eibility. As a result othese developments, there is a growing eibility

in the length o working hours; jobs are no longerorganised on a strict 40-hour week or 48 weeks peryear, but have become more diverse. This is mosteasily illustrated by the rise o part-time work espe-cially among women: the average share o emaleemployees working part-time (aged 15+) amongthe EU-27 is more than 30 %. In addition to thegrowth in part-time work there is also a trend to-wards greater eibility in the allocation o work-ing time over the working week and working year;the ull-time worker is thereore not ecluded in thetrend towards a growing eibility in the allocation

o working times. The boundaries o the normalworking day have epanded and work on Saturdayand Sunday is becoming more reuent. Annualisedhours schemes and staggered working hours areperhaps the most illustrative eamples o a trendtowards a more eible scheduling o standard ull-time hours (Bettio et al. 1998).

Beore providing a more in-depth analysis o thedierent dimensions, the prevalence o new workingtime arrangements within the EU Member Statesand the three EEAEFTA countries are discussedwith particular emphasis on dierences between

countries and between genders. Within the conteto internal uantitative eibility, the data will beorganised along two dimensions. First, inormationwill be provided on the eibility in the length oworking time; that is the spread in actual workinghours. Secondly, data on eibility in the organ-isation o working time, reerring to eible workingtime schedules, such as staggered hours and timebanks, will be presented. The ocus is on employeesonly. Sel-employed persons are not included in thisanalysis as their working time patterns are likely todiverge considerably rom the patterns o employees

(e.g. Parent-Thirion 2007). For the empirical part theEuropean labour orce surveys are used. The gures

reer to 2007 as ar as possible. With respect to ei-bility in the organisation o working time, however,part o the data reer to 2004, as more recent dataare not available.

Flexibility in the length o working time

Working hours in the Western world as they aretoday have been shaped to a large etent by the40-hour weeks that gained prominence over the20th century (Bosch et al. 1994). The 40-hour weekhas remained prevalent in many countries within

Europe today. At the same time, however, countriesshow large dierences in the actual distribution oworking hours. Graph 1 illustrates the actual varietyin working time proles throughout Europe, comparingthe working time proles or 2004 or male and emaleemployees or si EU Member States. Within this sub-sample, Hungary clearly demonstrates the highprevalence o the 40-hour norm; more than 80 %o all employees in Hungary usually work 40-hourweeks. As the additional graphs in the appendicesindicate, also in Lithuania, the Czech Republic,Estonia, Bulgaria, Slovakia, Romania and Slovenia

the 40-hour norm is still airly dominant with over60 % o employees working 40 hours per week.

On the other side o the spectrum is the UnitedKingdom, in which any collective norm seems tohave disappeared; the concept o standard workingtime does not appear to eist in this countryanymore. The rest o the EU countries all somewherein between these two etremes; in most instances itis still possible to identiy a peak or two in terms ohours worked. These peaks usually coincide with thestandard working hours o their respective countriesand/or with the prevalence o part-time working

hours. In France, or eample, many employeeswork 31 to 35 hours as the standard working weekis 35 hours, although uite a number o employeesseem to work longer hours; see the second peakat 38/39 hours and the relatively high percentageo especially men indicating a usual working weeko 4650 hours. Denmark also deviates rom the40-hour week as many employees end up workingthe current standard o 37 hours. The Netherlandsdemonstrates two peaks given the large numbero employees working 20 hours a week (espe-cially women). Other countries, such as Germany,

Portugal and Sweden, also have what may be calledsecondary peaks around the 20-hour level.

2 WoRKInG tIme FlexIBIlItY In eURope: An oVeRVIeW


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Graph 1 also illustrates that both male and emaleworking hour proiles show large similarities;thereore a typical national pattern can be estab-lished or both men and women. In Hungary, oreample, the distribution o both the male andemale working hours is heavily concentratedat 40 hours, while also in France the dierencesseem relatively small with both men and womenollowing the typical three-peak pattern. Even inthe United Kingdom, de-standardisation seems tohave aected both the male and emale patterns oworking hours. Yet, the United Kingdom also illus-

trates a common dierence within Europe as theworking time distribution o women is more concen-trated in the shorter working hours, while men workthe longer hours. The largest gender dierences aredisplayed by the Netherlands, where women peakat the 1120 hours category and men still largelywork on a ull-time basis. Other countries showinggender dierences are Finland and Norway. Whileboth genders tend to work ull-time in these coun-tries, ull-time work or women is a ew hours lessthan the 40-hour week that men work. This type odierence in ull-time work between genders can

also be seen in Cyprus and Germany, where womentend to work at a low 30-hour level and men tend towork a 40-hour working week.

A simple inde o working hours segregationconirms the gender dierences in working hours.The s-inde, also called the inde o dissimilarity,is oten applied in research on occupational segre-gation (Rubery and Fagan 1993), but can also beused to illustrate the etent o working hourssegregation. The inde can be interpreted as thepercentage o the male and/or emale labour orcethat would have to change their job (or in this

case working hours) in order to eliminate allsegregation. It appears that there are large dier-ences in this respect (see Chapter 6 or ull details).Bulgaria, Hungary, Romania, Slovenia and Slovakiaperorm best with scores below 10 %, whereasLuembourg and the Netherlands perorm the worstwith scores higher than 40 %. In act, the Nether-lands scores highest with 57 %; this means that57 % o the male and/or emale population wouldneed to change their working hours to reach aneual distribution. Overall the dierences betweenmens and womens working hours seem universal.

Men simply work more hours than women. Evenin countries such as Sweden, where ull-time work

is common among women, more women thanmen opt or part-time work. These dierences inworking hours illustrate that there is not an easyrelationship between gender euality and leibleworking hours. Short working hours may be seenas a actor which contributes to a dierentiatedeconomy thereby stimulating women to engagein paid work. Yet i women engage disproportion-ately in part-time work (or other non-standardworking time arrangements), the result might beenduring gender ineuality in terms o incomeand responsibility.

Flexibility in the organisation o working time

A leible organisation o working time reers toa leible matching o labour inputs over the day,week and year. A well-known eample is the annu-alisation o working time, in which actual workingtimes are averaged over a speciied sub-period othe year such as 6 or 12 months. Annualised hourschemes can be combined with other non-standardworking time schedules and are oten introducedin tandem with working time accounts or time

banks (EIRO 2003a). Other eamples include thecompressed, our-day working week, and swingtime arrangements in which employees are able towork a ew hours a day less, as long as they catchup on these hours within the same week. Workingtime practices which provide employees with realautonomy over their working times (variable startand inishing hours) are still inreuent (see Burchellet al. 2007) but may increase due to the intro-duction o new inormation technology and theconcomitant move towards more output-orientedmanagement styles.

Whereas the increased leibility in the length oworking time can be easily documented on thebasis o labour orce survey data, the rise in leibleorganisation o working time is much more diicultto ascertain. This is partly due to the tendency o theirm negotiating the leible organisation o workingtime independently rom statutory regulation and/or the system o collective bargaining (see alsoChapter 3). As a result, the statistical processing othese developments is ar rom complete. Eurostat,or eample, gives inormation about the share oemployees having annualised working hours, but

the uality o the data is uestioned or severalcountries. Furthermore, some respondents had


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To give a ew eamples: in Germany the transpos-ition o the EU directive on part-time work in 2001resulted in the introduction o a right or workersin companies with more than 15 employees toreduce their working time. In Cyprus the 2002 Lawon Part-time Work (.76 ()/2002) entitles part-timeemployees to eual employment terms and condi-tions as ull-time employees, specically eualtreatment regarding salaries and benets, socialinsurance, maternity protection, annual paid leaveand paid public holidays, parental leave, sick leave,termination o employment, the right to unionisation

and to collective bargaining, occupational health andsaety, and protection rom unavourable discrimin-ation in employment and occupation. In addition,employees may reuest a part-time job. In Liechten-stein the revision o the General Civil Code (LabourContract Act) to implement the directive entered intoorce on 14 December 2005. The most important newprovisions include eliminating discrimination againstpart-time workers, the promotion o part-time work,the guarantee o protection rom termination oemployment upon switching rom ull to part-timework or vice-versa, allowing part-time workers access

to promotion measures relating to occupationaltraining and to management positions, and providinginormation to workers on part-time and ull-timepositions in their place o work.

Legal right to part-time working hours

In addition to eual treatment legislation, severalcountries have introduced by law the right to workon a part-time basis. Generally, there are two orms:legislation that applies to all employees and legis-lation that ocuses on employees with care respon-sibilities. Countries in the rst group are Denmark,

Germany, Spain, France, Cyprus, Lithuania, the Neth-erlands, Poland and Portugal. Denmark has hadlegislation on reducing the number o working hourssince 2001/02. According to this law, the employerand employee must decide the working time o theemployee, and an individual employee can changerom ull-time to part-time. This law intended toremove the barriers laid down in collective agree-ments or part-time work in areas where only ull-time employment was agreed. Furthermore, it isintended to give better possibilities or promoting amore amily-riendly and inclusive labour market and

to promote eual opportunities. As stated above,in Germany since 2001 employees working in a

company with more than 15 employees can ask theiremployer or part-time work. In Lithuania part-timework may be established by agreement betweenthe employee and the employer by decreasing thenumber o working days per week or by shorteninga working day or by doing both. Dutch employeeshave been able to ask or an adjustment o theirworking hours since 2001. This adjustment can berom ull-time to part-time or rom part-time to ull-time. The Working Hours Adjustment Act only appliesto rms with at least 10 employees and employersmay only reuse or reasons o severe business

interest. The act should (among other things) oeremployees more opportunities to combine workand care tasks. In Spain, France, Cyprus and Portugalemployees are entitled to submit a reuest to reducethe number o working hours, but employers mayreuse such reuests. In Poland the regulation isalso rather limited, but employers have to inormemployees about the possibility o part-time work.Moreover, employees may ask to work part-time asan alternative to taking parental leave.

Eleven countries have legal regulations on part-

time work in order to support employees with careresponsibilities: Estonia, Spain, Latvia, Lithuania,Austria, Portugal, Slovenia, Finland, Sweden, theUnited Kingdom and Norway. The target groupand the relevant period vary per country. In Estoniaemployers are reuired to grant part-time work topregnant women or women raising a disabled childor a child under 14. A similar regulation applies inLatvia and Lithuania. Austrian parents can switchrom ull-time to part-time work until the childsseventh birthday i they work or a company with atleast 20 employees and i they have been employedwith the rm or at least three years. In Portugal the

regulation applies to parents o children who areunder 12, disabled or chronically ill. The part-timeperiod is, however, limited to two years. In Sloveniathe options or the employee depend on the numbero children. Parents with one child can work part-timeuntil the child is three or, in case o more children,until the youngest child is si. In Finland parents canwork part-time until the child has nished the secondyear o school. This is in act a partially paid care leaveas the parent receives a at-rate compensation. Inaddition, employees may ask to work part-time or alimited period o time (maimum o 26 weeks) based

on social or health reasons. In Sweden parents havea right to shorten the normal working time by up to


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3 REGULATORY FRAMEWORK

a ourth until the child is eight years old or has notnished the rst year in school. In Spain employeeswith children below the age o si or with relativeswho need care have the right to reduce the workingday as long as it is taken with a proportionally lowerwage. The reduction has to be at least a third, witha maimum o hal the working time. Though this isconsidered an individual right o men and women,i two or more employees in the same company areentitled to this right, the employer can limit this rightbased on the correct unctioning o the enterprise.

In the United Kingdom the right to reuest reducedor eible working hours was initially limited toparents o children under the age o si but has beenetended to employees caring or an adult in needo care. Moreover, as o April 2009 the legislation hasbeen etended to parents o all children up to the ageo 16. Employers may reuse on grounds o speciedbusiness reasons. Finally, Norwegian employeeswith special needs, such as care responsibilities, areentitled to reduced working hours, unless it causesmajor inconvenience to the company.

Box 1 Legal entitlements to part-time work

Legal entitlements to part-time work for all employees

DK A new Part-Time Law was passed by the government in 2001/02. According to this law it is up to the

employer and the employee to decide the working time, and an individual employee can change rom

ull-time to part-time. I an employee is dismissed due to the rejection o a reuest to go on part-time or

due to his or her own reuest to change to part-time, the employer has to pay compensation. In addition,

the law includes the principle o eual treatment o ull-timers and part-timers.

DE In November 2000, a new Act on Part-Time Work (and ed-term employment relationships) was passed

which came into orce in 2001. Among other provisions, the law introduced a right or workers in

companies with more than 15 employees to reduce their working time, as long as no internal company

reasons prevent such a reduction. The act transposes the EU directives on part-time (97/81/EC).

ES Employees are entitled to submit a reuest to switch rom ull-time to part-time work, but the employer

may deny such reuests.

FR Employees are entitled to submit a reuest to switch rom ull-time to part-time work, but the employer

may deny such reuests on economic or technical grounds.

CY According to the 2002 Law on Part-time Work (o 76 ()/2002) employers must consider employees

reuests to transer rom ull to part-time status (and vice-versa), to increase their working time, to inorm

on part-time or ull-time vacancies, to acilitate access to part-time employment at all levels, to take

measures to enable access to vocational training o part-time employees and to provide inormation to

employee unions about part-time employees.

LT Part-time work may be agreed between the employee and the employer by decreasing the number

o working days per week or shortening a working day or doing both. Part-time work does not lead to

restricted social benets, reduced job security or ewer career opportunities than ull-time work, and the

hourly rate is not lower or part-time employees than or ull-time employees.

NL On 1 July 2001, the Working Hours Adjustment Act (WAA) came into orce. This act gives every employee who

has worked at the same company or at least a year the statutory right to adjust working hours; a part-timer

may increase working hours and a ull-timer may reduce them. Non-compliance by the employer is only

allowed or reasons o severe business interest. Small businesses (less than 10 employees) are eempted rom

the WAA but are reuired to make their own arrangements regarding the adjustment o working hours.


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Legal entitlements to part-time work for all employees

PL According to the Labour Code a part-time worker may reuest to change the contractual number o

hours worked, and an employer should consider this reuest. Also, an employer is obliged to inorm

workers o the possibility o changing between part-time and ull-time status. Employees entitled to

parental leave may reuest shortening their working time to no less than hal time as an alternative to

parental leave and the employer is obliged to consider this reuest.

PT Employees are entitled to submit a reuest to switch rom ull-time to part-time work and vice-versa.

Employers have to consider reuests rom employees but may deny them. A 30-day notice is obligatory

or reuests to change working time patterns.

Legal entitlements to part-time work for employees with care responsibilities

EE Employers are reuired to grant part-time work when reuested by a pregnant woman or a woman

raising a disabled child or child under 14 years o age.

ES According to Article 37.5 o the Workers Statute, employees with children below the age o si or with

relatives who need care (up to second sanguinity degree) have the right to reduce the working day

as long as it is taken with a proportionally lower wage. The reduction has to be at least a third and a

maimum o hal the working time. Though this is considered an individual right o men and women, i

two or more employees in the same company are entitled to this right, the employer can limit this right

based on the correct unctioning o the enterprise.

LV Pregnant women and employees with a child under 14 years o age or a disabled child under 16 years o

age are entitled to part-time work.

LT Pregnant employees, employees who have recently given birth, employees who breasteed, employees

with children under the age o three, as well as lone parent employees with children below the age o 14

or disabled children below the age o 16 are entitled to part-time work (either daily or weekly).

AT In 2004 the right to part-time work or parents (Elternteilzeit) was introduced. Parents can switch rom

ull-time to part-time work until the childs seventh birthday i they work or a company with at least 20

employees and i they have been employed with the rm or at least three years. During the period they

work part-time, these employees are entitled to the usual protection against dismissal and the right to

return to ull-time work.

PT Parents o children who are under 12 or disabled or chronically ill are entitled to work part-time (usually 50 %

o normal hours unless otherwise agreed), working either in the morning, the aternoon or on three days

per week or to work eible hours, or up to two years (three years i more than two children). This appliesto only one parent the mother or the ather. The employer may reuse on business grounds or hard-to-ll

vacancy but this reuires support rom the tripartite Commission or Euality at Work and Employment.

SI The Parenthood and Family Income Act (PFIA, 2001) stipulates (besides our types o paid parental leave)

the possibility or parents to work part-time until a child is aged three and part-time until the youngest

child is si years old or parents o two or more children.

FI The Employment Contracts Act contains provisions related to the right o the parents o young children

to reduce their working hours to take partial care leave. Parents taking a part-time childcare leave can

reduce their working hours until the child has nished his/her second year o school. There is a nancial

compensation o EUR 70 when the child is under three years old or in the rst or second year o school. The

sum will be increased to EUR 90 in 2010. According to the Working Hours Act, i an employee wishes, or

social or health reasons, to work less than the regular working hours, the employer should try to arrange or

the employee to work part-time. This can be implemented as shortened daily or weekly working time. The

procedure reuires an agreement and it can be established or a maimum o 26 weeks.


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Legal entitlements to part-time work for employees with care responsibilities

SE Parents have a right to shorten the normal working time by up to a ourth until the child is eight years old

or has not nished the rst year in school. This means, or eample, that a parent can work si hours a day

instead o eight hours a day.

UK The Employment Act (2003) introduced the right or employees to reuest reduced or eible working

hours i they were parents o a child under the age o si years, or a disabled child under 18 years. From

April 2007 this right was etended under the Work and Families Act (2006) to employees caring or an

adult in need o care which encompasses most relatives or someone else living at the same address as

the employee. As o April 2009 the legislation has been etended to parents o all children up to the age

o 16. Employers must consider the reuest seriously, and without regard to the employees personal

circumstances, but can reuse on the grounds o one or more specied business reasons.NO According to the Work Environment Act, workers with special needs (health, care responsibilities) have

the right to reduced working hours i it can be arranged without major inconvenience to the rm.

Source: national reports

Part-time retirement

In addition to granting rights to young parents, itmight be useul to allow older workers part-timeretirement. This, however, does not seem to be acommon practice yet. Only a ew countries (i.e.

Germany, Slovenia, Finland and Sweden) provideeamples o regulation reerring to part-timeretirement. In July 1996, the German governmentreplaced the eisting early retirement practice withthe adoption o the Partial Retirement Law. ThePartial Retirement Law was created amongst othersin order to promote the gradual transition o olderemployees into retirement. Under this legislation,the Federal Employment Service (Bundesagentur rArbeit) nancially supports the gradual transitiono employees aged 55 and over to retirement, i theemployee voluntarily reduces his or her workingtime by 50 % and the resulting vacancy is lled by

an unemployed person or a trainee. The distributiono working time over the years until retirement is upto the parties o the employment contract. Possibleworking time schemes are part-time work, ull-timework and leave o absence alternating daily, weeklyor monthly, and the so-called Blockmodell (a phaseo ull-time working is ollowed by a total leave oabsence), which is the most preerred working timescheme. In November 2006, the German governmentdecided to increase the retirement age stepwise rom65 to 67 years, which also inuences the provisionso partial retirement. The nancial support o partial

retirement by the Federal Employment Serviceepired at the end o 2009.

In Slovenia workers older than 55 years have thestatutory right to part-time work. According to theWorking Hours Act in Finland, part-time retirementcombined with part-time work can be granted to anemployee aged 58 or over who makes a transitionrom ull-time to part-time employment by reducing

his/her working hours to 1628 per week (maimum70 % o ull-time working hours). The part-timepension is 50 % o the income loss. The employer shallseek to organise the work so that the employee maydo part-time work i he/she wishes to retire on a part-time pension. The Swedish pension system does notcontain a ed retirement age, but pensions cannotbe drawn beore the age o 61 and there is no legalright or employees to work ater the age o 67. Butthe system is eible in that pensions can be claimedpartially or ully at age 61 with or without leaving thelabour orce. I the individual decides to continueto work while claiming a partial or ull pension, the

benets will be recalculated given the additionalcontribution rom work.

Overtime

Overtime is oten seen as an important element oeibility by employers as well as an important sourceo income by employees. As a general working de-nition, overtime hours are those worked above a certainthreshold o working time, which attract enhancedcompensation or the worker, either in the orm o an

increased rate o pay or time o in lieu (EIRO 2003b:1).In most cases, the legislator sets two thresholds.


36/12834


The rst threshold marks the point at which overtimebegins, with the legislator setting the minimum pay rateto compensate the hours worked beyond this threshold.The second threshold sets a maimum o allowableovertime or a maimum daily or weekly limit or workinghours that cannot be eceeded. Within this regulatoryramework, negotiators decide on the actual workingtime scheme and payment system. In some cases, nego-tiators also have the authority to move the thresholds. Itshould be noted, however, that regulation within Europeis rather diverse and diers according to the type othreshold used (daily or weekly) and whether regulation

is shaped in legislative or collectively agreed terms. Inaddition, in the United Kingdom or eample, overtimearrangements are, within the statutory ramework, largelylet to individual bargaining or unilateral employer initia-tives (see EIRO 2003b or more details).

Additional regulation with regard to overtimemay apply in certain circumstances. Working atatypical hours may be problematic particularly or

employees with (young) children and, to a lesseretent, older employees. A ew countries, mainlythe new Member States, have national regulationsin this respect. The most etensive regulation canbe ound in Estonia where employees with childrenunder 12 can only be assigned to overtime,working at nights and weekends with the consento the employee. In Hungary employees with achild up to one (or lone parents with a child upto our) can only be assigned to work perormedoutside the scheduled working hours with theirconsent. In Portugal and Poland the regulation

covers both overtime and night work, whereas inLatvia the regulation only covers night work and inLithuania and Slovenia overtime. Italy provides aninteresting eample regarding employees takingstudy leave: they are not obliged to work overtimeduring the leave period on the condition that theyare taking courses in public or legally recognisededucational institutions.

Box 2 Regulations on overtime and working on atypical hours regarding parents with (young) children

EE Employees with children under 12 can be assigned to overtime, working at nights and weekends with theconsent o the employee only.

LV An employee with a child below the age o three may be employed at night only with his or her consent.

LT According to Labour Code Article 150 overtime work cannot be assigned to pregnant women, women

who have recently given birth, women who breasteed, employees who are taking care o children under

three years o age, lone parent employees raising a child under 14 years o age or a disabled child under

16 years o age.

HU Special work duty is work perormed outside the scheduled working hours or on-call duty. According to

Section 127 o the Labour Code, employees may be reuired to work in special duty only under justied and

eceptional circumstances. However, pregnant women, women with a child up to one year old and lone

athers who have a child under one year old are eempted rom this duty. In addition, lone parent employeeshaving a child aged one to our years may be reuired to work in special work duty only with their consent.

PL A working day cannot eceed eight hours or (among others) parents with children under our years o age

without their consent. Parents with children below our years o age can be employed at night only with

consent.

PT Employers cannot impose overtime or night work on certain groups o workers such as pregnant and

breasteeding workers, parents with children up to one year, handicapped workers, and student-workers

(only overtime). Moreover, overtime and night work can only be done by young workers under very

restrictive conditions dened by law and reuires etra resting periods.

SI Employers cannot impose overtime work on certain groups o workers such as parents with children

under one year old, elderly workers and workers younger than 18 years.

Source: national reports


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Overtime payment and part-time contracts

Overtime payments or part-time work remain acomplicated issue because in most countries theovertime regime is still orientated towards a ull-time working day or week. This means that in mostcountries the threshold where overtime begins orpart-timers is identical to that or ull-time work. Inthe case o part-time work, it is thereore necessaryto distinguish between etra time (hours workedbeyond usual working time but below the thresholdat which enhanced compensation commences) and

overtime (hours worked over a certain thresholdthat attract enhanced compensation). There are aew eceptions to this general rule. In Belgium andLuembourg, part-timers may be paid higher wagesor hours beyond their normal contract but belowthe ull-time work threshold. In Germany and theNetherlands, collective agreements may provideor increased rates o pay or hours worked beyondthose agreed in the individual employment contract.In France, part-timers are allowed to work additionalhours euivalent to 10 % o their normal hours, tobe paid at the normal rate. However ecess hours

should be paid at a higher rate with ecess hoursbeing dened beyond the 10 % threshold and up to33 % o the usual hours (EIRO 2003b).

3.2 Regulations on theorganisation o workingtime

The organisation o working time reers to the organ-isation o the production process, which may involve

eible working time schedules, the use o shit andnight work, and annualised hour schemes. Within thelimits dened by mandatory rules, eibility in theorganisation o working time is generally settled bymeans o collective agreements or at the level o therm, as a result o which the actual regulation maybe rather limited. There are, however, a ew ecep-tions. In Poland the Labour Code contains regula-tions on task based work, where organisation oworking time is determined by an employee as longas specic tasks or jobs are completed. In addition,since 2007 the Labour Code regulates telework,

dening it as work perormed regularly outsideo the workplace (where the work would conven-

tionally have been done) with the use o inormationand communication technologies. Telework must beagreed between the employee and the employer.Regulations speciy the rights and obligations o theparties involved, where employers have the right toeercise control over the work, while teleworkershave the right to privacy. The rules stipulate that ateleworker cannot be treated less avourably than astandard worker in a similar job and position.

In February 2009 a new labour law reorm was intro-duced in Portugal in order to establish greater ei-

bility in the organisation o working time. Included inthis reorm are legal provisions on group adaptability,the hours bank (annual working time accounts o200 hours) and concentrated work schedules. Groupadaptability allows the employer to establish eiblework schedules or all employees o a team, sectionor economic unit once it has been approved by themajority o the employees in uestion (at least 75 %).The hours bank is a new measure whereby theworking day can be increased by up to our hourssubject to a weekly limit o 60 hours and a yearly limito 200 hours. Overtime may be compensated by time

o, remuneration or a miture o both, according tothe collective agreements. The compressed workingweek involves the working day being increased byup to a maimum o 12 hours in order to condensethe entire working week into ewer weekdays (up toa maimum o our days a week) (48 hours as averageo 12 months according to collective agreement orour or si months in its absence). The Finnish WorkingHours Act contains provisions on eitime, whichmeans an arrangement o regular working hourswhere the employee, within certain limits, can decidehimsel/hersel when to come to the workplace andwhen to leave.

Night work

Night work is regulated by the EU working timedirective, stating that Member States shall take themeasures necessary to ensure that normal hours owork or night workers do not eceed an average oeight hours in any 24 hour period. In addition, nightworkers whose work involves special hazards orheavy physical mental strain do not work more thaneight hours in any period o 24 hours during whichthey perorm night work (Article 8). From a gender

perspective it is important to mention that the regu-lations on night-time employment should be gender


38/12836


neutral, in accordance with Directive 76/207/EEC,which enorces eual treatment or men and womenas regards access to employment, vocational trainingand promotion, and working conditions. As a result,any traditional bans on womens night work have inprinciple to be abolished.

Annualised hours

Article 18 o the EU working time directive createsscope or derogations within the general provisionsby means o collective agreements. This includes the

length o the reerence period which may be etendedby up to 12 months (EIRO 2003a). This opens up theopportunity to implement annualised hour schemesin order to adapt to changes in demand. Accordingto an EIRO overview rom 2003 none o the coun-tries eamined have specic legislation providingin eplicit terms or the annualisation o workingtime, or providing a denition o such annualisation.However, almost all have a legislative ramework orworking time that allows limits usually daily and/or weekly on normal working time (set by law orcollective agreement) to be eceeded (usually with

urther upper daily and/or weekly limit), as long asthe normal limits are maintained on average over acertain reerence period (EIRO 2003a:2). Within thislegislative ramework, the details are usually set atcompany level. It is, however, important to recallthat Article 23 o the EU directive on working timeprevents any regression o the labour law whichwould be justied by implementing the directive.

3.3 Decentralised

arrangementsCollective agreements

In addition to the (inter)national regulations, collectiveagreements may play an important role in the regu-lation o working time. Directive 2003/88/EC providessubstantial scope or collective bargaining by stating(in Article 18) that derogations rom the regulation arepossible by means o collective agreements or agree-ments concluded between the two sides o industryat national or regional level or, in conormity with

the rules laid down by them, by means o collectiveagreements or agreements concluded between the

two sides o industry at a lower level. Such a possi-bility concerns daily and weekly rest periods, restbreaks, the length o night work and the length oreerence periods, which only by means o collectiveagreements, may be etended by up to 12 months(Euroound 2008: 25). The actual impact o collectivebargaining in EU Member States depends on the scopeand strength o national regulations as well as on thesystem o industrial relations. A limited involvemento collective agreements may be the result o strongnational regulation or rather limited trade unioninvolvement as a result o which the actual working

time is settled at the level o the rm by bilateral nego-tiations between the employer and the employee.

In most o the Nordic countries or eample, collectiveagreements are very important when it comes toregulating working hours. Also in Germany, wherein 2007 around 63 % o the employees in westernGermany and 54 % in eastern Germany were covered,collective agreements are an important instrumentin shaping working hours in general and workingtime arrangements in detail. In Estonia, on the otherhand, collective agreements play a limited role in

shaping working time arrangements and most o thebargaining is done individually between employersand employees. This is also the case in Spain, as salaryand employment are the priority issues in collectiveagreements. As a result, eible working arrange-ments receive little attention, although attentionseems to have increased lately. Collective agreementsregulating working time do not play a large role inPoland either; sectoral collective agreements arerare and, i they occur, are concluded at a high levelo generality. Collective agreements may also coveronly a limited number o employees and thereorebe o less importance. An eample is Slovakia, where

collective agreements cover only about 30 % o theemployees, o which the majority are working in thepublic sector. In the United Kingdom, only one thirdo employees are covered by a collective agreement,with coverage in the public sector being muchhigher than in the private sector. In Latvia only about20 % o employees, mainly in the private sector, arecovered by collective agreements.

Company level

In addition to collective bargaining, the company may

be an important third level on which to agree actualworking hours. In Ireland, or eample, due to limited


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state regulation regarding eible work organi-sation, individual arrangements by rms constitutethe main ramework or worklie balance provi-sions, including working time arrangements. Alsoin France, the company level is important. In 2007,20 170 agreements were signed at the company leveland 24.5 % were related to working time (4 933). Thisis signicantly more than the proportion o sectoralagreements on this topic. However, since 2005 theproportion o company agreements on working timeseems to have declined. The company level seemsparticularly interesting when it comes to more inno-

vative orms o working time eibility. In Norway,time banking arrangements are uite common at thecompany level. In addition, inormal company levelarrangements are rather common, such as individualagreements about starting and ending the workingday or workers with special needs (e.g. parents).

3.4 Summary

The length o the working week is an important

element o the employment contract. For a long

time, the trend has been towards a progressiveregulation and a shortening o the ull-timeworking week. Yet, at the end o the 20th centurythe emphasis seems to have shited. For employersthe more dynamic and uncertain economic envi-ronment has increased the demand or more lei-bility in order to adjust production times to businesscycle luctuations. On the supply side, contem-porary employees demand greater leibility tosuit their liestyles and ulil their responsibilitiesoutside work. In order to accommodate these devel-opments, the regulatory ramework becomes more

ocused on allowing tailor-made solutions withinthe boundaries o a commonly agreed ramework.The actual result may depend on the system oindustrial relations and the strength o the dierentparties involved, with dierent roles or legislativemeasures, collective bargaining and bilateral nego-tiations between the employer and the employee.In this respect it should be taken into account thatnational legislation does not necessarily result in abetter position or employees. In some countries thestrengths and coverage o collective agreementsmay be comparable or even better than legislation

in other countries.


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41/12839

4 FlexIBIlItY In the lenGth oF WoRKInG tIme

Chapter 2 provided an overview o the variety inworking time arrangements throughout Europe.

In some countries employees have a considerablelevel o eibility in the length o the working week,whereas in other countries the large majority still havea traditional 40-hour working week. In addition, thereappear to be substantial dierences in the organisationo working time. This chapter provides a more detailedpicture o the diversity in the length o working timein 30 European countries, using harmonised data romEurostat. The chapter is organised along three dimen-sions: part-time work, long hours and overtime. Given

the need to eamine working time using a lie courseapproach, the diversity o time needs over a personslietime will be addressed. The data will thereore bedierentiated by age group: young persons enteringthe labour orce (age group 1524), prime age workers(age group 2549) and older workers (age group 50+).In addition, data on gender gaps across the age groupswill be presented. Although this cross-sectional de-sign provides only limited inormation on changes inworking time over the lie course, it is the only easibleapproach given the absence o longitudinal data. Fle-ibility in the organisation o working time, reerring to

eible working time schedules such as working timebanking, working rom home and working at atypicalhours, will be discussed in the net chapter.

4.1 Part-time work

An important indicator o eibility in the lengtho working time is the proportion o employeesworking part-time. This is illustrated by the inclusion

o the share o part-time employees as one o theindicators (21.M2) or monitoring Guideline 21 othe Employment Guidelines 200810 (Promoteeibility combined with employment security andreduce labour market segmentation, having dueregard to the role o the social partners). Graph 2shows the part-time rate among employees in theEuropean countries by gender. When interpretingthe data it should be noted that the distinctionbetween ull-time and part-time work is made onthe basis o a spontaneous answer given by therespondent; a more eact dierentiation is impos-

sible due to variations in working hours betweenMember States and branches o industry (Eurostat2007). The data indicate that the proportion o part-time employees varies considerably throughoutEurope, but in all Member States women are consid-erably more likely to work part-time than men.

The highest part-time rate is ound in the Nether-lands, both or men and or women (24 % and 76 %respectively). Germany, Norway, Belgium, Austria,the United Kingdom, Sweden, Luembourg,Denmark and Iceland also have relatively high emale

part-time rates, with Norway, the United Kingdom,Sweden and Denmark also indicating relativelyhigh rates or men (above 10 %). The lowest ratesare ound in the east European countries, particu-larly in Bulgaria and Romania; Portugal, Greece andCyprus also have relatively low part-time rates. Thegender gap (measured in percentage points) seemsmost pronounced in the Netherlands with a scoreo almost 52. In Bulgaria and Romania where part-time work is practically noneistent, the gender gapis very low at less than one percentage point.

Graph 2 Part-time rate among employees, aged 15+, by gender, 2007

LIROBGSKHULVCYLTCZELSIPLPTEEFIESMTIEITFREU-27ISDKLUSEUKATBENODENL

Percentageofemployees

0

20

40

60

80

100

Female

Male

Source: Eurostat, EU labour orce survey 2007 (no data available or Liechtenstein)


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A survey among companies in 21 European coun-tries shows that part-time work is more commonin larger establishments (Ano et al. 2007). Nearlyhal o the small establishments (with less than 50employees) have part-time employees, whereas thisis about 80 % in medium-sized (50199 employees)and large establishments (200 and more). Moreover,there appear to be clear sector dierences as part-time work is more common in services: 68 % o themanagers o establishments in services report thatthere are part-time employees compared to 51 %o managers in industry. Part-time work is particu-

larly common in health and social work, education,other community, social and personal services, andhotels and restaurants. In addition, there appears tobe an inverse (but weak) relationship between theshare o skilled jobs and the incidence o part-timework. This implies that the higher the proportiono skilled employees the lower the likelihood thatestablishments will employ a large proportion opart-time employees. Another interesting inding isconnected to the primary rationale or introducingpart-time work. Just over a third o employersclaimed the main reason was to meet the needs/

wishes o employees, whereas about a third statedthat the main reason was economic or organisa-tional needs. The rest o the employers stated it wasa combination o both reasons.

Development over time

Countries that have an above average share opart-timers have had no common trend in therate o part-time work over the last 15 years andthere are no signs o a convergence to a singlelevel. Moreover, there is no evidence that gendergaps are narrowing due to increasing part-time

rates among men. In the Netherlands, the share oemale employees working part-time was alreadyhigh in 1992 (63 %) and increased urther to 75.7 %in 2007. Within the same time rame, the shareo male employees working part-time increasedrom 15 to 23.8 %. In Germany, Belgium, Austriaand Luembourg, the part-time rate has steadilyincreased among emale employees. An increase isalso visible among male employees, particularly inBelgium and Germany, but the overall share is stillconsiderably lower than among emale employees.In the United Kingdom, the emale part-time rate

has hovered around 42 %, whereas the male part-time rate has shown a slow increase. A similar

pattern is ound in Norway, where the share oemale part-timers has luctuated around 44 %,whereas among male employees the part-time ratehas increased rom 9.5 to 13.4 %. Denmark, on theother hand, indicates a decrease o the (emale)part-time rate between 1992 and 2002 (rom37 % to 32 %), whereas in 2007 the part-time rateis back to the level in 1992 (37 %). This particularpattern may be related to the introduction o thePart-Time Law which ocused on removing barrierslaid down in collective agreements or part-timework. In Sweden, the emale part-time rate has

also luctuated: in 1997 it was about 40 %, in 2002it had decreased to 31 %, whereas in 2007 it was38 %. Iceland, however, shows a steady decrease;the (emale) part-time rate decreased rom almost50 % in 1997 to 36 % in 2007.

The pattern in the countries with a mediumlevel o part-time employment is also not veryconsistent. Italy shows a steady increase rom 11 %in 1992 to 27 % in 2007, whereas in France thepart-time rate increased between 1992 and 1997,but has been airly stable since then. Spain shows

a slow increase in the share o emale employeesworking part-time, whereas in Ireland the part-time rate among employees increased between1992 and 2002, but decreased between 2002 and2007. For the countries with a low share o part-time employees, notably the new Member States,an assessment is hampered by a lack o data or1992 and 1997. The available data, however,suggest little pressure to increase leibility in theorm o part-time employment. The part-time rateamong men and women decreased or remainedstable between 2002 and 2007 in Bulgaria, theCzech Republic, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania and

Romania. In Cyprus, Malta, Poland and Slovakiathe share o part-timers among emale employeesincreased slightly. Yet, the share o male part-time employees decreased or remained stable,implying an increase in the gender gap. Cyprus andHungary show a slight increase among both maleand emale employees. An important reason orthe low part-time rate in the new Member States isthe low level o earnings. Many households needtwo ull-time incomes in order to have a decentstandard o living. Furthermore, employers mayalso consider part-time work as less cost eicient.

To conclude, there is no sign o convergence inEurope regarding part-time employment.


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There is no consistent pattern in countries with amedium to low level o part-time work. In Spain,Finland, Greece and Latvia, or eample, part-time work among male and emale employees ismost common among young persons entering thelabour market, whereas in Lithuania, Poland andSlovenia part-time employees are most commonin both the youngest and oldest age group. In theCzech Republic, Estonia, Ireland and Malta part-timeemployment is most common among older emaleemployees. This suggests that part-time work is less

important as a acility to combine work and amilylie in these countries. The availability o childcare

acilities is an important actor in this respect. Foreample, in Slovenia, the availability o childcareenables working parents to work ull-time, loweringthe need or part-time hours. In other countries,however, such as Ireland and Malta, childcare acil-ities are not as prevalent.

Graph 5 summarises the gender gap in the share opart-time employees across age in countries with ahigh share o part-time employees. The gender gapis dened as the share o emale employees working

part-time minus the share o male employeesworking part-time. In most countries with a high

Graph 4 Part-time rate among male employees in European countries with a high part-time rate,by age group, 2007

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Graph 5 Gender gap in part-time rate among employees by age groups in European countrieswith a high part-time rate, by age group, 2007

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4 FLExIBILITY IN THE LENGTH OF WORKING TIME

part-time rate the gender gap among employees israther small in the youngest age group and consid-erably higher in the older age groups. Particularly inthe Netherlands the dierence in gender gaps overthe lie course is large. This is mainly due to a drop inthe share o male part-time employees in the primeage and older age group. In the Nordic countriesthe gender gaps across age groups are more or lesssimilar due to comparable working time patterns omen and women over the age groups.

Involuntary part-time work

Part-time working hours may oer labour marketopportunities in periods o care and/or educationalresponsibilities and as such may be seen as a positivechoice. Persons may, however, also work part-timeinvoluntarily. Graph 6 provides inormation on invol-untary part-time work among the employed labourorce as well as the total part-time rate in employment.According to Eurostat persons are working part-timeinvoluntarily when they are unable to nd ull-timework. Obviously, these data should be treated withcaution as this is a rather limited interpretation o

part-time. For eample, citing care-giving as thereason or working part-time does not ualiy asinvoluntary part-time work; however, part-time work

may well be an involuntary option given the lack ochildcare places in several European Member States(see Plantenga and Remery 2009). Nevertheless, onthe basis o these data, it appears that especially inBulgaria, Romania, Greece, Italy, France and Spainthe share o involuntary part-time work is uite high.The combination o this result with inormation onthe total amount o part-time work seems to indicatea negative relationship: the higher the level o part-time employment, the lower the share o involuntarypart-time employment. The most clear-cut eamplesare the Netherlands with the highest part-time level

and among the lowest share o involuntary part-timeemployment, and Bulgaria with one o the lowestlevels o part-time employment but most o it beinginvoluntary. Presumably the institutional conteto part-time work plays an important role in thisrespect. In countries with a relatively high part-timerate, part-time work is more likely to be well regu-lated and well accepted. A more detailed analysiso involuntary part-time work by gender indicatesrather limited gender dierences with no consistentpattern. In a ew countries, such as Germany, theUnited Kingdom, Romania and Italy the involuntary

part-time rate is clearly higher among men, whereasin the Czech Republic, Norway and Portugal the rateis relatively higher or women.

Graph 6 Involuntary part-time work and total part-time employment rate, 2007

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Part-time work as precarious work

Another important issue in regard to part-time workis the combination o part-time working hours withother orms o eibility, such as ed-term contractsand/or a low number o working hours. Eamples oprecarious part-time work are the so-called mini- jobsand midi-jobs in Germany. Mini-jobs and midi-jobsare jobs in which the wage does not eceed EUR 400(mini-jobs) or is between EUR 400 and EUR 800(midi-jobs). As working time is no longer regulatedin these jobs (which was the case prior to 2002), the

mini-jobbers may work a relatively high number ohours with a very low wage per hour. In spring 2009around 6.8 million employees had been registered asmini-jobbers, o which two thirds were women. Theoverall number o mini-jobbers accounts or 17 %o overall employment in Germany and the averagewage was EUR 263 per month. As these mini-jobs areecluded rom social security regulations (paymentsand benets), the status o the persons is precarious,although some o them might be covered by otherregulations as co-insured by married spouse statusor as students or pensioners. The latter cover seems

to be more relevant concerning younger and oldermen whereas the ormer is more relevant or womenin the core age groups (DRV Minijobzentrale 2009).

Another eample is provided by Austria, wherepart-time jobs are oten short-hour, marginal jobs with a low income. Moreover, part-time workoten entails urther disadvantages: employmentinstability, jobs below the ualiication level andlimited career prospects. In Austria the risk o losinga job within a year o starting it is much higheror part-time workers than or those working ull-time. Moreover, one in three emale part-timers is

working in an unskilled or manual job, compared toonly one in our women in ull-time employment.And while only one in 10 women working part-timeis employed in middle to senior management, it isone in our amongst ull-timers (Bergmann et al.2004). Similar results are ound in Norway wherethe highest shares o part-time work are oundin unskilled jobs, in small companies and amongtemporary workers. This is especially true or invol-untary part-time workers (Kjeldstad & Nymoen2004). In the United Kingdom, part-timers tend tobe concentrated in a small number o service and

manual occupations, many o which are low paid;urthermore, women employed part-time are oten

working below their skills potential (EOC 2005).In Greece, part-time work is oten also ied-termemployment, whereas in France part-time jobs areoten ied-term and have atypical, late schedules.Moreover, employment conditions o employeesin part-time jobs are oten insecure. In Sweden aconsiderable proportion o part-time workers workon call when the need arises (Riedman et al. 2006).This orm o employment oten implies a temporarycontract and is involuntary most o the time.

Part-time work and careers

Part-time working hours may also have a negativeimpact on career prospects. In a survey amongcompanies in 21 European countries on part-timework, managers and employee representatives wereasked about the prospects or promotion or part-time workers in their establishments. Accordingto 61 % o the managers, promotion prospectswere about the same or part-time and ull-timeemployees with comparable ualications. Amongemployee representatives the share was consid-erably lower however (49 %). A relatively substantial

proportion o managers and employee representa-tives reported that the promotion prospects were(slightly or signicantly) worse. There seems to bea relationship between promotion prospects andthe share o part-time employees in the companies;in establishments with a low part-time rate, themanagers and employee representatives seemmore negative than in establishments where thepart-time rate is higher. The responses also seem tobe related to particular sectors. In sectors like elec-tricity, gas and water supply (NACE E) and nancialintermediation (NACE J), managers were rathernegative on the promotion prospects o part-time

employees. Managers in sectors o public adminis-tration (NACE L), education (NACE M), health andsocial work (NACE N) and other community, socialand personal services (NACE O) seem slightly morepositive (Ano et al. 2007).

Despite the overall high part-time rate, also inthe Netherlands part-time working hours have anegative eect on a workers career and, relatedto this, on wages. Russo and Hassink (2008) arguethat rms may use promotions to stimulate humancapital accumulation and skill acuisition. Human

capital accumulation is, however, slow in part-time jobs and thereore the incidence o promotion


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will be low among part-time workers. In addition,promotion rates may be low among part-timeworkers when rms use the number o hoursworked as a screening device or to measure eort.The authors epect that the part-time wage gap willnot increase among young workers but will ratherdevelop over time, as the eects o orgone promo-tions during spells o part-time work accumulate.The empirical results rom their study shows thatthe part-time wage gap is not ound among school-leavers. In the course o their careers, however, part-timers orgo promotion possibilities and, as a result,

have less wage growth. Similarly, in a ualitativestudy in Germany, 20 human resource managers(12 men and 8 women) were interviewed to ndout how they assess part-time work in leading posi-tions (Koch 2008). The results o the interviews showthat human resource managers reject part-timework in leading positions in general. Furthermore,advancement opportunities or highly ualiedpart-time employees are reused. The managersargue that leading positions and working part-timeare not compatible. This implies that the legal claimor part-time promotion in leading positions is also

counteracted (Koch 2008). A nal eample reers tothe United Kingdom as there is a clear wage penaltyor working part-time. Women working part-time generally earn 40 % less per hour than menworking ull-time. This pay penalty associated withpart-time employment is a key component o whythe gender pay gap in the United Kingdom is oneo the largest in Europe (Rubery and Smith 2006).It is connected to the highly segregated natureo part-time employment in the United Kingdom(see also above).

Impact o working part-time on worklie balance

From the perspective

flexible working time arrangements and gender equality: a comparative review of 30 european...

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