Working conditions in the European Union: Working time and work intensity (original) (raw)
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The requirements for more flexible and lean forms of production that are able to adapt to demand cycles, both quantitatively and functionally, are common in all advanced economies. At the same time, the flexibilization of working times and work places has become an increasing focus for the analysis of quality of work and life (i.e. work-life balance). This chapter approaches flexibilization as a transition from an industrial to a post-industrial working time regime. The new post-industrial working time regime is usually characterized by deregulation of collective norms, diversification of the length (short and long hours) and pattern of working time (unsocial hours), increasing work intensity and time squeeze, and blurring of the limits of working and leisure time. The chapter discusses flexibility of working times and places from both employers and employees perspectives. In addition, by using European Working Condition Surveys from three decades, this chapter examines to what exte...
Gaceta sanitaria, 2017
To describe the satisfaction with working hours and satisfaction with work-life balance and their association in the European Union (EU-28). This is a cross-sectional study based on data from the Flash Eurobarometer 398 among workers of the EU-28 from 2014 (n=13,683). We calculated percentages and their 95% confidence intervals (95%CI). We also applied a multi-level generalised linear model using the Poisson family, to calculate the adjusted prevalence ratios (aPR) of satisfaction with work-life balance based on working hours. All analyses were stratified by individual, employment and welfare regime country classification. The satisfaction with working hours and work-life balance was 80.62% and 74.48%, respectively, and was significantly higher among women. The highest percentages of satisfaction were found in the Nordic welfare regime countries (90.2% and 85.3%, respectively). There was a statistically significant association between satisfaction with working hours and work-life ba...
Long Working Hours and Job Quality in Europe: Gender and Welfare State Differences
International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 2018
Chronic extreme long working hours (LWH) have been found consistently associated with poor health status. However, the evidence for moderately LWH (41-60 h a week) is contradictory. Although poor job quality has been proposed as one of the mechanisms of this relationship, there are almost no studies about LWH and job quality. The objectives of this study were to analyze the association between moderately LWH and job quality in the EU27, as well as to examine differences by welfare regimes and gender. This is a cross-sectional study based on data from the 2010 European Working Conditions Survey. A subsample of employees from the EU27 aged 16-64 years who worked 30-60 h a week was selected (12,574 men and 8787 women). Overall, moderately LWH were not consistently associated with poor job quality except among women from Eastern European countries. Therefore, in the EU27 poor job quality does not seem to explain the relationship between moderately LWH and poor health status. The findings among women from Eastern European countries may be related to their weakened position in the labor market and to their work-family conflict resulting from a process of re-familisation that constrains their choices for a good job.
Long working hours and health status among employees in Europe: between-country differences
Scandinavian Journal of Work, Environment & Health, 2013
Working moderately long working hours was associated with poor health outcomes and a gradient was found. Differing gender patterns seem to be related to differences in the breadwinner family models by country typology. Occupational health strategies and policies should consider working long hours as a potential psychosocial hazard when doing so is somehow forced or imposed due to economic vulnerability.
Developments in working life in Europe: EurWORK annual review 2014
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Introduction In 2014, Eurofound’s long-established observatories on industrial relations (EIRO) and working conditions (EWCO) were combined to form EurWORK: the European Observatory of Working Life. EurWORK gathers all Eurofound’s resources on working conditions and industrial relations and is supported by a network of European correspondents across all Member States and Norway. Developments in Working Life in Europe is part of a series of annual reviews published by Eurofound and provides an overview of the latest developments in industrial relations and working conditions across the European Union and Norway. The Annual Review collates information based on reports from Eurofound’s network of European correspondents throughout 2014, complemented by recent research findings, including data from Eurofound’s European working conditions survey (EWCS) and Eurofound’s company survey (ECS). The reporting is based on a semi-structured template, which correspondents complete on a quarterly ...
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Working time is a recurrent topic of study because the nature of work, its content, the conditions under which it is performed and the labour market itself keep changing. This report provides an overview of the recent evolution of working time duration and organisation in the EU and highlights the most important trends and differences between Member States. Through an in-depth analysis of data from the sixth European Working Conditions Survey carried out in 2015, it examines - from a gender and life course perspective - the links between working time patterns, work-life balance and working time preferences, on the one hand, and workers' health and well-being on the other. Finally, the report explores the extent to which prevailing working conditions and working time patterns in EU Member States are sustainable in the long term.
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Global restructuring processes mean that temporal models of working time are becoming increasingly differentiated across Europe, as elsewhere. In order to balance work and life, employees have to accommodate these changes, not necessarily by prolonging their working time, but through an accelerated pace of work and increased workloads. Intensified working time patterns increase the challenges of combining work and family. This paper argues that changing demands on working time have enormous impacts on establishing work-life balance and that – to a great extent – the consequences are shouldered by women. In assessing these changing demands on working time, it is crucial to consider the occupational context: a high level of autonomy in determining their working time as well as great dedication to their work provides women in highly-skilled occupations with the option of developing strategies for emancipation. Women working in semi-skilled and low-skilled occupations are more likely to...
Working Conditions of Workers of Different Ages: European Working Conditions Survey 2015
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Demographic change is changing the face of working life across the EU. The increased demand on a shrinking pool of workers to provide for the social needs of an ageing population is leading to increases in the employment rate of older workers and a lengthening of working life. Policy reforms have – on the whole – focused on raising the statutory retirement age and providing financial incentives for older workers to remain in work beyond retirement age. However, a range of other factors also influence workers’ decision to continue working into old age – including health and well-being, work–life balance, career prospects and job security, and working conditions such as autonomy, hours of work and psychosocial aspects of the workplace. This report analyses these factors in depth for the 28 EU Member States, using data from the latest European Working Conditions Survey (EWCS 2015) and in the context of Eurofound’s concept of ‘sustainable work over the life course’.
Reshaping EU Working-Time Regulation: Towards a More Sustainable Regime
European Labour Law Journal , 2016
The European Commission's 2015 Roadmap on work-life balance urges a comprehensive policy and regulatory approach as essential to addressing the interrelated goals of reconciling work and family, sharing of care work between women and men, and attaining substantive gender equality. However, the EU's key instrument setting 'normal' hours of work standards, the Working Time Directive, is absent amongst the measures identified as central to such a comprehensive approach. Attributing this omission in part to the Directive's historic evolution, its controversial and unsettled status, and its apparent gender 'neutrality', this article argues that work-life balance strategies must incorporate standard working-time considerations if they are to be effective; likewise, a more meaningful engagement with and the advancement of work-family reconciliation and equality goals is crucial for the Working Time Directive's continued relevance. Failing such a more obvious articulation between the two sets of policies, a number of goals currently on the EU agenda will be difficult to attain, as supporting caregivers and redistributing unpaid work between women and men, but also objectives of active aging and Europe's long-term social sustainability require the development of more sustainable work and working-time practices.