Quality of Work and Employment in EuropeQuality of Work and Employment in Europe

Working time and work-life balance Working time and work-life balance in European companiesin European companies

David FodenResearch Manager

Eurofound

3 septembre 2008 1

David Foden – Eurofound 2

Some general info on the surveySome general info on the survey Coverage:

- 15 ‘old’ MS of the European Union - 6 NMS (Czech Republic, Cyprus, Latvia, Hungary, Poland and Slovenia)

Telephone interviews in over 21,000 workplaces

Establishments with 10 or more employees, across all economic sectors : random selection

personnel managers and – where available – employee representatives

3

What do we want for work-life What do we want for work-life balance?balance?

0% 5% 10% 15% 20% 25% 30%

Introduction or extension of flexi-time or working-time accounts

Introduction or extension oflong-term leave options

A general reduction inweekly working hours

Introduction or extension of opportunitiesfor phased retirement

Introduction or extension of opportunities for early retirement

Reduction of overtime or introductionof time-off in lieu

Introduction or extension of opportunitiesto work part-time

No action needed

Better possibilities to change from un-usual hours to normal working hours

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Flexible time arrangementsFlexible time arrangements Flexible working time arrangements exist in almost

half (48%) of companies with 10 or more employees in Europe

A larger proportion of companies in the services sector (50%) than in industry (43%) report the existence of some form of flexibility

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Flexi-time arrangements in EuropeFlexi-time arrangements in Europe

0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70% 80% 90% 100%

CY

PT

EL

HU

BE

SI

IT

ES

NL

LU

FR

ALL 21DK

DE

AT

CZ

IE

PL

UK

FI

SE

LV

Possibility to use accumulated hours for longer periods of leave Possibility to use accumulated hours for days off Possibility to accumulate hours, but no full days off Possibility to vary start and end of daily work, no accumulation of days

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Flexible time arrangementsFlexible time arrangements The two main reasons cited by managers for introducing

flexible working arrangements were ‘enabling employees to better combine work and family (or personal) life’ (68%) and ‘better adaptation of working hours to the establishment’s workload’ (47%)

Both managers and employee representatives report higher job satisfaction as the main outcome of the introduction of flexible working times, followed by a better adaptation of working hours to the workload

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The effects of flexitime The effects of flexitime

0%

10%

20%

30%

40%

50%

60%

70%

80%

Reduction of paidovertime

Better adaptationof workloads

Lowerabsenteeism

Higher jobsatisfaction

Other positiveeffects

Communicationproblems

Rise of costs Other negativeeffects

All Managers Managers with corresponding Employee-Representative-Interview Employee Representative

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% establishments w ith any part-timers (base: All establishments)

shar

e of

par

t-tim

ers

per

esta

blis

hmen

t (ba

se: e

st. w

ith p

art-t

ime

empl

oyee

s)

DK

IT

IE

BE

UK

EL

SI

DE

NL

AT

PT

SE

PL

FR

CY

LUHU

ES

CZ

100%

40%

0%

FI

LV

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Forms of part-time workForms of part-time work

0%

10%

20%

30%

40%

50%

60%

70%

80%

Average Scandinavia Western Europe Anglo-Saxonia Mediterranean Eastern Europe

Some fixed hours every day Other fixed cycles Flexible hours on demand Other forms/DK/NA

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08/04/23 10

Switching to part-time (skilled)Switching to part-time (skilled)

0% 20% 40% 60% 80% 100%

United Kingdom

Sweden

Netherlands

Belgium

Czech Republic

Denmark

Austria

France

EU21

Ireland

Germany

Latvia

Spain

Poland

Finland

Luxembourg

Italy

Slovenia

Hungary

Cyprus

Portugal

Greece

Easy to switch Possible, after some time Possible, only exceptionally Practically no chance Never happened

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Part-time workPart-time work A significant proportion of both employee

representatives (41%) and managers* (27%) stated that working part-time had a negative impact on career prospects

* 34% of managers in establishments whre an employee representative was interviewed

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CareerCareer prospectsprospects of part-timers compared to of part-timers compared to full-timers with comparable qualificationsfull-timers with comparable qualifications

1% 1% 0%

61%

57%

49%

16%

22%25%

11% 12%

16%

11%9% 10%

0%

10%

20%

30%

40%

50%

60%

70%

All managers Managers with corresponding employee-representative interview

Employee representatives

Better than those of full-timers About the same Slightly worse Significantly worse Don't know/No answer

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Family-related leaveFamily-related leave In half of all companies (51%) in the survey, at

least one employee has availed of parental leave in the three years preceding the interview

On average, 30% of the establishments with recent experience of parental leave reported that one or more male employees took parental leave

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08/04/23 14

Family-related leaveFamily-related leave National systems/ culture : very important here

Possibility / length / generosity

Training programmes to facilitate the re-integration

of employees returning to work after an extended period of leave are offered by about 22% of all companies

08/04/23 15

Companies in which fathers taking parental leaveCompanies in which fathers taking parental leave

0%

10%

20%

30%

40%

50%

60%

70%

80%

SE SI FI PT NL BE UK LU DK IE FR EU21 EL IT ES DE LV AT PL HU CZ CY

08/04/23 16

Long term leavesLong term leaves

53%

37% 36%

26%

47%

32% 32%

22%

71%

55%

51%

38%

0%

10%

20%

30%

40%

50%

60%

70%

80%

Total leaves* For the care of elderly, ill or disabledrelatives

For further education For any other purpose

Average Private sector Public Sector* without parental leave

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Retirement Retirement Phased retirement schemes are offered in about 37% of companies

in the survey Phased retirement is more likely to be found in countries that have

broad experience of part-time employment than in countries with little experience of such work

Early retirement schemes are more widespread: 48% of companies surveyed offer this

The incidence of early retirement is particularly high in the education sector (72% of establishments), in financial intermediation (63%) and healthcare (61%)

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Typology of working time flexibilityTypology of working time flexibilityType of WT-flexibility

% of organisations 14% 22% 18% 7% 18% 21%

Indicators            

part-time workers (>20%) + + + + - -

irregular hours - + - + -

flexible working hours (>20%) + - + - -

overtime (>20%) + + - + -

parental leave + + - - - -

long-term leave available + + + - - -

early retirement option + + + - - -

facilities for work-life balance + + + + - -

flexible contracts + + - - -

See also Table A in handout

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High flexibility, worker orientedHigh flexibility, worker oriented

% of establishments

17.0 to 33.0 (6)10.5 to 17.0 (10)2.9 to 10.5 (5)

David Foden – Eurofound

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High flexibility, firm orientedHigh flexibility, firm oriented

% of establishments

25.2 to 28.6 (6)20.8 to 25.2 (8)12.8 to 20.8 (7)

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Intermediate flexibility: life-courseIntermediate flexibility: life-course

% of establishments

19.8 to 35.0 (9)14.4 to 19.8 (8)5.6 to 14.4 (4)

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Intermediate flexibility: day-to-dayIntermediate flexibility: day-to-day

% of establishments

9.8 to 12.1 (5)2.9 to 9.8 (11)1.1 to 2.9 (5)

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Intermediate flexibility: overtimeIntermediate flexibility: overtime

% of establishments

21.5 to 32.3 (7)13.3 to 21.5 (8)6.7 to 13.3 (6)

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low flexibilitylow flexibility

% of establishments

33.1 to 50.8 (6)18.8 to 33.1 (7)7.4 to 18.8 (8)

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Distribution of company types within Distribution of company types within industry and servicesindustry and services

0

5

10

15

20

25

30

35

Industries (NACE C-F) Services (NACE G-O)

% o

f est

ablis

hmen

ts

high flexibility, workeroriented

high flexibility, firmoriented

intermediateflexibility, lifecourse

intermediateflexibility, day-to-day

intermediateflexibility, overtime

low flexibility

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Distribution of company types within Distribution of company types within private and public sectorprivate and public sector

0

5

10

15

20

25

30

private sector public sector

% o

f est

ablis

hmen

ts

high flexibility, workeroriented

high flexibility, firmoriented

intermediateflexibility, lifecourse

intermediateflexibility, day-to-day

intermediateflexibility, overtime

low flexibility

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Relation of WT flexibility toRelation of WT flexibility tofirm’s performancefirm’s performance

High Intermediate Low

worker-oriented

firm-oriented life-course day-to-day overtime

Economic situation very good 16% + -

Personnel size increased 34% + + - - -

Problems finding skilled staff 35% + - + -

Problems retaining staff 9% + -

Low motivation of staff 16% + - - + -

Social climate very strained 4% +

Work-life balance very difficult 6% + - +

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Summing upSumming up

•Based on observed practices in ESWT: 6 types of firms regarding WT-flexibility

•Typology is more subtle than ‘more vs. less flexible’ working time flexibility is not a 1-dimensional concept

•Substantial variation within and between countries

•No strong relation between high flexibility and ‘performance’differences between types of flexibility at least as important

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Further informationFurther information European Foundation website www.eurofound.eu.int

Company survey page http://www.eurofound.eu.int/areas/worklifebalance/eswt.htm

Publications http://www.eurofound.eu.int/publications/index.htm

Or email Camilla Gallo da bino: gdb@eurofound.eu.int

David Foden – Eurofound