More flexible working hours benefit employees and companies, as does home office – but there are also dangers.
Vienna/Geneva. Flexible and shorter working hours are not only welcomed by many employees, they also increase productivity. Employees, companies and the economy as a whole could benefit from this, according to a study published on Friday by the International Labor Organization (ILO) in Geneva. It evaluates the experiences from the time of the corona pandemic.
According to the study, the majority of employees worldwide work either significantly longer or shorter than eight hours a day, five days a week – in practice, there is very often a deviation from the 40 hours a week, which is considered the norm. More than a third regularly works more than 48 hours a week; one in five employees worldwide works less than 35 hours a week. According to the study, irregular employees also often have very long or rather short working hours.
Less turnover
In the corona pandemic, companies and governments have had to react quickly to keep organizations running and employees on the job. According to the ILO, short-time work for a large number of employees helps to avoid layoffs. In addition, the hastily introduced home office will fundamentally change the nature of work almost everywhere in the world “in the foreseeable future”.
According to the study, the measures taken during the pandemic have provided “a lot of evidence” that flexibility with regard to time and place can be positive not only for the employees but also for the company. Restricting flexibility, on the other hand, increases costs – for example because employees quit more often and new people have to be found. “Programs for work-life balance are a win-win for employers and employees,” the study concludes.
Die ANDThe organization recommends governments to use the good experiences with short-time work and more flexible work from the corona pandemic. Short-time work can not only secure employment, but also strengthen purchasing power and thus mitigate the negative effects of an economic crisis.
According to the ILO, however, in many countries politics should also promote general reductions in working hours and a “healthy” work-life balance, thereby improving productivity. However, the ILO study also warns of the dangers of working from home. She recommends that workers should be given a “right to switch off” to curb the negative effects that can arise from the blurring of the lines between work and leisure.
Working time rules mandatory
As reported, a study presented in the autumn by the EU-Research center Eurofound: According to a survey carried out in the previous year, many who were in the home office because of Covid want to continue to work partly from home. However, people tend to work even more overtime at work at home, and the most recent survey also provided more information on health problems caused by overwork. Like the ILO, Eurofound therefore advocates a “right not to be contacted”.
Of course, there is a legal right to this anyway – in Austria, for example, the Working Hours Act prescribes an uninterrupted rest period of at least eleven hours after the end of the working day. During this time, switching off is not only a right, but an obligation. The break regulations and the limits for the maximum daily working time are also mandatory and apply in the home office as well. (cka/APA/AFP)
(“Die Presse”, print edition, 07.01.2023)