Working time is once again on the agenda. Actors in industry and politics are demanding the extension of working time and greater, marketoriented flexibilisation in the interest of cutting costs. At the present time the advocates of further reductions in working time and greater time sovereignty for employees have little say. At the same time, the compatibility of work and life has become an increasingly important issue, not only as a problem for working mothers but for corporate human resources policy as a whole. Forms of regulating flexible working time that promise to balance various time interests are therefore particularly important. One option of major interest is the institution of working time accounts, which permit flexible overtime as well as the use of 'banked' time to meet personal needs without generally extending working time. The study provides insight into corporate working time arrangements in various sectors and employee time choices in reconciling company requirements and private interests. Neither side has yet made adequate progress in creating the preconditions for a successful balance.whether time option arrangements for employees really offer greater individual time sovereignty and hence enhance the quality of life.Finding an answer will require consideration of the development of working time in Germany, of changes in how it is regulated, and of the debates on its social consequences. The point of departure for conceptual reflection is the time system of society, which constitutes the orientation and coordination system for individual action. It is based on social notions of time and on time institutions which determine the situation, duration, and regularity of social events, thus structuring social behaviour. Modern time institutions are shaped by the pattern of 'normal working time' determined by industrial labour and the welfare state. In the Federal German tradition they include finishing work after a regular eight-hour working day during daytime, a free weekend on Saturday and Sunday after a five-day working week, and annual leave. These time institutions have established a high degree of collectivity and regularity in individual time patterns, and have reinforced the 'separation of work and life'. The social consequences of this time system for individuals were ambivalent. On the one hand it brought relief from the demands of planning, arranging, and coordinating, since time patterns were pre-organised by society. On the other hand it was restrictive, since it prevented individually deviating time patterns required to accommodate new lifestyles.Working time in Germany is now determined by two developments: since the mid-1990s, a long period during which working hours had steadily been reduced has come to an end to be increasingly superseded by the flexibilisation of working time. This reflects a shift in power relations between societal actors. The reduction of working hours was initially intended to reduce burdens on employees and enhance time affluence. Later it became a key trade...

Since 1991 a research group has investigated the relationship between environmental policies and the industrial relations systems in 10 European countries. It might be expected that the growing importance of the environment as a policy issue would prompt an enlargement of the traditional agenda of industrial relations systems, leading to stronger inclusion of the social partners in environmental action; but in the main, evidence of such enlargement has been sparse. The Netherlands, where works councils legislation has been used to extend collective rights for greater environmental involvement, stood out as the exception. Elsewhere, initiatives have been mostly confined to company-level voluntary agreements, with certain sectors playing a prominent role. Very few attempts have been made to develop the environmental role of industrial relations actors through legislation. A number of explanations for this relatively slow progress are explored, as are the prospects for developments in the future.

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