Balance Between Work and Life – New Corporate Impositions Through Flexible Working Time or Opportunity for Time Sovereignty?

Abstract

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...

Between trust and control: company‐level bargaining on flexible working hours in the Danish and German metal industries

“…In the German cases (D1–5), managerial control was predominantly practised through a distinct separation of time accounts for annualised hours and time accounts for flexitime, where only the latter were managed by employees themselves (see Table 1). These findings correspond well with the results of a number of other German case studies on flexible working hours (Haipeter, 2004; Hildebrandt, 2006). Typically the management (often in consultation with the works council) had the main control over the time accounts for annualised hours.…”

Bestimmungsgründe von Arbeitszeitkonten bei Betrieben und Beschäftigten

“…Arbeitszeitkonten gelten als modernes betriebliches Zeitbewirtschaftungsinstrument, womit eine variable Verteilung der Arbeitszeit von Beschäftigten reguliert wird (Ellguth et al 2013;Groß/Schwarz 2008Hildebrandt 2006;Seifert 1996Seifert , 1998. Beschäftigte sammeln auf den Arbeitszeitkonten Zeitguthaben bzw.…”

“…Allerdings sind flexible Arbeitszeiten häufig marktgetrieben (Hildebrandt 2006), d. h. Betriebe richten die Arbeitszeiten der Beschäftigten an den Markt-und Kundenerfordernissen aus. Flexible Arbeitszeiten nach betrieblichen Bedürfnissen schränken daher die antizipierte Zeitsouveränität der Beschäftigten ein oder es entstehen Konflikte zwischen betrieblichen und individuellen Bedürfnissen (Hildebrandt 2007).…”

The relationship between opening hours and accessibility of public service delivery

“…These hours may well coincide with times that children, spouses, friends and others will experience fewer space-time constraints and are available for social and leisure activity participation. This situation of rescheduled employment hours is most likely to occur for people with low levels of sovereignty over their employment hours, many of whom will occupy the lower steps on the occupational ladder, hold less secure jobs, and will be lowly educated and female (Breedveld, 1998;Hildebrandt, 2006). Hence, the disadvantages that a large-scale rescheduling of opening hours would have for family and social life will be distributed unevenly across socio-economic groups in society (Mills and Taht, 2010).…”