- Flexible forms of working hours Flexibility is hotly debated term in the recent years and not only in a relation to labour market. This diploma thesis deals with flexible forms of working hours, which represents one of the means to achieve greater flexibility of labour law as well as flexible labour market. Increased options in adjusting working hours based on the needs of the subjects of labour-law relations contributes to more efficient use of employees work, provides new possibilities for some risk groups of employees on the labour market and helps employees in achieving work- life balance. These factors also have positive influence on unemployment rate. The thesis is divided into four chapters, which are further divided into subchapters. The first chapter introduces selected legal principles with the regards to the subject of the thesis. Main focus is on subsidiary relation between civil and labour law and "what is not forbidden, is allowed" principle, which is crucial for flexible forms of working hours, followed by an overview of selected basic principles of labour-law relations and introduction of flexicurity concept. The second chapter builds a foundation and much needed context for subsequent chapters by defining working hours and it's legal regulation on national as well as...

Working hours, their duration and work schedule Abstract The diploma thesis deals with the topic of working hours and related institutes in Czech labor law in order to provide a comprehensive overview of the valid legal regulation. In addition, the work deals with the issues of breaks and rest periods, which are inseparably related to working hours. The thesis is divided into six chapters, which are subdivided into subchapters. The first chapter contains a historical excursion into the history of working hours regulation in the Czech lands from the Middle Ages to the present. I also mention the valid legal regulation of working hours at international and national level. The second chapter defines the concept of working hours, followed by a detailed description of each of the related institutes - its length, scheduling of work, work overtime, night work, on-call duty and working hours register. The following chapters discuss the organization of working hours for employees who look after children or other natural persons, pedagogical workers, workers in transportation and employees working under agreements to work outside the scope of employment. For these employees, there are some deviations from the general legal regulation of working hours or special conditions, as I refer here. The last chapter deals with...

Introduction: The issue of working time reduction has continued to be discussed in various contexts and has become a current social debate. Because of this, it was of interest to carry out research in the area by analyzing what effects a shortening of working time has on an activity from an economic perspective and also concerning productivity goals and result orientation. Aim: The purpose of this study is to analyze how shortening of working hours affects the organizations' finances, productivity goals and results in the private sector. Method: This research is focused on a phenomenografic method with its base in qualitative interviews. Result: The result section is presented in the following main themes: Arguments for the introduction of shortened working day; Organizational effects and disadvantages of the introduction of shorter working days. Conclusion: The difference between the private and public sector is in focus and the motivation for why an abbreviated working day has been introduced differs between them. While the private sector focuses on efficiency and increased profitability, the public sector focuses on well-being and thus productivity. One of the most important findings identified in this study is that the primary argument for introducing six hours working day, which also reflected the new organization after the change work, was to create a better balance between work and leisure.

O tema deste estudo refere-se à análise da flexibilização da jornada de trabalho no âmbito da relação de emprego, sua importância no atual cenário de atividades profissionais cada dia menos tradicionais e, por fim, os limites a serem impostos à flexibilização. A pesquisa tem também como objetivo conceituar o mecanismo de flexibilização do Direito do Trabalho, bem como fixar os limites mínimos de proteção ao trabalhador, diante das tão velozes mudanças oriundas das novas tecnologias de produção. A presente pesquisa visa desmistificar a argumentação de que o entrave ao pleno desenvolvimento econômico e social de um país está nas amplas proteções dadas ao trabalhador, vindo estas a sofrerem sérios e constantes golpes em suas estruturas, sob o rótulo de flexibilização, mas que, na verdade, correspondem à própria desregulamentação do Direito do Trabalho e mitigação de seus princípios basilares. Com o aprofundamento da pesquisa em relação à flexibilização da jornada de trabalho na relação de emprego, conclui-se que esta deve ser pautada não apenas pelas demandas do mercado de trabalho, mas também pelo fundamento da dignidade da pessoa humana do trabalhador e pelo princípio protetor do Direito do Trabalho. Por fim, se concluirá que o alcance de maior competitividade, bem como o aumento dos postos de trabalho, não podem simplesmente ser conquistados por meio da flexibilização da jornada de trabalho. O desemprego também deve ser combatido por meio da implementação de políticas públicas, ou seja, com mecanismos hábeis a equilibrar os interesses entre empregadores e empregados, com a finalidade de se evitar a mitigação de direitos indisponíveis do trabalhador. / The subject matter of this study concerns the analysis of the flexibilization of the working hours within the ambit of labor relationship, the importance thereof in the current professional activities scenario, which becomes increasingly less traditional and, finally, the limits to be imposed to said flexibilization. The research has also the purpose of conceptualizing the mechanism consisting in the flexibilization of the Labor Law, as well as setting minimum limits to employees protection, in view of the rapid changes brought by the new production technologies. This present paper is aimed at demystifying the thesis that the obstacle to a countrys economic and social growth lies in the ample protections offered to employees, which end up undergoing serious and constant setbacks on their structures, under the flexibilization label, but which in fact correspond to the very deregulation of Labor Law and the mitigation of its fundamental principles. As one deepens the research on the flexibilization of working hours within the scope of labor relationship, one concludes that it should be based not only on the labor market demands, but also on the dignity of the employee and the principles safeguarding Labor Law. Finally, one shall conclude that improved competitiveness and increased labor opportunities are accomplished not simply through the flexibilization of working hours. Unemployment should also be fought by implementation of public policies, that is, through suitable mechanisms that enable balancing the interests of both employers and employees, in order to prevent the inalienable rights of the employees from being undermined.

Within Australia and in Europe. there is evidence of growth in the incidence of non¬standard forms of employment such as part-time and casual work. Part of this growth can be attributed to changes in the structure of the economy and the increasing importance of service industries where non-standard forms of employment proliferate. There is also evidence, however, that employers at the firm level are progressively expanding their use of non-standard employment and reducing their reliance on full-time labour. One explanation for this organisational-level phenomena has been suggested by Atkinson (1987) in his account of the ‘flexible firm’. Atkinson claims that employers are increasingly attempting to divide the workforce into two major segments: a skilled, full-time core labour force and an unskilled, non-standard segment. This thesis examines Atkinson’s ‘flexible firm’ model through a study of labour-use practices of three acute hospitals in Queensland. A main finding of this thesis is the generalised and substantial growth of non-standard employment in all types of Queensland hospitals. The growth of non-standard hospital labour is not as, Atkinson would suggest, largely the result of demand-side strategies of employers but is also conditioned by supply-side factors. Gender, rather than skill, is found to be an important determinant of the proliferation of non-standard employment. Non-standard employment is not the major labour adjustment mechanism in all sectors of the hospital industry. Labour intensification is a critical and overlooked form of labour adjustment in the public sector. Overall, this thesis concludes that employers’ labour-use practices need to be conceptualised within the context of the opportunities and constraints imposed by the interaction of demand and supply-side factors.

This study primarily explores the effect of Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company Limited¡¦s implementation of 50 work hours per week on employee work performance and work quality satisfaction. After literature review, this study establishes three propositions, two basic hypotheses, and uses employees at the Southern Taiwan Science Park Fourteenth Factory as the population, the departments as the stratification standards in stratified random sampling. After statistical analysis, this study arrives at the following conclusions: 1. Shortened work hours have a significant positive influence on work satisfaction. 2. Shortened work hours have a significant positive influence on work performance. The result shows that a 50-hour work per week would elevate employees¡¦ work performance and work satisfaction.

Most studies on unions have concentrated on examining the union impact on wages. This thesis, in two essays, examines the union impact on wages, hours, earnings and employment, particularly focussing on the union impact on hours of work. The first essay summarizes previous theoretical union models which normally assume fixed hours of work and extends them so that hours as well as wages and employment can be determined by collective bargaining. Three kinds of union models are employed to examine union impacts on hours as well as union impacts on wages and employment: the monopoly union model (Oswald [1982]), the right to manage model (Nickell [1981]; Nickell and Andrews [1983]) and the efficient contracts model (McDonald and Solow [1980]). The predicted union impact on hours and employment is found to be ambiguous while the union impact on wages is found to be positive. The second essay is concerned with estimating union-nonunion wage, hours and earn ings differentials. Using the 1990 Labour Market Activity Survey, this essay finds that (1) union-nonunion hours differentials are ambiguous for males, but they are positive for females, (2) employers in the union sector extract more hours from more able workers and this contributes greatly to the positive union-nonunion hours differential and (3) union-nonunion hours differentials are smaller for males than for females and as a result, union-nonunion earnings differentials are larger for females than for males.

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In 1998, the French Socialist Government reduced the statutory workweek to 35 hours. This work time reduction policy was implemented in response to the country's chronic unemployment problem, which had seen unemployment average over 10% during the previous decade. The 35 hour week sought to reduce unemployment by spreading the existing stock of jobs more widely and by stimulating job creation. This policy choice was received with considerable scepticism from commentators outside of France. Critics argued that the 35 hour week diverged too greatly from the international orthodoxy of a flexible and deregulated labour market and, given the convergence pressures caused by contemporary globalisation, would reduce French competitiveness. The implication was that governments no longer had the freedom to implement employment policy that diverged from the international norm. In this thesis, I reconsider this argument. I undertake a political economy analysis of the use of work time reduction policy in France from the perspective of the regional labour market of Nord-Pas-de-Calais. In doing so, I focus on the implementation of the 35 hour week policy in this high unemployment region. In addition, I focus on the regional work time reduction policy implemented in Nord-Pas-de-Calais, which predated the national 35 hour week policy and was the source of several of its key features. Thus, I provide a regional perspective on the French 35 hour week policy, an alternative to the 'top down' perspective taken by its critics. Throughout this research, I concentrate on three key issues: (1) the logic of work time reduction policy within the local labour market in France, using Nord-Pas-de-Calais as my case study; (2) the method of policy-making and the importance of geographic scale; and (3) the viability of France's work time reduction policy in the face of globalisation. My aim is to understand the policy process that led to this policy choice, to appreciate how traditions of economic governance influenced its formation and implementation in the local labour market, and to study how these traditions influenced the ability of work time reduction policy to reduce unemployment. I show, first, that French traditions of labour market governance, on which work time reduction policy is based, continue to have meaning in the local labour market, with the public continuing to demand policy consistent with its ideals. Second, I show that scale contributes to policy outcomes and policy innovation, suggesting the importance of geographic factors in the policy, process, such as the spatial match between the policy and policy problem, the transfer of policy between scales, and issues such as proximity and homogeneity. Third, I show that the success of work time reduction policy is largely dependent upon socially determined factors including effective negotiation, preferences between work and leisure, and empathy for the unemployed. Fourth, I show that the 35 hour week policy was not incompatible with international demands for labour market flexibility because it provided significant scope for productivity gains via its design and increased flexibility in the use of work time, albeit within constraints. Therefore, by examining the making and implementation of work time reduction policy in France from a regional perspective, I show that while globalisation places genuine exogenous constraints on the policy choices of government, there nonetheless remains considerable scope within these constraints, especially when implementing policy that is compatible with traditions of governance that continue to resonate in the local labour market.

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