Denna studies syfte är att identifiera arbetsgivares attityder kring arbetstidsförkortning, samt finna svar på om de ser det som ett realistiskt alternativ inför framtiden. För att lyckas uppnå vårt syfte har vi utgått från en kvalitativ metod med ett induktivt synsätt. Vi har intervjuat fem representanter från olika företag för att undersöka hur de ser på arbetstidsförkortning som fenomen. Resultatet visar att arbetsgivare både ser för- och nackdelar med arbetstidsförkortning. De största hindren mot att införa arbetstidsförkortning som våra informanter ser är företagens okunskap, känsla av osäkerhet samt risken för ekonomiska förluster. Fördelarna som de ser är framförallt att arbetstidsförkortning kan öka balansen mellan arbete och fritid, gynna jämställdheten i samhället samt att det är ett sätt att orka arbeta högre upp i åldrarna när pensionsåldern höjs. Resultatet visar även att arbetsgivare ser ännu mer flexibilitet i framtiden och att de idag inte ser tillräckligt stort behov av kortare arbetsdagar för att det ska bli en prioriterad fråga för deras företag. Om sjuktalen däremot ökar kan de se arbetstidsförkortning som ett alternativ även i deras organisationer. / The purpose of this study is to identify the employers' attitudes concerning working time reduction, and find answers to whether they see it as a realistic alternative for the future. In order to succeed in achieving our goal, we have used a qualitative method with an inductive approach. We have interviewed five representatives from different companies in order to investigate what they think about work time reduction as a phenomenon. The result shows that employers see both advantages and disadvantages of working hours reduction. The biggest obstacles to the implement of working hours reduction that our informants see are the companies' lack of knowledge, a sense of uncertainty and the risk of financial losses. The advantages that they see are especially that working hours reduction can increase the balance between work and leisure, benefit gender equality in society and that it is a way for employees to be able to work all the way to retirement, even when the retirement age increases. The result also shows that employers see even more flexibility in the future and that they do not currently see sufficient need for shorter working days in order for it to be a priority issue for their company. On the other hand, if the sickness rate increases, they can see reduction of working hours as an alternative even in their organizations.

Submitted by Geandra Rodrigues (geandrar@gmail.com) on 2018-08-31T18:33:37Z No. of bitstreams: 1 adrianaimaculadafernandes.pdf: 2411597 bytes, checksum: 77f70913e0e79136685e12e153175234 (MD5) / Rejected by Adriana Oliveira (adriana.oliveira@ufjf.edu.br), reason: Geandra, favor verificar: o acesso está embargado mas o arquivo encontra-se disponível na íntegra on 2018-09-03T16:38:44Z (GMT) / Submitted by Geandra Rodrigues (geandrar@gmail.com) on 2018-09-03T17:13:32Z No. of bitstreams: 0 / Approved for entry into archive by Adriana Oliveira (adriana.oliveira@ufjf.edu.br) on 2018-09-04T13:15:05Z (GMT) No. of bitstreams: 0 / Made available in DSpace on 2018-09-04T13:15:05Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 0 Previous issue date: 2018-08-07 / O presente estudo tem por objetivo contribuir para o debate e análise crítica acerca das relações de trabalho, principalmente no âmbito do setor público, buscando apresentar a relação entre a redução da jornada de trabalho, exercício do tempo livre e condições de vida e de trabalho dos servidores da UFJF. Para isso, foram entrevistados sete trabalhadores técnico-administrativos em educação, dentre eles um representante sindical, a fim de analisar as percepções desses trabalhadores acerca do processo de regulamentação da jornada de trabalho reduzida, e sua repercussão em suas atividades de trabalho e em sua vida fora do trabalho. Os entrevistados foram unânimes em afirmar a jornada de trabalho de seis horas diárias como um fator importante no equilíbrio entre tempo de trabalho e tempo livre: pela ótica do trabalho na UFJF, a importância da ampliação do horário de funcionamento dos setores para atendimento aos usuários; para os servidores, a possibilidade de dedicação do tempo livre a atividades consideradas prazerosas, como viagens e passeios em família, e também na busca por informação e conhecimento. / This study aims to contribute to the debate and critical analysis about labor relations, especially in the public sector, seeking to present the relationship between the reduction of working hours, the exercise of free time, living and working conditions of the workers servers of the UFJF. To that end, seven technical-administrative workers in education were interviewed, among them a union representative, in order to analyze the perceptions of these workers about the process of regulation of the reduced working day, and the repercussion in their work activities and in their life off work. Interviewees were unanimous in affirming the six-hour workday as an important factor in the balance between working time and free time: from the perspective of work in the UFJF, the importance of expanding the hours of operation of the sectors to serve users; for the servers, the possibility of dedicating free time to activities considered pleasurable, such as trips and family outings, as well as the search for information and knowledge.

The subject of this thesis is Work-Life Balance - the reconciliation of professional and personal lives. The primary objective of this work is to analyze employee satisfaction in achieving a balance between the professional and personal life and to develop recommendations for employer on that basis. The theoretical portion of this work defines the issues surrounding Work-Life Balance and tools that employees can use to harmonize the two with an analysis of applications in the Czech Republic and across the European Union. The practical portion of the study analyzes employee satisfaction in real-world cases. On the basis of both components, the study offers recommendations for policy improvements to foster better Work-Life Balance.

Bakgrund: Sex timmars arbetsdag har under senare år skapat stor debatt och fler och fler arbetsgivare väljer att testa arbetstidsförkortningen. Till skillnad från tidigare studier i ämnet, som till stor del syftat till att behandla effekter gällande hälsa och välbefinnande, väljer den aktuella studien att fokusera på införandet av sex timmars arbetsdag. En arbetstidsförkortning ställer krav på ökad effektivitet för att en organisation ska kunna behålla sin lönsamhet, varför åtgärder gällande styrning är relevant vid införandet. Tidigare forskning visar att det har blivit allt vanligare att medarbetare ägnar tid åt icke arbetsrelaterade aktiviteter under arbetstid, vilket är relevant att undersöka i samband med en arbetstidsförkortning. Föreliggande studie undersöker hur två privata företag och två offentliga verksamheter arbetar med styrning för att skapa förutsättningar för en lyckad arbetstidsförkortning. Syfte: Studiens syfte är att ge ökad förståelse för hur organisationer arbetar med styrning för att uppnå ökad effektivitet vid införande av sex timmars arbetsdag. Vidare kommer studien att undersöka om det inom organisationerna funnits något tomt arbete som i samband med införandet kunnat minskas. Metod: För att uppfylla studiens syfte har en kvalitativ metod antagits. Undersökningen är en jämförande studie där semistrukturerade intervjuer genomförts med chefer och medarbetare på fyra organisationer.  Slutsatser: Föreliggande studie visar att cheferna inte upplever någon förändring gällande sitt sätt att styra vid införandet av sex timmars arbetsdag och stort ansvar för förändringar i arbetssätt har förlagts på medarbetarna. Vidare konstaterar studien att ett införande av sex timmars arbetsdag betraktas som en belöning och leder till ökad motivation hos medarbetarna. Slutligen har studien kunnat identifiera tomt arbete inom de undersökta organisationerna som till viss del har kunnat minskas i samband med införandet av sex timmars arbetsdag. / Background: The Six-hour work day has created major debates in recent years, and an increasing number of employers choose to try reduced working hours. Unlike previous studies of the subject, which generally addresses health and welfare effects, the current study chooses to focus on the introduction of a six-hour work day. A work hour reduction requires increased efficiency for an organization to maintain its profitability. Therefore, management control is necessary at the time of implementation of the six-hour work day. Previous research shows that it has become increasingly common for employees to spend time on non-work-related activities during working hours. For that reason, itis relevant to investigate these activities in correlation with a reduction in working hours. The present study examines how two private companies and two public entities work with management control systems to create the conditions for a successful work hour reduction. Purpose: The purpose of the study is to provide a greater understanding of how organizations work with management control systems to achieve increased efficiency when introducing a six-hour work day. Furthermore, the study will investigate whether there was any empty labor within the organizations that could be reduced in connection with introducing the six-hour work day. Method: A qualitative method has been adopted, in order to fulfill the purpose of the study. The survey is a comparative study in which semi-structured interviews were conducted with managers and employees of four organizations. Conclusions: The present study shows that the managers do not experience any changes regarding their way of controlling the employees in connection with introducing the six-hour work day. Instead, the employees have taken big responsibility for making changes in working methods to increase their efficiency. Furthermore, the study finds that a six-hour work day is considered a reward and leads to increased motivation among employees. Finally, the study has been able to identify empty labor within the investigated organizations which, in part, could have been reduced in connection with introducing the six-hour work day.

In the United States, the Energy Independence and Security Act of 2007 mandates the annual production of 136 billion liters of renewable fuel in the US by 2022 (US Congress, 2007). As the nation moves towards energy independence, it is critical to address the current challenges associated with large-scale biofuel production. The biomass logistics network considered consists of three core operations: farmgate operations, highway-hauling operations, and receiving facility operations. To date, decision-making has been limited in post-production management (harvesting, in-field hauling, and storage) in farmgate operations. In this thesis, we study the impacts in the logistics network resulting from the selection of one of four harvest scenarios. A simulation model was developed, which simulated the harvest and filling of a Satellite Storage Location (SSL), using conventional hay harvest equipment, specifically, a round baler. The model evaluated the impacts of four harvest scenarios (ranging from short, October-December, to extended, July-March), on baler equipment requirements, baler utilization, and the storage capacity requirements of round bales, across a harvest production region. The production region selected for this study encompassed a 32-km radius surrounding a hypothetical bio-crude plant in Gretna, VA, and considered 141 optimally selected SSLs. The production region was divided into 6 sub-regions (i.e. tours). The total production region consisted of 15,438 ha and 682 fields. The fields ranged in size from 6 to 156 ha. Of the four scenarios examined in the analysis, each displayed similar trends across the six tours. Variations in the baler requirements that were observed among the tours resulted from variability in field size distribution, field to baler allocations, and total production area. The available work hours were found to have a significant impact on the resource requirements to fulfill harvest operations and resource requirements were greatly reduced when harvest operations were extended throughout the 9-month harvest season. Beginning harvest in July and extending harvest through March resulted in reductions in round balers ranging from 50-63%, as compared to the short harvest scenario, on a sub-regional basis. On a regional basis, beginning harvest in July and extending harvest through March resulted in baler reductions up to 58.2%, as compared to the short harvest scenario. For a 9-month harvest, harvesting approximately 50% of total switchgrass harvest in July-September, as compared to harvesting approximately 50% in October-December, resulted in reductions in round balers ranging from 33.3- 43.5%. An extended (9-month) harvest resulted in the lowest annual baler requirements, and on average lower baler utilization rates. The reduced harvest scenarios, when compared to the extended harvest scenarios, resulted in a significant increase in the number of annual balers required for harvest operations. However, among the reduced harvest scenarios (i.e. Scenario 3 and 4), the number of annual balers required for harvest operations showed significantly less variation than between the extended harvest scenarios (i.e. Scenarios 1 and 2). As a result, an increased utilization of the balers in the system, short harvest scenarios resulted in the highest average baler utilization rates. Storage capacity requirements were however found to be greater for short harvest scenarios. For the reduced harvest scenario, employing an October-December harvest window, approximately 50% of harvest was completed by the end of October, and 100% of total harvest was completed by the third month of harvest (i.e. December). / Master of Science