Rigidity of working hours among EU and OECD countries is one of the highest in Estonia

Working time patterns have significantly evolved as a result of the combined influence of technological changes, globalization, business restructuring and work organization, increased importance of services, increased diversity of the workforce and more individualized lifestyles and attitudes towards careers. Surveys show that employees tend to prefer employers that offer flexible working time options which is of no surprise since flexible working time arrangements offer a good deal of benefits. And that employers are getting more loyalty and engagement out of workers satisfied with their flexible work arrangements.

Regardless the assumed benefits, policymakers still tend to interfere with employee and employer relations particularly in the domain of working hours. Current EU legislation determines the maximum number of working hours per day and week, minimum rest periods between working-time, impose restrictions on unusual working hours, etc.. The aim of such regulations is to ensure a minimum level of protection for workers, but this does not necessarily correspond to the actual needs of the market and can reduce the stability of the employment relationship.

The report provides an overview of the economic implications of the regulation of working hours and a cross-country legislative and policy analysis on the regulation of working hours in Bulgaria, the Czech Republic, Estonia, Lithuania, Poland, and Slovakia. The study shows that the effective functioning of the labor market, the ability of the employees and employers to adapt effectively to market changes and to meet their interests is determined by the level of flexibility of working time regulation. The regulation of aspects not regulated by EU law differs significantly between countries. For example, the differences are due to statutory overtime, night work, and pay arrangements. Regulating these aspects affects not only the functioning of the labor markets, but also the state economy and its competitiveness in the region and at EU level. The analysis also shows that stringent legal regulation forbidding work on certain days, by providing for paid leave days does not correspond to the trends in the functioning of the modern labor market.

Read the full raport here:  http://bit.ly/2mOkkKa.