- Project number: F 2507
- Institution: Federal Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (BAuA)
- Status: Completed Project
Description:
Working time organisation remains an important topic in occupational health and safety. The public debate is shaped by the flexibilisation of working time and rest periods. In the face of employees' need for more control over their working time, working time recording and the working times during the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic, flexible work arrangements are becoming increasingly important. These can include teleworking, working from home or mobile working.
The aim of this project was to close research gaps, address the public debate and objectify it on the basis of scientific evidence. To this end, data of several BAuA working time surveys from 2015, 2017, 2019 and 2021 were analysed. The results emphasise the role of working time organisation for the mental and physical health, well-being and work-life balance of employees. It is clear that working hours and temporal boundaries are a key factor in recovery processes. This applies to rest periods and breaks as well as to long working hours and overtime.
The recording of working hours is accompanied with healthy working time arrangements and more control over recovery and working times for employees. Furthermore, employees in special professions, such as care-related work, were examined, because of the particularly negative demand patterns in the organisation of working hours during the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic.
The project provides these representative results not only to the scientific community, but also, among others, for parliamentary enquiries, companies, occupational health and safety stakeholders and social partners. By doing so it can be ensured that working time is organised for the safety and health of employees. Against the backdrop of ongoing political debates on reducing working hours and making the Working Hours Act (Arbeitszeitgesetz) more flexible, the topic of working time organisation will remain important in the future and requires continuous, representative working time reporting.
