- Project number: F 2531
- Institution: Federal Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (BAuA)
- Status: Ongoing Project
- Planned end: 2024-09-30
Description:
The organisation of working time plays an important role for the safety and health of employees. In recent years, there has been increasing research on the flexible organisation of working time. It has become clear that different groups of employees benefit in different ways. For example, greater work time control is more strongly associated with better health among older employees. However, questions on the circumstances under which employees in certain age groups or life phases particularly benefit from specific flexibility options, or under which circumstances working time requirements such as shift work or long working hours have a particularly detrimental effect are in large parts unanswered.
The aim of this research project is therefore to investigate the relationships between possibilities for working time flexibility as well as working time requirements (length, location, flexibility) and health, work ability, motivation (e.g., intention to retire) and behaviour (e.g., work activity in retirement). In doing so, the investigation will focus on the age or life phase of employees, taking into account further personal and employment characteristics. It particularly seeks to answer the question on which groups of older employees benefit most from flexible working hours while also considering adverse effects of high working time requirements. In addition to personal and employment characteristics, other job characteristics (demands and resources) will be taken into account.
The methodological approach of the project essentially consists of answering the research questions based on data from the BAuA working time survey.
The findings will contribute to gear working time and occupational safety and health more specifically towards the needs of older employees. Therefore, the results are of interest to the scientific community as well as to occupational safety and health stakeholders and social partners, and will be made available to the various target groups via publications and presentations.