Irregular, variable and flexible
working hours -how does it
affect work-life balance?
Karen Albertsen
National Institute of Occupational Health
Danmark
Topics:

How many and who experience work-life
conflicts?

How does working hours, working overtime and
irregular working hours affect work-life balance?

Is flexibility the solution?
Working hours and work-life balance

A representative Danish study, COpenhagen
PSychoSOcial Questionnaire (COPSOQ),20042005, 3517 participants at work, NIOH, DK

Results and examples from a literature review,
Collaboration project financed by The Nordic
Council of Ministries

An example of an intervention in working time
arrangements in a psychiatric ward,
Women at work, Multiple case intervention study (17
interventions),2000 – 2004, NIOH,DK
How many and who experience
work-life conflicts in Denmark
and EU?
Work-life conflicts in selected EUcountries
30
25
20
15
10
5
ia
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0
Sourse: ”Quality of life in Europe”, 2003, European Foundation
1/4-1/3 experience time- and energy
conflicts from work to private life in DK
40
35
30
25
Men
women
20
15
10
5
0
Time conflicts
Energy conflicts
COPSOQ 2005; NIOH,DK
Few experience time- and energy conflicts
from private life to work
4,5
4
3,5
3
2,5
Men
women
2
1,5
1
0,5
0
Time conflicts
Energy conflicts
COPSOQ 2005; NIOH,DK
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Fit
Work-life conflicts in selected job groups (among 56):
45
40
35
30
25
20
15
10
Scale score (0-100)
5
0
Results available on www.ami.dk
Summary







1/4 - 1/3 of the working population experience conflicts
from work to private life in Denmark
More people experience problems in the “new” EU
member states
Few people experience problems from private life to
work
More people experience energy than time problems
No large gender differences
Primarily people with higher education and school
teachers
People in “Work without boundaries”
How does working hours, working
overtime and irregular working hours
affect work-life balance?
Long working hours and overtime work
damage work-life balance:





Strong scientific evidence that a high number of
working hours are associated with less balance
between work and private life (15/20)
Pattern more consistent among women (8/8) than
men (1/5)
Strong scientific evidence that overtime work are
associated with lower levels of work life balance
(6/6)
Overtime work problematic for both full- and part
time employed
Fit of working hours, rewards and compensation for
overtime work important mediators
OR for work- home interference higher
under low reward conditions
3,5
3
2,5
2
1,5
1
0,5
0
No overtime/
high rewards
No overtime/
low rewards
Overtime/ high
rewards
Owertime/ low
rewards
Van der Hulst & Geurts, 2001
OR for work-home interference when working
overtime is much higher under low reward and
high pressure conditions
8
7
6
5
4
3
2
1
0
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sure
sure
sure
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ewa
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Lo
Low
Hig
Hig
Van der Hulst & Geurts, 2001
Irregular working hours damage work-life
balance

Strong scientific evidence, that
shift work is associated with poor
work-life balance (6/6)

Shift work prospectively related to
higher work-home interference
(Jansen et al., 2003)

Backward rotating shifts worse
than forward rotating (Van Amelsvoort, 2004)
Negative effects of shift work on
children and marital quality

Poorer cognitive stimulation of children
(Heymann & Earle 2001)

Higher odds for young children of
behavioral and emotional difficulties
(Strazdin et al., 2004)

Marital instability (Presser, 2000)

Prospectively associated with marital
problems and divorce (White & Keith, 1990)
Shift work increase marital instability

Shift-work cross sectional associated with:




Prospectively:



lower marital happiness
higher sexual problems
child related problems.
Disagreements increased when one of the spouses started
to work shifts
Interaction increased and child-related problems decreased
when one of the spouses dropped shift work
The probability of divorce increaded by 57% for
people working in shifts (after adjustment for other factors)
White & Keith, 1990
Summary

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



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Adverse effects of long working hours,
overtime work and irregular hours on WLB
Adverse effects of irregular hours on
children's wellbeing and marital quality
Moderating effects of fit, reward and pressure
on overtime work
Few prospective studies
Few studies with family or couple as entity
Few studies of effects on children
Conceptual problems: What are we
measuring?
Is flexibility the solution?
- Or part of the problem?
Example: A working time intervention
within a psychiatric hospital
In collaboration with:
Joanna Pryce & Karina Nielsen
Organization of intervention


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Aim: Improve work-life balance
Focus: work schedule
Steering committee with representatives from
teams, security representatives, representatives
from trade union and project manager
Daily planning and coordination handled by the
project manager
Two external consultants associated the project in
the whole period
Participants:





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4 nursing teams in intervention group (n= 86)
5 nursing teams in comparison group (n=91)
60% nurses
40% health care assistants
92% female
Average age 43
The intervention



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Participatory approach
3 out of 4 teams chose an empty roster
intervention
Employees should fill in own schedule under
responsibility of the needs of others
Fine – tuning of roster by two nurses on a
rotating basis
Results only includes the three teams
implementing the empty roster
Effect- and process evaluation
Process evaluation:
Interviews with project managers, line
managers, employees, consultants
Focus group interviews
Questions to process in questionnaires
Baseline
questionnaire
Workshop
Baseline
questionnaire
20 month
follow up
Implementation of interventions
Process evaluation:
Focus group interviews
Questions to process in questionnaires
Comparison groups
20 month
follow up
Satisfaction with work-life balance
improved
3,4
3,3
3,2
Time 1
Time 2
3,1
3
2,9
2,8
Comparison
Intervention
Job satisfaction and community improved
90
80
70
60
50
Time 1
Time 2
40
30
20
10
0
Satisfaction Satisfaction Community Community
Comparison Intervention Comparison Intervention
Social support improved
74
73
72
Time 1
Time 2
71
70
69
68
comparison
Intervention
From process evaluation

Managers:


Employees gained better insight in available resources
and utilization of resources
Employees:




Initial resistance to the intervention
Positively received - entry into a broader discussion about
the way in which work is designed and managed.
Competition to be the first one to fill in the schedule
Insecurity related to increased responsibility for the finetuning of the plan
Summary:

Intervention improved job-satisfaction, work-life
balance, social support and feelings of community

No effect on health and stress variables

Relative simple and cheap intervention

Important that new responsibilities are followed by
new qualifications
Scientific evidence for the positive effect of
control over working hours

Strong scientific support that control over working hours
is associated with better work-life balance (10/12)

No evidence that control moderate or mediate the effect
of long or irregular hours (3/3)

Control can not compensate for high number of hours or
irregular hours

Problem in many studies: lack of control of relevant work
environmental factors

Control often associated with a good work environment
in general
No effect of flexible work hours in a large,
prospective and adequately controlled study
WFC was predicted over 1 year among 5143 men by:
 High psychological, emotional and physical demands
 Low decision latitude
 Low social support
 Conflicts with supervisor
 Job insecurity
 Shift work
 – but not flexible work hours, overtime work or commuting time

WFC was predicted over 1 year among 999 women by:
 Physical demands
 Overtime work
 Commuting time
 – but not flexible work hours
Jansen et al., 2003
Summary

Positive effects of influence on WLB and
wellbeing

No moderating or mediating effects of
influence

Other work environmental factors may be
more important
Perspectives/questions




Influence over working hours improve worklife balance - BUT
Job groups with high influence over work
schedule have low work life balance
It may be that a certain level of influence over
working hours are important, but that no
regulation give rise to new problems
Self-regulation in a labor market with the goal
of constantly increasing efficiency can be
dangerous!
Dick Birds tries with catering: ”That's it! Now, your employees can have
lunch, including salad, chicken, and all coffee consumed during the day,
through this drip. All breaks are gone! They will just work uninterrupted!
And you pay me! All are happy!”
Thank you for your attention!