Dominique Taddei

The economic effects of reducing and reorganizing working time

Abstract This article goes beyond the often ideological debate for and against a reduction in working time and analyses the effects of shorter working time at company and country levels. Logic and experience dictate that such reductions must be accompanied by a process of work reorganization and include financial compensation for those working shorter hours. However, while these three ingredients are indissoluble, not all firms can proceed at the same pace and in the same ways. Nevertheless, the article shows that, as long as implementation proceeds in a decentralized and selective manner and is accompanied by a judicious reorganization of these hours, it could be extremely beneficial to all parties—companies, the state and individuals, both workers and producers.

A major change in working time

Abstract This article describes how this special issue was conceived, the rationale behind it and the principal lessons to be drawn on the subject of working time in industrialized countries. It shows that we may be at a turning point in history; a process of fundamental transition is occurring between one epoch—the industrial era during which linear, uniform working time, based on a specific mode of production and set of professional relationships, was imposed as the central pivot around which the whole of society was organized—and another, characterized by a noticeable reduction in, but above all a significant diversification of the nature of working time, ie rapid change in its content and form. We are witnessing the shift from a single temporality—time imposed synchronistically—to a plural temporality—individually chosen working time and variable hours.

Os acordos de redução-reorganização do tempo de trabalho: negociações e conseqüências econômicas

Agreements which associa te reduction and reorganization of working time seem to be particularly relevant as far as the economic and social eftectiveness is concerned. These agreements are market oriented and arean answer to insufticient manufacturing capacity or to constraints on productive capacity. They aim at increasing the equipment operating hours andlor at addapting its use to demand fluctuations. Working time reduction, which has been rather granted than negociated, appears to be the bestsocial counterpart to the unsocial hours due to reorganizations. It is difticult to measure these agreements impact on the firms competitiveness; nevertheless they have shown a positive impact on their profitability as uiell as on investment and on employment.

Social And Political Issues

Up to this point, the duration of operating hours has been analyzed exclusively from an economic point of view. Such an analysis is absolutely indispensable but is not the only way of looking at operating hours. We cannot investigate this issue without taking into account the duration of working hours and the different times of the day, week or the year that workers have to work those hours. Operating hours, therefore, have a social dimension. This social dimension is implicitly present in economic analysis when it takes account, in models of operating hours, of the “disutility” of “unsocial hours” and of the extra bonuses paid for these hours (see Bosworth and Heathfield, this volume). It often comes explicitly into play if working time schedules are altered by a change in operating hours. These changes might interfere with social and family life or alter working conditions, and are often the subject of negotiations between management and unions. In these negotiations, the price of “disutility” is agreed upon.

Capital Operating Time (COT) In Macroeconomic Modelling

Modern macroeconomic analysis clearly requires some micro foundations if they are to be at all convincing. Unfortunately for our present purpose the usual assumption of a representative firm will not do. When considering COT there is a wide range of current practices and great differences in scope for change. We therefore propose to consider a weighted average of COT’s over all firms — those adopting new working practices and those retaining the old — and examine the macroeconomic effects of changing that proportion. Murray Foss thus calculated, after his 1963 pioneer studies, a significant positive contribution of COT to American growth. This assumes that the operating time was not simply substituted for capital stock but rather that it augmented the supply of capital services. In order to resolve these issues it is necessary to resort to both economic theory and econometric practice.

Shiftwork And Capital Operating Time In Industry: A Comparative International Survey

From a historic point of view, the interest of economists in the development of shiftwork over the past three decades (and in its corollary, capital operating time) has arisen from various concerns which reflect contrasting economic situations.