Irja Kandolin

Flexible Working Hours, Health, and Well-Being in Europe: Some Considerations from a SALTSA Project

The project brought together researchers from 9 EU-Countries and resulted in a number of actions, in particular the following: (a) There is an urgent need of defining the concept of flexible working hours, since it has been used in many different and even counterintuitive ways; the most obvious distinction is where the influence over the working hours lies, that is between the “company-based flexibility” and the “individual-oriented flexibility”; (b) The review of the Legislation in force in the 15 European countries shows that the regulation of working times is quite extensive and covers (Council Directive 93/104/EC) almost all the various arrangements of working hours (i.e., part-time, overtime, shift, and night work), but fails to provide for flexibility; (c) According to the data of the Third EU Survey on Working Conditions, longer and “irregular” working hours are in general linked to lower levels of health and well-being; moreover, low (individual) flexibility and high variability of working hours (i.e., company-based flexibility) were consistently associated with poor health and well-being, while low variability combined with high autonomy showed positive effects; (d) Six substudies from different countries demonstrated that flexible working hours vary according to country, economic sector, social status, and gender; overtime is the most frequent form of company-based flexibility but has negative effects on stress, sleep, and social and mental health; individual flexibility alleviates the negative effects of the company-based flexibility on subjective health, safety, and social well-being; (e) The literature review was able to list more than 1,000 references, but it was striking that most of these documents were mainly argumentative with very little empirical data. Thus, one may conclude that there is a large-scale intervention ongoing in our society with almost completely unknown and uncontrolled effects. Consequently, there is a strong need for systematic research and well-controlled actions in order to examine in detail what flexible working hours are considered, what and where are their positive effects, in particular, as concerns autonomy, and what regulation seem most reasonable.

Interaction of age with shift-related sleep-wakefulness, sleepiness, performance, and social life

It is not clear how the age-related changes in sleep are related to performance and subjective sleepiness at different time of the day. The aim of the present study was to study work shift related interactions of age with sleep-wakefulness, performance, and social life. A representative sample of aircraft maintenance workers in a continuous three-shift system was studied by a questionnaire (n = 275) and an on-site field (n = 49) study. In the field study, sleep length and quality and different ratings of social and other activities were studied with an actigraphy and a Pocket PC diary during 15 consecutive days. Subjective sleepiness (KSS) and vigilance performance (PVT) were registered at work. Although the shift type influenced the sleep, subjective sleepiness, performance, and social life, age was distinctly related only to shift-related changes in the amount of sleep, subjective sleepiness, and psychomotor vigilance. Night shifts were related with shorter sleep, decreased performance, and increased sleepiness. Although subjective sleepiness was greatest among the youngest (25–34 years) age group during the morning and the night shifts, the increase of performance lapses was higher among the middle-aged (35–49 years) and senior (50–58 years) groups during the night shifts compared to the youngest age group. According to the questionnaire, older shiftworkers also tended to perceive more frequently that subjective sleepiness decreases their work performance during the morning and night shifts. The results indicate of no direct link between age-related differences in subjective sleepiness and performance at night work. The shorter day sleep after the night shifts and higher deterioration of subjective and objective performance according to age urge on development of shift schedules aiming at lower fatigue levels during the night shifts.

Combined effects of shiftwork and individual working time control on long-term sickness absence: a prospective study of Finnish employees.

Objective: To investigate whether the effects of shiftwork on long-term sickness absence vary according to the level of individual working time control (WTC). Methods: A representative sample of Finnish employees (1447 men and 1624 women) was combined with a register-based follow-up. A negative binomial model was used in the analysis of long-term sickness absence days. The results were adjusted for various background and work-related factors. Results: Individual WTC decreased long-term sickness absence. The higher rate of sickness absences in shiftwork was mainly due to the lower level of WTC. Working time control decreased sickness absence equally in day work and shiftwork. Conclusions: The negative health effects of shiftwork may be decreased by offering sufficient WTC. Establishments that use WTC as a human resource instrument may benefit from reduced absenteeism.

Who Benefits from Working in Non-Traditional Workroles: Interaction Patterns and Quality of Worklife

The Finnish labor market is sharply segregated by sex Previous research has shown the work of women to be inferior to that of men in that it is less autonomous, allows less freedom for self-regulation and self-determination, is more restricted in space and time, and is more monotonous. This study sought to determine whether the segregation of work by sex at the workplace affected the qualitatine aspects of mens and womens work. Data were taken from the Finnish Survey on the Quality of Work involving a representative sample of the Finnish wage-earning population (N = 4502), with 48 per cent women workers and 52 per cent men Workers were classified into three categories (single sex, balanced and token groups) according to functional sex-segregation Results showed that women usually did profit from the fact that they performed the same sort of work as men, although this effect was more apparent for the high-status white-collar than for blue-collar women. Results from the Finnish Quality of Work Survey showed that there were no objective reasons why women should not enter the typical male-dominated occupations since the salaries are high, work is autonomous, varied and less rigidly paced However, there are not such reasons for men to enter typical female-dominted occupations since men lost in pay with the integration of work by sex. In addition to the results from the Finnish Survey on the Quality of Work, some topics connected with male/female interaction patterns (unwanted sexual attention and sex-stereotypical attitudes) were sup plemented by results from a questionnaire study of men (N = 536) and women (N = 573) working in six occupations which were chosen on the basis of their sex composition and socioeconomic status.

The impact of computerization on job content and stress: a seven year follow-up in the insurance sector

Publisher Summary This chapter describes that the mastery of data applications had increased along with daily video display terminal (VDT) work during a seven-year follow-up. The change in mastery is not yet seen after one year of the implementation, but was evident after a five-year stable stage. Age is not connected to the time in VDT work or to the feelings of sufficient mastery of the applications. These results indicate that the stress response often reported with extensive VDT usage might be related to insufficient mastery of numerous applications, along with great amount of daily VDT work and not the VDT work itself. Thus, the stress could be diminished by strengthening the confidence of mastery. Enough time to practice and as long a transition phase as possible should be allowed to active users, because it took several years before the feelings of sufficient mastery increased.