Working time and work-life balance in European companies : establishment survey on working time 2004-2005

The Lisbon agenda has set EU Member States the challenge of increasing employment rates, especially for women and for older workers. In order for the targets to be met, it will be necessary to attract these groups into the labour force in increasing numbers, and to retain them there. For this to happen, work must compatible with the other roles and activities people undertake. In short, an appropriate work-life balance must be achieved. An important element of such a work-life balance is the arrangement of working time. Against this background, the Foundation's Establishment Survey on Working Time and Work-Life Balance 2004-2005 set out to map the use of a variety of working time arrangements in companies, to assess the reasons for their introduction and their impact. This report presents an overview of the survey's initial findings. It focuses on aspects such as flexible time arrangements in general, overtime, part-time work, non-standard working hours, childcare leave and other forms of long-term leave, phased and early retirement and company policies to support work-life balance.