The use of flexible work arrangements (e.g., remote, hybrid) has spread during the pandemic and cumulative studies provide mixed findings on the positive vs. negative consequences of these working methods for employees and organizations. The present study examined the potentially curvilinear...

This study examines the short-term effects of the introduction of a statutory minimum wage in Germany on hourly wages, monthly wages and paid working hours. We exploit a novel panel dataset by linking the Structure of Earnings Survey (SES) 2014 and the Earnings Survey (ES) 2015 and apply a...

The concept of a four-day workweek (4DWW) has gained traction as organisations explore ways to improve employee well-being and productivity. This study investigates the opportunities, challenges, and perceived feasibility of adopting a 4DWW in the UK, from the perspective of employees on...

Despite the importance of regulating working hours for workers' health and maintaining labour productivity, the literature lacks credible causal estimates on the impact of reduced working hours. We provide new evidence for the causal effect of shorter workweeks on mortality using full population...

The green and digital transitions are increasingly described as the 'twin transition' in EU policy documents, social partners' strategic plans and academic debates. However, the exact meaning of this term remains ambiguous, and the interconnections between these transitions are largely...

The motherhood penalty is well-documented, but what happens at the other end of the reproductive spectrum? Menopause - a transition often marked by debilitating physical and psychological symptoms - also entails substantial costs. Using population-wide Norwegian and Swedish data and...

Standard economic models view labour supply decisions as individual utility maximisation balancing the trade-off between income and leisure. In contrast, we focus on the social context as a central determinant and analyse how colleagues' working hours shape individual working hours preferences....

This paper examines the relationship between flexible working arrangements (FWA) and workers' affective well-being (AWB), using data from the American Time-Use Survey (ATUS) and the Occupational Information Network (O*NET). We analyze differences in workers' emotional experiences during paid...

To understand how telework is perceived among occupational groups with different work tasks within the same company, this qualitative study aimed to explore how managers and employees experience telework in relation to well-being, individual performance, and the work environment. This...

Die Forderung nach einer Work-Life-Balance und der spürbare Arbeitskräftemangel haben die öffentliche Diskussion um Arbeitszeitveränderungen verstärkt. Kann sich die Gesellschaft eine allgemeine Absenkung der Arbeitszeit leisten oder sind vielmehr längere Arbeitszeiten vonnöten? Die...

Die Diskussion um die Einführung einer 4-Tage-Woche in Deutschland ist von kontroversen Ansichten geprägt: Die einen sehen sie als den Weg zu einer modernen und produktiveren Arbeitswelt, die anderen befürchten wirtschaftliche Nachteile und eine Verschärfung des Arbeitskräftemangels. Der...

In December 2024, Spain's government reached an agreement with the country's major trade unions to reduce the standard workweek to 37.5 hours without wage cuts by the end of 2025. This paper provides an ex-ante assessment of the proposed reform using EUROLAB, a discrete choice labour supply...

Im Koalitionsvertrag der 21. Legislaturperiode planen die Regierungsparteien CDU, CSU und SPD mehr Flexibilität bei der Gestaltung von Arbeitszeiten im Einklang mit der europäischen Arbeitszeitrichtlinie. Dabei geht es mit dem geplanten Wechsel von einer Tages- hin zur Wochenhöchstarbeitszeit...

The changing nature of work, accelerated by the experience of the COVID-19 pandemic has resulted in several fundamental shifts in the terms and conditions of work. Overlain with a clear trend of increased non-standard employment, including through the gig economy and platform work, this poses...

Flexible work schedules and telecommuting may help to improve the combination of work and family. This is arguably most important in households with (young) children. An open question is whether job flexibility can increase the well-being of the children, which depends, in part, on the time...

This study provides the first analysis of Japan's 2018 Work Style Reform (WSR) and its effects on firms and workers, using payroll and survey data in a difference-in-difference design. We find that the reform's introduction of an overtime cap reduces average monthly overtime hours by 5 hours...

Flexible work schedules and telecommuting may help to improve the combination of work and family. An open question is whether job flexibility can increase the well-being of the children, which depends on parental time spent on childcare. We propose a rich collective model describing the...

Countries often encourage part-time work among new parents as part of their family policies, aiming to foster mothers' labor market attachment. However, this approach may unintentionally impede women's long-term career prospects. We examine the impact of a 1999 Spanish reform that allowed...

The time Europeans devote to paid work has consistently decreased since the Industrial Revolution. However, since the 1980s, the pace of this trend has slowed. The aim of this article is twofold: first, we develop a theoretical framework to account for the main factors determining the evolution...

This study examines how the Covid-19 pandemic-induced shift towards remote work has influenced parents' allocation of non-market and market work. Utilizing a probabilitybased panel survey and comprehensive administrative records from the Netherlands covering the years 2014 to 2021, we...

Using German survey data, we show that performance pay is associated with a substantially lower gender hours gap. While performance pay increases the work hours of both men and women, the increase is much larger for women than for men. This finding persists in worker fixed effects estimates. We...

Purpose This paper explores flexible working practices (FWPs) and takes a critical view that argues a need to consider not only access to digital technological resources but also the vast array of factors that constrain one's ability to use technology for its intended benefits, as constituting...

With economists suggesting to increase labor market participation to counter demographic changes and skills shortages, contrary to the recently increased awareness of work-life balance, the question arises as to how much of the previously unexploited labor supply can actually be activated and...