scholarly journals Living hours under pressure: flexibility loopholes in the Danish IR-model

2017 ◽  
Vol 39 (6) ◽  
pp. 888-902 ◽  
Author(s):  
Anna Ilsøe ◽  
Trine Pernille Larsen ◽  
Jonas Felbo-Kolding

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to investigate the effect of part-time work on absolute wages. The empirical focus is wages and working hours in three selected sectors within private services in the Danish labour market – industrial cleaning, retail, hotels and restaurants – and their agreement-based regulation of working time and wages. Theoretically, this analysis is inspired by the concept of living hours, which addresses the interaction between working hours and living wages, but adds a new layer to the concept in that the authors also consider the importance of working time regulations for securing a living wage. Design/methodology/approach The paper builds on desk research of collective agreements and analysis of monthly administrative register data on wages and working hours of Danish employees from the period 2008-2014. Findings This analysis shows that the de facto hourly wages have increased since the global financial crisis in all three sectors. This is in accordance with increasing minimum wage levels in the sector-level agreements. The majority of workers in all three sectors work part-time. Marginal part-timers – 15 hours or less per week – make up the largest group of workers. The de facto hourly wage for part-timers, including marginal part-timers, is relatively close to the sector average. However, the yearly job-related income is much lower for part-time than for full-time workers and much lower than the poverty threshold. Whereas the collective agreement in industrial cleaning includes a minimum floor of 15 weekly working hours – this is not the case in retail, hotels and restaurants. This creates a loophole in the latter two sectors that can be exploited by employers to gain wage flexibility through part-time work. Originality/value The living wage literature usually focusses on hourly wages (including minimum wages via collective agreements or legislation). This analysis demonstrates that studies of low-wage work must include the number of working hours and working time regulations, as this aspect can have a dramatic influence on absolute wages – even in cases of hourly wages at relatively high levels. Part-time work and especially marginal part-time work can be associated with very low yearly income levels – even in cases like Denmark – if regulations do not include minimum working time floors. The authors suggest that future studies include the perspective of living hours to draw attention to the effect of low number of weekly hours on absolute income levels.

Author(s):  
Trine P. Larsen ◽  
Anna Ilsøe ◽  
Jonas Felbo-Kolding

This chapter explores how the institutional framework for working time and wage regulation affects the prevalence of marginal part-time employment (less than 15 working hours per week) and its implications for men and women's hourly earnings within retail, industrial cleaning, hotels and restaurants. Analytically, we draw on the concept of living hours and find that the combined effects of wage and working time regulation influence the take-up of contracts of few hours and the workforce composition. We argue that the institutional framework of collective agreements, in some instances, facilitates a win-win situation for employers and employees alike and narrows the gender pay gap. In other instances, the very same agreements seemingly promote dualisation, especially for young people and migrants in terms of wage penalties and contracts of few hours, indicating the dual nature of the institutional framework.


2010 ◽  
Vol 23 (4) ◽  
pp. 222-226
Author(s):  
Stephanie Walker

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to present a first installment of a new column on human resource matters in libraries. It aims to focus on the beginning of a professional career in libraries.Design/methodology/approachThe paper looks at beginning a professional career in libraries, including exhibiting appropriate behavior and caution on professional discussion lists, understanding the realities of a difficult job market and utilizing opportunities for part‐time work and for professional development, highlighting exceptional attributes on a résumé, and doing research on hiring institutions.FindingsThe paper reveals advice for beginning a career in libraries.Originality/valueThe paper provides useful information for those who want to pursue a career as a librarian.


2011 ◽  
Vol 24 (4) ◽  
Author(s):  
Marianne van Zwieten ◽  
Jan Fekke Ybema ◽  
Goedele Geuskens

Terms of employment and the preferred retirement age Terms of employment and the preferred retirement age The present study examines how the satisfaction with the terms of employment among older employees affects the preferred retirement age. Two waves of data collection (2008 and 2009) of the cohort-study of the Netherlands Working Conditions Survey (NWCS) were used for this study. The results of this longitudinal study showed that satisfaction with terms of employment that concern flexibility (e.g. flexible working hours and the possibilities for part-time work) contribute to a higher preferred retirement age. It also contributes to not specifying the preferred retirement age. This means that employees who are satisfied with the flexibility in their jobs more often do not know at what age they prefer to retire than employees who are not satisfied, but if they do know they report a higher preferred retirement age. By arranging flexibility in the job together with and to the satisfaction of employees, employees can be stimulated to postpone retirement.


Author(s):  
Aart-Jan Riekhoff ◽  
Oxana Krutova ◽  
Jouko Nätti

In this article, we investigate changes in usual working hours and part-time work in Denmark, Finland, Norway, and Sweden in recent decades. We analyze whether convergence or divergence occurred between countries, between men and women, and between men and women in each country. We use annual data from the European Labor Force Survey to identify trends between 1996 and 2016 (N = 730,133), while controlling for a set of structural factors. The findings suggest a degree of divergence between countries: usual working hours and the incidence of part-time work were relatively stable in Finland and Sweden, while working hours decreased in Denmark and Norway. The latter is partly driven by a decline among the 15–29 age group. The gender gap in working hours and part-time work was closed somewhat, in particular due to a rise in part-time work among men and a decline among women in Norway and Sweden.


2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Carl Evans ◽  
Ceri Vaughan

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to explore university students' perceptions about career development in relation to their part-time working and to examine whether students maximise opportunities arising in their part-time job in order to enhance their personal profile and career aspirations.Design/methodology/approachSemi-structured interviews were held with 20 degree students at a UK university. The interview was based around 19 questions, split into three sections: general; career and the part-time job.FindingsThe findings indicate that while students are aware that part-time work helps in developing personal skills, there is a lack of awareness on how part-time work can provide differentiation in the graduate jobs market and support long-term graduate careers. The conclusion discusses the implications of the findings suggesting greater awareness among students of how part-time work can drive work readiness and long-term career aspirations. It also recommends greater involvement of career advisors and university teaching colleagues in supporting this endeavour.Originality/valueWhile other papers on student working have included a small element regarding careers, this paper offers originality by focussing solely on the relationship between students' part-time work and career aspirations. Moreover, most works in this area have been quantitative studies, whereas this study is qualitatively-based.


Author(s):  
Hanne Cecilie Kavli ◽  
Roy A. Nielsen

Migrants are often at a disadvantage in the labour market. Increased migration has therefore led to a strong focus in receiving countries on policy that can facilitate employment. Less attention is paid to working hours, contracts or type of work. The workplace is viewed as an arena where immigrants can improve language skills and establish contacts through which they can achieve upwards mobility in the labour market. We investigate transfers out of part-time work among immigrants and natives in Norway. By means of competing risk event history analyses, we compare transitions from part-time work to either full-time positions or exits from the labour market over five years among Norwegians and different groups of immigrants. Stable part-time is less common among immigrants than among natives, as immigrants have higher transfers to both full-time work and unemployment. Immigrants - men and women - have the same or higher likelihood of transitioning from part-time to full-time compared to natives. This suggest that immigrants are more often involuntarily in part-time and that they benefit from the opportunity to demonstrate their skills to employers. However, immigrants also have higher exit risk and this risk increases with short working hours, indicating a higher level of precariousness.


2019 ◽  
Vol 9 (3) ◽  
pp. 468-484
Author(s):  
Gbolahan Gbadamosi ◽  
Carl Evans ◽  
Mark Richardson ◽  
Yos Chanthana

PurposeBuilding on the self-efficacy theory and self-theories, the purpose of this paper is to investigate students working part-time whilst pursuing full-time higher education in Cambodia. It explores individuals’ part-time working activities, career aspirations and self-efficacy.Design/methodology/approachData were collected in a cross-sectional survey of 850 business and social sciences degree students, with 199 (23.4 per cent) usable responses, of which 129 (65.2 per cent of the sample) indicated they currently have a job.FindingsMultiple regression analysis confirmed part-time work as a significant predictor of self-efficacy. There was a positive recognition of the value of part-time work, particularly in informing career aspirations. Female students were significantly more positive about part-time work, demonstrating significantly higher career aspirations than males. Results also suggest that students recognise the value that work experience hold in identifying future career directions and securing the first graduate position.Practical implicationsThere are potential implications for approaches to curriculum design and learning, teaching and assessment for universities. There are also clear opportunities to integrate work-based and work-related learning experience into the curriculum and facilitate greater collaboration between higher education institutions and employers in Cambodia.Social implicationsThere are implications for recruitment practices amongst organisations seeking to maximise the benefits derived from an increasingly highly educated workforce, including skills acquisition and development, and self-efficacy.Originality/valueIt investigates the importance of income derived from part-time working to full-time university students in a developing South-East Asian country (Cambodia), where poverty levels and the need to contribute to family income potentially predominate the decision to work while studying.


1985 ◽  
Vol 63 (3) ◽  
pp. 349-354 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jan Brismar ◽  
Göran Sundbärg

✓ The cases of 127 consecutive patients with subarachnoid hemorrhage (SAH), in whom cerebral panangiography revealed no cause for the bleeding nor any sign of an intraparenchymatous hemorrhage, were reviewed in a study of the long-term prognosis and the possible prognostic factors in this condition. Data for all 127 patients in the study were obtained, with an average follow-up period of 5.4 years. After the 1st week post-SAH, only three rebleeds had occurred. In all, 80% of the patients had returned to full activity, 91% to at least part-time work; if the patients with hypertension were excluded, these figures rose to 86% and 95%, respectively. Decreased wakefulness on admission related to a slightly poorer prognosis, whereas age and red blood cell count in the cerebrospinal fluid had no prognostic significance. Of those patients who, at the end of the 2nd week following the SAH, were fully awake and had not developed any symptoms of delayed cerebral ischemia (87% of all patients admitted), 88% returned to full activity, 97% to at least part-time work. The survival rate for this group, as well as causes of death, seem to be within the range for normal individuals. It should thus be possible to inform these patients (at least the normotensive ones) of the benignity of their condition, directly after normal angiography. Even among the patients who were able to return to full activity, symptoms attributable to the SAH were common: 22% experienced problems such as frequent headaches, vertigo, irritability, and increased fatigability.


Author(s):  
Christiana Ierodiakonou ◽  
Eleni Stavrou

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to develop and empirically test a multilevel framework for examining the links between part time work, productivity and institutional context. The authors emphasize the importance of integrating different theoretical perspectives to enrich the understanding of nonstandard work arrangements such as part time and organizational effectiveness such as productivity. Design/methodology/approach – The authors used data from 2,839 businesses in 21 OECD countries. At the firm level, primary data were collected from the 2008 to 2010 survey of the Cranet research network. At the national level, the authors used information from OECD and Botero et al. (2004). The authors analysed the data using hierarchical linear modelling. Findings – Firm use of part time work relates negatively to employment legislation but positively to gender empowerment. The relationship between part time work and productivity at firm level is moderated by employment legislation. Research limitations/implications – This study provides a basis for research in nonstandard work, firm outcomes and institutional policies to further advance. Practical implications – Results indicate how managers should consider the relevant institutional context when deciding whether to promote the use of part time work. Results also show that policy-makers should be careful since employment policies may have adverse effects on use of part time in specific contexts. Originality/value – The authors make theoretical and empirical contributions to the study of nonstandard arrangements by introducing a framework that better captures the complex interrelations between use of part time work, productivity and institutional context. Theoretically, the authors combine the resource based view with institutional theory into a multilevel framework that challenges the conventional model of the flexible firm.


2021 ◽  
pp. 89-108
Author(s):  
Monique Kremer ◽  
Robert Went ◽  
Godfried Engbersen

AbstractThis chapter focuses on part-time work as well as other ingredients necessary to improve control in life including paid leave, good childcare, care for the elderly and workers’ ability to determine their own working hours. How are new technogies, flexible contracts and the intensification of work affecting people's own control in life?


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