Flexible Work Schedules

The standard employment contract used to offer ‘permanent, full-time’ work with a segment of the workforce working part-time. More recently, another category of employment has become more common. This category is generally referred to as ‘flexible’ work hours, though other terms like ‘casual,’ ‘irregular,’ ‘on-call’ and ‘overtime’ refer to similar arrangements. Those who are working a flexible schedule may be working less than full-time hours, the same as full-time or, in many cases, more than full-time hours.

A flexible work schedule can be determined by the employee and may include job sharing and shift trading. On the other hand, a flexible work schedule can be determined by the employer, and in this instance, employees are required to work as determined by the employer and have little or no control over their work schedule. This practise has become much more common as organizations attempt to control their labour costs. However, the consequences for employees who are subject to employer-based flexibility can be severe.

A review of data in Europe found that “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.” The report further states that “individual flexibility alleviates the negative effects of the company-based flexibility on subjective health, safety and social well-being.”