Including international comparative analysis alongside national case studies, this volume offers a wealth of information on the new trends which have emerged over the past decades - all of which were discussed at the recent 9th International Symposium on Working Time, Paris (2004). It looks at the increasing use of results-based employment relationships for managers and professionals, and the increasing fragmentation of time to more closely tailor staffing needs to customer requirements (e.g., short-hours, part-time work). Moreover, as operating/opening hours rapidly expand toward a 24-hour and 7-day economy, the book considers how this has resulted in a growing diversification, decentralization, and individualization of working hours, as well as an increasing tension between enterprises' business requirements and workers' needs and preferences regarding their hours. This new reality has raised some other challenging issues as well and the volume addresses those such as increasing employment insecurity and instability, time-related social inequalities, particularly in relation to gender, workers' ability to balance their paid work with their personal lives, and even the synchronization of working hours with social times, such as community activities.

This book explores the legal and practical implications of the digital age for employment and industrial relations. To that end, the book analyses the problems arising from the digitalisation of work and the negative effects on working conditions in fields such as platform work, robotisation, discrimination, data protection, and freedom of speech. It also looks at how to ensure decent working conditions for workers affected by digitalisation, by investigating the minimum standards that should be ensured to mitigate negative effects – and how these could be best guaranteed by legislation and collective bargaining. The book presents a theoretical framework on the impact of automatisation, robotics, and digitalisation on the very basic principles of individual and collective labour law. The chapters provide an in-depth analysis of new patterns of work prompted by digitalisation, including: classification of platform workers; recognition of employment and social security rights; competition law aspects of platform work; remote (tele)work arrangements; algorithmic decision-making and remote surveillance; data protection and privacy; and social media in working environments. The book is an important reference for academics and researchers, social partners, and policy makers with an interest in labour law and industrial relations.

Summarizes five dimensions of decent working time (healthy working time, "family-friendly" working time, gender equality through working time, protective working time and choice and influence regarding working time), and how these principles can be put into action. Identifies how each dimension can contribute to reaching the desired working time win-win situation by being mutual beneficial for workers and employers, as it improves work-life balnce while simultaneously making enterprise more competitive.

As we enter the new century, a common goal has emerged: the removal or liberalization of restrictions on unsocial hours and the variation of working hours. This book draws together an international team to examine the process.

Ronald Burke has put together a collection of state-of-the-art research and writing about work hours and work addiction from around the world. This book is essential reading for academics, managers, human resource professionals and anyone else interested in identifying types of work addiction, learning about antecedents and consequences of workaholism, as well as how to help people achieve work life balance. The contributions from top notch researchers and academics in the field provide a rounded view of how the interplay between career aspirations, work motivation and working conditions contribute to health outcomes and effectiveness at work. Astrid M. Richardsen, Norwegian School of Management, Norway The Research Companion to Working Time and Work Addiction captures the essence and intricacies of an important and fascinating topic. It explores the body of writing on work-hours that until this book existed quite separately from literature on work addiction. As can be expected from the breadth of his knowledge and the consistent quality of his work, Ronald J. Burke has done a terrific job of editing a book that presents work addiction and working time in a way that is both scientifically sound and engaging. The twenty four contributors have done an excellent job of extending and refining our understanding of work addiction and working time in this collection of excellent conceptual and empirical chapters. This book is a must for all scholars and practitioners who are interested in this fascinating aspect of work life. Ayala Malach-Pines, Ben-Gurion University, Israel This is an excellent and unique book which not only addresses the detrimental effects of long working hours and work addiction, but also investigates the causes and treatment of workaholism. An outstanding volume which includes both conceptual and empirical chapters from distinguished academics and practitioners from several countries. This is essential reading for all those interested in health and well-being in the workplace and the establishment of satisfactory home and work life balances. The editor should be congratulated for this groundbreaking book. Marilyn J. Davidson, University of Manchester, UK This book is overdue. Someone, somewhere, a long time ago, should have put this book together, because its value is incalculable. The pace of change in the workplace has vastly increased, and workers see their jobs as more complex and fragmented. What is the prognosis? Where is it all going? What can be done about it? If anything? This book is more a handbook than a research companion, on all those aspects of the workplace that touch on or represent change, pace, workload, work addiction, work life balance, job satisfaction, job involvement, stress, conflict, values, Type A behaviour and other personality disorders. What s more, it delves into some of the more unknown elements of these aspects of work, in different countries. Read it. You ll not be disappointed. Janice Langan-Fox, Swinburne University of Technology, Melbourne, Australia This is a timely and needed book for all professionals who have concerns about issues related to quality of life and well-being. This book is an original piece prepared by a team of international experts, written in an informative and scholarly manner, and presents in an effective form the accumulated wealth of knowledge on the theme. This is a solid book that can satisfy both the academic readership and the professional community. I truly and sincerely recommend it. It is a must for people who are interested in this subject. Simon Dolan, ESADE Business School, Spain This Research Companion examines the effects of work hours on individual and family well-being and questions why people work hard and whether some can work too hard. It integrates contributions from two areas of research work hours and work addiction that have historically been pursued separately. Ronald Burke argues that while work hours have decreas

This book introduces readers to the concept and theories of decent work and provides a framework for measuring it at the micro, meso and macro level in a given country. Further, it addresses the importance of measuring decent work in today’s world and in connection with the different challenges countries face depending on their respective stage of development. The essence of the book lies in highlighting the practical applications of decent work in terms of its ability to deliver empirical measurements of qualitative and subjective phenomena with a mixed-methods approach combining tools and techniques from economics and statistics. Moreover, as the applicability of decent work is not confined to the IT industry and formal sectors of the economy, the book also provides useful guidelines on how further empirical studies can be undertaken to measure decent work in non-IT industries. As such, the book offers a rich compilation of empirical and theoretical contributions on decent work designed to not only enrich readers’ understanding, but also promote awareness of the practical relevance and technical aspects of the subject matter.

First Published in 2007. Lee, McCann and Messenger trace the theoretical background of the concept of working time before examining recent trends in working time laws in developing countries and countries in transition. The study then shifts its focus to developments in selected countries, considering both broad trends in working time at a national level and the structure and dynamics underlying these trends. The authors provide a remarkable set of policy suggestions that preserve health and safety, are ?family- friendly?, promote gender equality, enhance productivity and facilitate workers? choice and influence over their working hours. This book will be of great interest to policy-makers engaged with working conditions or health and safety, labour market experts, trade union leaders and workers? organizations, as well as academics and researchers in the fields of industrial relations, labour economics and labour law.

This report is intended to facilitate the discussion of domestic work at the Conference, and provides information from across the world that may be useful in replying to the questionnaire appended to it. A special effort has been made to identify and examine focused and innovative laws and regulations on domestic workers that are emerging in a number of countries.

Addressing changes to today’s work and employment relationships, this volume offers suggestions for how public and private sector policy and practice can support the realisation of Decent Work, while exploring urgent and practical possibilities to secure fair and decent working lives for all.

Low construction labour productivity and the inadequate welfare of construction workers are consistent challenges in developing countries. These challenges are partially due to shortcomings situated in the Decent Work Agenda. This book proposes ways of sustaining construction labour productivity through fulfilling the Decent Work Agenda. This is a unique area of focus that is essential to fulfilling the broader and global aspects of decent work, sustainability and construction labour productivity. Also, the focus of this book is on contributing to the plight of construction workers whose treatment is significantly unsound. The construction industry needs to develop a humanistic face and contribute to the UN’s sustainable development goal of achieving full and productive employment and decent work for all women and men. To achieve this, construction companies are encouraged to implement corporate social responsibility strategies by equipping workers of different educational levels with knowledge and skills that can be transferred to benefit themselves and their communities. Thus, establishing structured on-the-job training that incorporates sustainability-learning objectives to achieve workers’ safety on sites is essential. The book advocates for decency in the workplace through people-centred management, sustainability learning of skilled and semi-skilled construction workers and decent working conditions. It will be of interest to construction industry policymakers, construction professionals, academics and students of sustainable development and developing economies.