That's not to say the rules in the initial batch of countries are easy, the report explains how the Netherlands law operates: The limits referred to may be exceeded in many countries where working time flexibility schemes allow weekly hours to be varied around an average over a reference period, as permitted by the Working Time Directive.
In general, we observe a large degree of working time flexibility.
Next to the reduction of overtime hours and other instruments of working time flexibility if available at the firm level (e.g., working time accounts), short-time work was the instrument through which this could be managed at reasonable costs.
Increasing working time flexibility reflects this tendency as well as the numerical flexibility7 in Austria: Data from the Austrian Social Insurance8 shows that a quarter of employees change their occupation within a year9 [16, 16].
Hence, although both practices offer regular flexibility, employees prefer flexible work schedules to telecommuting, because flexible work schedules provide daily working time flexibility without the significant drawbacks of telecommuting.
Male physicians reported greater freedom to control their work in terms of work-time flexibility and work pace, t (483) = 5.138 (p = 0.001).
Perceived work control in the form of autonomy and variety in work and time flexibility was previously shown to have a positive effect on reducing work family conflict.
A further distinction can be made between external (hire and fire policies) and internal (for example, working time reductions) flexibility.
For example, Parasuraman and Simmers (2001) show that, in comparison with organizational employees, self-employed persons (with leadership functions and the "upward career" pattern) perceived higher autonomy and time flexibility at work, and had higher job involvement and job satisfaction.
For years, ever since the 1980s when women again began to flood into the workplace, pioneers such as Anna Coote, Tess Gill and Harriet Harman have argued that part-time work, flexibility and job shares to fit around family commitments (and the high cost of childcare) shouldn't have to mean that a woman forfeits aspirations and a career.
