Ireland among least flexible on working time

ONLY one-in-10 Irish adults have some degree of flexibility over their working time, according to a new EU survey.

The findings mean the Irish worker has one of the least flexible arrangements of any national labour force within the EU, especially among western European member states.

The figures show that almost 80% of Irish employees have regular nine-to-five type jobs with no flexibility in their working arrangements, with women having slightly less flexibility than their male counterparts.

A further 10% of the workforce work staggered hours and had different times for starting and ending work but little control over the actual times.

In contrast, three out of 10 workers in Britain and almost half of the German labour force have flexible working arrangements. Only 5% of Irish workers have total flexibility in determining their own work schedules, while another 5% have a limited form of flexibility.

The results are contained in a new report by the EU statistical office Eurostat on the flexibility of working time arrangements for women and men in Europe.

A key element of the European Employment Strategy is to ensure that it is possible for females as well as males to pursue working careers irrespective of their family circumstances and responsibilities.

“Flexible working arrangements have a potentially important role to play in helping to attain this objective,” said an EU spokesperson.

The survey comes just days after a report by the Economic and Social Research Institute predicted that women will make up the majority of business, financial and legal professionals by 2012.

The ESRI’s findings led the National Women’s Council of Ireland to call on the Government and employers to encourage greater work flexibility arrangements which all employees could avail of without losing their job security.

Earlier this year, the Government announced a number of initiatives designed to assist work-life balance for employees.

The EU survey also shows that the vast majority of people who work at weekends and nights are happy to do so because it is convenient for their personal life.

Half of all Irish men and one in three Irish women work at weekends, with almost 90% of all employees in favour of working at such a time — one of the highest contentment rates in the EU. One in five men and almost 12% of women work at night.