The report looked at working time arrangements (also known as working hours) introduced during the 1980s and concluded that these can benefit the economy, businesses and workers alike and lay the foundations for a better and healthier work-life balance.
Although it warns that the benefits of some of these flexible arrangements, such as improved family life, may be accompanied by disadvantages such as gender imbalances and greater health risks, the report showed that during the health crisis these arrangements helped to keep businesses running and jobs in place.
Lead author of the report, Jon Messenger, stated that “the so-called ‘Big Quit’ phenomenon has brought work-life balance to the forefront of social and labour market issues in the post-pandemic world”.
According to the study, long working hours are generally associated with lower productivity per unit of work, while shorter working hours are associated with higher productivity. Remote work helps to maintain employment and creates a new framework for employee autonomy, the report adds, but states that some forms of flexible working arrangements require regulations to limit their potential negative effects, through policies referring to what is often called the “right to disconnect.”
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