Working-Time Regimes and Work-Life Balance in Europe

Abstract

The organization of times and places of work are key elements of working conditions, and define employees’ possibilities for balancing work and other life spheres. This study analyses several aspects of temporal and spatial flexibility, and their associations with employees’ work-life balance. This study separates four dimensions of temporal flexibility and one indicator of spatial flexibility. The dimensions of temporal flexibility are the number of hours worked, when the hours are worked, work-time intensity, and the degree of working-time autonomy. The workplace flexibility indicator is an index of work locations. Work-life balance is analysed with work-hour fit. The analyses were based on the fifth wave of the European Working Conditions Survey collected in 2010. We used data from 25 Member States of the European Union ( n = 25,417). Based on the hierarchical cluster analysis, this study found various types of flexibility regimes in Europe. Country clusters show a clear effect on perceived work-life balance even after controlling for flexibility measurements at the individual level. This study contributes to the existing research in analysing several dimensions of temporal and spatial flexibility at the same time, as well as their associations to work-life balance.