The importance of bargaining working time arrangements - Key insights from the BARTIME project

Abstract

The BARTIME project examined the monetary rewards associated with different dimensions of working time by studying working-time related provisions in collective agreements (CBAs) and in the working population across 24 EU Member States. Co-funded by the European Commission’s Directorate-General for Employment, Social Affairs and Inclusion (Project No. 101126498), the project analysed pay for work performed during regular daytime schedules on weekdays (“standard hours”), as well as remuneration for work carried out outside these periods (“non-standard hours”).

The project sought to advance our understanding of the links between collectively bargained arrangements and the actual remuneration of hours worked in practice. First, BARTIME analysed the collective bargaining agenda on pay for working time, focusing on the length, scheduling and predictability of working hours. Second, it examined the extent to which non-standard hours are performed in the labour force, and the levels of pay employees receive for such hours. Third, the project assessed whether premium pay for non-standard working time—both as agreed in collective bargaining and as received in practice—constitutes a substantive share of European workers’ total wage incomes.

This research was motivated by evidence pointing to the widespread incidence of non-standard working hours in European workplaces (Anttila & Oinas, 2018; Leschke, 2015), alongside growing concerns about their implications for workers’ health and well-being (Bernstrøm et al., 2019; Hu et al., 2016). It questions the effectiveness of paying premium rates for non-standard working hours, which were originally intended to discourage employers from excessive reliance on long and anti-social working hours (Hart & Ma, 2010; Yu & Kuo, 2022). Against this background, the BARTIME project placed particular emphasis on evaluating the role and effectiveness of collective bargaining in regulating and compensating non-standard working time.