Topics for Comparative Research on Operating Hours in the EU

This volume is the second book based on comparative and comprehensive data from the 2003 representative European Union Company survey of Operating hours, Working times and Employment (EUCOWE) in France, Germany, the Netherlands, Portugal, Spain and the United Kingdom. This publication complements and builds on the first book published in 2007 in which the methodology and the descriptive national findings, as well as some first comparative analytical results, of the EUCOWE project were presented.1 In several of the countries studied the survey represented one of the first dedicated studies on the operating time. The EUCOWE survey was the first attempt to collect cross-national comparative data on operating hours and opening times and as such represents an innovative source of information of working patterns, establishment behaviour and competitiveness in the EU.

At the firm and industry level, as well as the macroeconomic level, operating hours are one of the essential determinants of productivity and competitiveness not to mention the standard of living of the wider population.² In essence operating hours, opening times and service hours can be considered as central to the behaviour of establishments in relation to their clients and, as a result, the organisation of employment and working time of their employees. The extent to which organisations are required to serve clients within and outside “normal” working hours will also help shape the duration and intensity of utilisation of capital. While establishments will have some freedom in determining how they deal with their specific operating time requirements, and any fluctuations within those hours, they will also be subject to regulation and policy at the national and pan-national level. Thus operating hours are central to policy debates at both the European and national level. Concerns over the competitiveness of European firms and the reconciliation of work and family life are all impacted upon by operating hours of the establishments where employees work.