Transcript Neither Time nor Money: Evolution of Working Time Patterns

Work-Life Balance in (Central and
Eastern) Europe from the Perspective
of Women‘s Health
Findings from the European Working Conditions
Survey
Štěpánka Lehmann
Research Institute for Labour and Social
Affairs (RILSA)
Outline of the presentation
• Introduction
o Research questions
o Methodology
• Results of the analysis
o Work-life balance in different European
regions
o Relationship of WLB and health
o Predictors of health status
• Conclusions
Introduction
• Mass entrance of women to the labour market since the
second half of the 20th century has raised the issue of
work-life balance (WLB)
o Women remained responsible for daily house chores and care
o ‘Second shift’ = potential risk for women‘s health
• Since 1980s many countries and companies have
developed various measures to improve work-life
balance of women
o Family-related policies
o Flexibility measures (part-time jobs, flexible working hours etc.)
• Considerable differences between countries
o European context – women in Central and Eastern Europe
(CEE) appear to have more difficulties with WLB
Research questions
• Is it possible to document differences in work-life
balance between Western European countries and
CEE countries based on empirical evidence?
o What are these differences?
• Does a poor work-life balance have any impacts on
health of individuals?
o To what extent?
• Which European countries are the less favourable to
the WLB and/or good health of individuals?
• Focus on women (in particular in CEE)
Methodology
• European Working Conditions Survey (EWCS)
o The European Foundation for the Improvement of Living and
Working Conditions (Eurofound)
o Representative sample of ‘persons in employment’ (employees
and self-employed) aged 15+
o Individual level
o Every 5 years
o Fifth wave (2010) – 34 countries: 27 EU countries + NO + 3
candidate countries (HR, MK, TR) + AL, XK, MO
• Typology of countries – cluster analysis
• Aspects of WLB, health status etc. in country clusters cross tabulation
• Evaluation of impact of WLB on the health status – factor
and regression analyses
Country clusters
• CEE countries are not homogenous as for
women‘s work-life balance
o ⟹ more adequate to work with more restricted country
groups
• Cluster analysis on the basis of women‘s WLB
characteristics in European countries → 6
clusters (3 in Western Europe and 3 in CEE)
• Variables:
o Working hours (actual and preferred), time spent commuting,
work on weekend, how working hours fit in with other
commitments, time to have the job done
o Time spent caring for children / elderly, with housework, leisure
time activities, training or education, voluntary activity etc.
Country clusters
1. Benelux + Denmark + Norway
o
BE, NL, LU, DK, NO
2. Anglo-Saxon countries + Finland + Sweden
o
IE, UK, DE, AT, FI, SE
3. Mediterranean countries
o
FR, ES, PT, IT, EL, MT, CY
4. Central-Eastern Europe
o
CZ, SK, HU, SI, EE, LV
5. Eastern Europe
o
PL, LT, RO, BG, HR, MK
6. South-Eastern Europe
o
AL, XK, MO, TR
Women‘s work-life balance in Europe
• Women have generally shorter working hours than men
o They do not work so often at night, in the evening, on
weekends, in their free time, and more than 10 hours a day
• Still, differences among women
Number of Sundays women spend monthly at work
25%
20%
15%
10%
5%
0%
1
2
3
4
BeNeLux + NO and DK
Anglo-Saxon countries + FI and SE
Mediterranean countries
Central-Eastern Europe
Eastern Europe
South-Eastern Europe
Data source: Eurofound: EWCS 2010
Weekly activities by gender
Men
BeNeLux etc.
Anglo-Saxon etc.
Mediterranean
Central-Eastern
Eastern
South-Eastern
0
10
20
30
40
Work
Caring for and educating (grand)children
Caring for elderly/disabled relatives
50
60
Commuting
Cooking and housework
Gardening and repairs
70
80
Women
BeNeLux etc.
Anglo-Saxon etc.
Mediterranean
Central-Eastern
Eastern
South-Eastern
0
10
20
Data source: Eurofound: EWCS 2010
30
40
50
60
70
80
Female employment rates in 2010 (population 15+)
70%
60%
50%
EU average
40%
30%
20%
10%
0%
BE NL LU DK NO IE UK DE AT
FI
SE FR ES PT
IT
EL MT CY CZ SK HU SI
Data source: OECD, World Bank (by Bluenomics.com)
LV EE PL LT RO BG HR MK AL MO TR
Women‘s work-life balance in Europe
•
Women – lower flexibility of working time than men
o Work more often every day the same number of hours, every week the
same number of days and hours
o More often fixed working hours, more difficult to take time off during
working hours to take care of personal matters
•
•
•
More often work in shifts
Less often on-call work
Women have less chance to determine their working schedule
o Gender difference the most significant in Central-Eastern Europe, Eastern
Europe and South-Eastern Europe
Working hours arrangement fully determined by employer
80%
60%
40%
20%
0%
BeNeLux etc.
Anglo-Saxon
etc.
Data source: Eurofound: EWCS 2010
Mediterranean Central-Eastern
Men
Women
Eastern
South-Eastern
Women‘s potential to determine their working schedule
100%
90%
80%
70%
60%
50%
40%
30%
20%
10%
0%
BeNeLux etc.
Anglo-Saxon etc.
Mediterranean
Central-Eastern
Eastern
South-Eastern
Set by the company
Choice between several fixed schedules
Potential to adapt working hours within limits
Working hours determined by the respondent
Data source: Eurofound: EWCS 2010
Women‘s work-life balance in Europe
• However, women evaluate better their potential to
match working hours with other commitments
How working hours of women fit in with their other commitments
100%
90%
80%
70%
60%
50%
40%
30%
20%
10%
0%
BeNeLux etc.
Anglo-Saxon etc.
Mediterranean
Not at all well
Central-Eastern
Not very well
Data source: Eurofound: EWCS 2010
Well
Eastern
Very well
South-Eastern
Work-life balance and health status
• Men indicate more often than women that their health and/or
safety are at risk because of their work
o They actually perform hard labour in difficult working conditions more
often than women
• Women mostly do not think that their work affects their health
(neither positively nor negatively)
o If they do, then negative impact is reported mainly in Eastern Europe
How the work affects women‘s health status
35%
30%
25%
20%
15%
10%
5%
0%
BeNeLux etc.
Anglo-Saxon etc. Mediterranean
Negative impact
Data source: Eurofound: EWCS 2010
Central-Eastern
Positive impact
Eastern
South-Eastern
Work-life balance and health status
• However, women‘s subjective evaluation of health status is
worse than that of men
o Gender difference the most significant in Central-Eastern Europe and
Eastern Europe
o Could indicate impact of poor WLB
Women's subjective evaluation of health status
100%
90%
80%
70%
60%
50%
40%
30%
20%
10%
0%
BeNeLux etc.
Anglo-Saxon
etc.
Bad
Mediterranean Central-Eastern
Fair
Data source: Eurofound: EWCS 2010
Good
Very good
Eastern
South-Eastern
Health-related problems of women in CEE countries
• Women from CEE countries suffer more often than
other women from
o Headache or eyestrain
o Overall fatigue
o Cardiovascular diseases
Incidence of cardiovascular diseases
12%
10%
8%
6%
Men
Women
4%
2%
0%
Data source: Eurofound: EWCS 2010
Work-life balance and health status
• Women are absent from work for reasons of
health problems more often than men
• But also work more often when being sick
• ⟹ Does a poor WLB explain deteriorated
health?
• Other characteristics of work to be considered
o e.g. the type of work (profession, sector, physical or
intellectual work,...) physical working conditions, stress
level, ergonomic factors etc.
o + factors not related to work (lifestyle, environment,...)
More represented professions in individual clusters
• Benelux + DK + NO
o Professionals
o Health care and social work, arts,
entertainment and recreation
• Anglo-Saxon countries + FI + SE
o Managers, technicians, clerical support,
service and sales workers
o Financial and insurance activities,
administrative activities, health care and
social work, arts, entertainment and recreation
• Mediterranean countries
o Clerical support, workers in elementary occupations
o Accommodation, food service and other service activities,
professional, scientific and technical activities, public
administration and extraterritorial organisations, activities of
households
More represented professions in individual clusters
• Central-Eastern Europe
o Technicians, plant and machine
operators and assemblers
o Manufacturing, transportation and storage
• Eastern Europe
o Agricultural workers, craft workers,
machine operators and assemblers
o Agriculture, mining, manufacturing,
electricity, gas, steam and air-conditioning
supply, wholesale and retail trade
• South-Eastern Europe
o Agricultural workers, craft workers,
machine operators and assemblers
o Agriculture, manufacturing, real estate activities
and other services
Female working conditions in CEE
• Less often direct work with people
• Less often intellectual work
• Lower incomes
´´How is your household able to make ends meet?´´ (women)
100%
90%
80%
70%
60%
50%
40%
30%
20%
10%
0%
BeNeLux etc.
Anglo-Saxon
countries etc.
With great difficulty
Mediterranean
With difficulty
Data source: Eurofound: EWCS 2010
Central-Eastern
With some difficulty
Eastern
Fairly easily
Easily
South-Eastern
Very easily
Which working conditions have the greatest
impact on health?
Factors with negative impact on health status:
1. High stress
o working at high speed, to tight deadlines, impossibility to interrupt
work,...
2. Physical work
o
carrying heavy loads, standing, unskilled labour,...
3. Poor working conditions / environment
o
noise, high or low temperatures, smoke,...
4. Low frequency of leisure time activities (e.g. sport)
5. Long working hours and work in unsocial hours
Time devoted to house chores and care did not show a
significant impact on health status of women
Conclusions
• Worse work-life balance of women in Central and
Eastern Europe (Central-Eastern and Eastern
European clusters)
• In the same countries worse health status of women
• In CEE – lower level of stress at work
• BUT
o
o
o
o
More women exercise physical work
Work in poor environment
Less time to leisure activities
Work long working hours
• ⟹
• More negative impact of work
on women‘s health in CEE
Thank you for your attention
[email protected]
Data source: European Foundation for the
Improvement of Living and Working Conditions,
European Working Conditions Survey, 2010.
Colchester, Essex: UK Data Archive (distributor).