Publication detail

Reduction of the weekly working hours in the Czech Republic

KOVANDOVÁ, K.

Original Title

Reduction of the weekly working hours in the Czech Republic

Type

article in a collection out of WoS and Scopus

Language

English

Original Abstract

Reducing the current length of working time is an increasingly discussed topic in many countries, not only in the European Union. Assessing the impact of such a change has been the subject of a long-standing debate at European, national, sectoral and company level. The experiences of countries, sectors or companies vary. The purpose of this article was to search for sources dealing with the reduction of working time in European Union countries and research that has been carried out by other authors for this purpose. The result of the research is a generalised understanding of the impacts and benefits of the change in working time legislation, which is the basis for further research and evaluation of the appropriateness of shortening working time for employees in the Czech Republic. In general, a common incentive for regulating working time is to adequately adjust work-life balance, increase employee productivity and address unemployment. Sources mostly agree that the introduction of shorter working weeks improves the work-life balance of employees, and most sources also agree on the positive impact on employee productivity, although not without exception. The reasons that have led some countries to reduce the number of weekly hours worked, such as increasing employment, are not, according to some authors, justified by the results that have occurred in these countries following the change in legislation. In the Czech Republic, moreover, increasing employment is currently completely unjustified or even inappropriate in view of the unemployment rate. In the author's opinion, a blanket legislative regulation of weekly working time is completely inappropriate in the Czech Republic and it would be more appropriate to promote collective bargaining, which is able to respond more flexibly to the needs of employees and employers in different sectors and regions. Given the current volume of employees who are not covered by collective agreements in the Czech Republic, there is considerable scope in this respect for any appropriately targeted measures concerning the length of working time.

Keywords

Collective bargaining, Employment, Employment law, Productivity, Working time, Working time

Authors

KOVANDOVÁ, K.

Released

10. 12. 2021

Publisher

Vysokén učení technické v Brně

Location

Brno

ISBN

978-80-214-6069-0

Book

Workshop specifického výzkumu 2021

Pages from

59

Pages to

66

Pages count

8

BibTex

@inproceedings{BUT178678,
  author="Klára {Svobodová}",
  title="Reduction of the weekly working hours in the Czech Republic",
  booktitle="Workshop specifického výzkumu 2021",
  year="2021",
  pages="59--66",
  publisher="Vysokén učení technické v Brně",
  address="Brno",
  isbn="978-80-214-6069-0"
}