Varying working hours and night work are unavoidable conditions for many employees. Atypical and changing working hours have shown to be associated with health and welfare problems. Studies suggest, however, that employees’ influence over their own working hours has a positive effect on both their working and private lives.

Prioritized working hours, in certain contexts labeled ‘self-chosen working hours’, is a type of influence on the planning of ones own working hours, which is being introduced in Denmark in particular in the health and care sector, among other things to strengthen recruitment and retention.
Prioritized working hours allow employees to make requests regarding their working hours. The final duty roster is established taking into account these requests as well as staffing needs. However, there is virtually no knowledge about the effects of prioritized working hours.  We do not know, for example, to what extent employees gain influence on their working hours, which choices employees make, why they choose as they do, and what consequences prioritized working hours have for the psycho-social working environment, the private lives of employees, the possibilities for restitution, and for health nuisances.

Objectives of the project
The project aims to shed light on diverse practices and both positive and negative consequences of prioritized working hours among shift workers, at the individual and the enterprise level.

Brief description of the project
The overall hypothesis is that prioritized working hours allows for a higher degree of job satisfaction, , better restitution and a better psychosocial working environment, as well as  less health trouble and less sickness absence among employees with shift work, for instance because each employee can arrange his or her working hours to fit his or her needs in terms of for example sleep and personal life. On the other hand one can also imagine that considerations regarding the production, along with personal financial interests, may result in working hours turning out unhealthy. Whether there be a positive or a negative impact is assumed to depend on the actual implementation, employees’ approaches, and various other factors at individual and enterprise level.

The project is scheduled to include approximately 2,000 employees spread over several workplaces in different industries. Half of the employees will start to work with a system of prioritized working hours (the intervention group) while the other half represents a comparison group where there will be no changes in the planning of working hours. The project includes questionnaires as well as interviews before, and one year after the introduction of self-chosen working hours.

The project is implemented in collaboration between the National Research Centre for Working Environment (NRCWE) and the Center for Working Life and Working Environment (CAA). CAA is responsible for the qualitative part of the project.

Contact
Helge Hvid, hh@ruc.dk
Henrik Lund, llund@ruc.dk