Working time banks still unusual at SAK workplaces

Flexible working hours and working time banks are not especially widespread in industries where the workforce is organised in trade unions affiliated to the Central Organisation of Finnish Trade Unions (SAK), even though working time practices in Finland are supposedly the most flexible in Europe. Only 16 per cent of workplaces in the SAK sector apply any kind of working time bank system, with only 15 per cent of establishments offering flexible working hours.

These statistics were among the findings of a new SAK survey of working conditions involving interviews with 1,207 working members of SAK-affiliated trade union members in February–March 2012.

– The members of SAK-affiliated trade unions have considerably less say in arranging their own working hours than employees in clerical occupations. Indeed our much-discussed most flexible working time in Europe has largely been dictated by the needs of production and employers. Shift work and night work, for example, are more common in Finland than elsewhere in the European Union, and are also strongly concentrated in sectors organised by SAK trade unions, with nearly two-fifths (39 %) of their members doing regular shift work, explains Juha Antila, SAK Head of Unit, Development of Working Life.

Flexible approaches to the needs of employees improve job satisfaction

– Accommodating the needs of employees through flexible working time makes work more meaningful, helping employees to cope and prolonging their working careers. This is why features like the working time bank system should be developed to give employees better opportunities to influence their own working hours, Antila stresses.

A flexible response to the working time needs of employees clearly improves job satisfaction. Members of SAK-affiliates covered by working time bank and flexitime schemes are noticeably happier with their scheduling arrangements than employees with fixed working hours, with about half of the former declaring themselves highly satisfied with their hours of work. Only just over one quarter (28 %) of SAK-affiliated workers express corresponding satisfaction with fixed working hours.

Nearly one quarter (23 %) of SAK-affiliated employees would be willing to work longer hours for more pay. This willingness was particularly evident (43 %) in the case of part-time workers. Given the choice between more pay and more time off, a slight majority of survey respondents (54 %) would prefer the pay rise.

– The survey clearly shows the willingness of employees in the SAK sector to work and earn more when they are short of work and earnings. Low-income workers have no real choice between more money and more time off, and must always boost their earnings when given the opportunity, Antila observes.

For further details please contact Juha Antila, Head of Unit, Development of Working Life, tel. 050 575 1790