Working time flexibility components and working time regimes in Europe: using company-level data across 21 countries

Working time ?exibility comprises a wide variety of arrangements, from part-time,

overtime, to long-term leaves. Theoretical approaches to grouping these arrangements

have been developed, but empirical underpinnings are rare. This article investigates

the bundles that can be found for various ?exible working time arrangements, using the

Establishment Survey on Working Time and Work–Life Balance, 2004/2005, covering 21

EU member states and 13 industries. The results from the factor analyses con?rmed that

working time arrangements can be grouped into two bundles, one for the employee-centred

arrangements and second for the employer-centred arrangements, and that these two

bundles are separate dimensions.Wealso tested the stability of the factor analysisoutcome,

showing that although we ?nd some deviations from the pan-Europe and pan-industry

outcome, the naming of the components as ?exibility for employees and ?exibility for

employers can be considered rather stable. Lastly, we ?nd three country clusters for the 21

European countries using the bundle approach. The ?rst group includes the Northern

European countries along side Poland and Czech Republic, the second group the

continental European countries with UK and Ireland, and lastly, the southern European

countries with Hungary and Slovenia.