Flexibility for Whom? Working time flexibility practices of European companies

Working time fl exibility comprises a wide variety of arrangements, from part-time, overtime, to longterm

leaves. Theoretical approaches to grouping these arrangements have been developed, but empirical underpinnings

are rare. This paper investigates the bundles that can be found for various fl exible working time

arrangements, using data of the Establishment Survey on Working Time (ESWT), 2004/2005, covering

21 EU member states and 13 industries. Using factor analyses, the results confi rmed that working time arrangements can be grouped into two bundles, one for the employee-centred arrangements, a second for the

employer-centred arrangements, and that these two bundles are separate dimensions. We have also tested

the stability of the factor analysis outcome, showing that although there are some deviations from the pan-

Europe and pan-industry outcome, the naming of the components as fl exibility for employees and fl exibility

for employers can be interpreted as holding rather stable. Lastly, we also fi nd that there are three country

clusters that can be found for the 21 European countries using the bundle. The fi rst group consisting of the

Northern European countries with 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.