Re-exam of Directive 93/104/EC concerning certain aspects of the organisation of working time
Comments from ACCA
March 2004
Over half ACCA's 98,000 members work in or service SMEs (Small and Medium-sized Enterprises) and so we have a special interest in issues affecting the business efficiency of this sector.
As the Consultation Paper says, there is evidence which suggests that the practice of individuals working long hours in Britain remains fairly widespread. There has, however, been a gradual reduction in long hours working in recent years, with the largest fall occurring around the time that the Working Time Regulations (WTR) came into force.
ACCA agrees that the health and safety of employees is very important. It is essential, therefore, that there be safeguards in place to protect individuals who may, for example, be forced to work excessive hours with an insufficient amount of rest breaks. However, we do not necessarily see that mandatory constraints on working time are justified by reference to these legitimate concerns.
Recent research indicates that the most significant feature of the WTR is the opt-out, which is widely used by employers as a precautionary measure. Many of the employees who have signed the opt-out are not working sustained long hours. Rather, they are working additional long hours and have signed the opt-out in case they go over the limit. ACCA recognises that there is a fine line between employees feeling that they ought to sign the opt-out because of pressure from the employer and them choosing to do so of their own free will. There is, however, no universal consensus on the existence of widespread abuse of the opt-out.
The extent of employees working additional, occasional or sustained long hours varies according to a business's size and sector. Sustained long working hours are often concentrated on senior managers; in smaller workplaces; on manual workers; and in certain sectors, for example, manufacturing and construction. The impact of the WTR is also contingent on the individual situation of each firm and the structural and organisational characteristics of each workplace.
ACCA believes that the UK should be able to retain its use of the current opt-out in the interests of efficiency, flexibility and competitiveness. The evidence indicates that the reasons for working long hours are varied. But the most common reason for asking workers to work longer than the norm is to meet business demand. It is clear that the demand for goods and services has peaks and troughs, so will occasionally result in a necessity for sustained working hours. We believe that removing the flexibility afforded by the UK 's opt-out would impose unreasonable constraints on firms, particularly small businesses. We would point out that the Commission has specified that it is keen to adopt an approach which would avoid this result (page 22 in the Consultation Paper).
ACCA believes that, ideally, employees should be able to exercise their own judgement and be free to choose how many hours they work. In fact, it could be argued that it is in breach of individuals' basic human rights to decide for them what hours they should work, particularly the right to respect for private and family life. This will be affected if an individual suffers a reduction in earnings directly as a result of a reduced working week. Provided that the decision of an individual worker to work longer hours than the norm is made of his or her free will, then we would argue that this should be his or her right, just as much as the right which workers have to rest breaks and annual leave.
Hogarth, T., Daniel, W.W., Dickerson, A.P., Campbell , D., Wintherbotham, M., Vivian, D. (2003). The business context to long hours working. Department of Trade and Industry Employment Relations Research Series No.23.
Edwards, P., Black, J., Ram, M. (2003). The impact of employment legislation on small firms: a case study analysis. Department of Trade and Industry Employment Relations Research Series No.20.