According to a study published by the European Commission on 26 October, flexible working time arrangements benefit both employers and workers. This report which has been released within the celebration of an informal meeting of ministers for gender equality put forward a series of indicators comparing different policies and measures within EU member states as well as EEE-EFTA countries.

The expert report presented by the European Commission, entitled "Flexible working time arrangements and gender equality", provides a comprehensive overview of current practices in the 27 European member states as well as Iceland, Norway, Liechtenstein and Switzerland.

The expert group report has been released within the celebration of an informal meeting of ministers for gender equality where ministers had the occasion to discuss the new strategy for equality between women and men 2010-2015. The report focuses in aspects such as internal flexibility, both in terms of length of working time and organisation of working time, and follows the conclusions gathered at a first stage consultation of European social partners on the review of working time rules. Further to this document, the Commission will shortly publish an expert report on the social and economic impact of working time rules in the context of this review.

Main conclusions from the Study on Working Time Flexibility

There are still very large differences between the Member States regarding flexibility of working time

• Flexibility in length of working time is more widespread in northern and western Europe, whereas in Hungary, Lithuania, Czech Republic, Estonia, Bulgaria, Slovakia, Slovenia and Romania the traditional 40 hour working dominates.
• Denmark, Sweden, Germany, Finland and Norway score relatively highly in flexible organisation with a little more than half of all employees using some kind of flexibility in their working hours.

Increased flexibility in working time is not always good for gender equality

• More individualised working hours have a positive effect on female employment rates and can help employees to balance work and personal life, but part-time work (dominated by women) is still concentrated in low-paid sectors with low career and training opportunities in most countries.
• Organisational culture also plays an important role. As long as flexibility is considered a “female” way of organising work-time, flexible working time schedules are more likely to confirm gender differences than to change them.

Recent policy developments show that working time flexibility is on the political agenda in several countries, though the specific topics may vary

• Some countries (such as the Czech Republic and Lithuania) focus on flexibility as an instrument to increase the employment rate (both in individuals and in hours).
• Part-time working is increasingly used to promote active ageing. Especially in the Nordic countries, involuntary part-time work is an important issue, leading to policy measures that try to create a new balance between flexibility and security.
• Time banking and annualised hours are also part of the current policy agenda (in Finland, Germany and Luxembourg). Flexible working time schedules are linked in some countries (such as Poland and Portugal) to the debate on reducing the extent of overtime.
• The current financial and economic crisis has had a clear effect and flexibility is now seen as an important policy instrument to help employers adjust to changing economic circumstances. In the current debate, however, the gender dimension does not figure prominently.