Employee representation and flexible working time

"This paper provides evidence on the effect of employee representation on working time flexibility in private-sector European establishments. A 2002 European Union directive granted information, consultation and representation rights to employees on a range of key business, employment and work...

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Main Authors: Burdin, Gabriel, Pérotin, Virginie
Institution:ETUI-European Trade Union Institute
Format: TEXT
Language:English
Published: Bonn 2016
IZA
Subjects:
Online Access:https://www.labourline.org/KENTIKA-907212472549-employee-representation-and-fl.htm
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author Burdin, Gabriel
Pérotin, Virginie
author_facet Burdin, Gabriel
Pérotin, Virginie
collection Library items
description "This paper provides evidence on the effect of employee representation on working time flexibility in private-sector European establishments. A 2002 European Union directive granted information, consultation and representation rights to employees on a range of key business, employment and work organization issues beyond a certain firm size. We exploit the quasi-experimental variation in employee representation introduced by the implementation of the Directive in four countries (Cyprus, Ireland, Poland and the UK) with no previous legislation on the subject. The empirical analysis is based on repeated cross-section establishment-level data from the last three rounds of the European Company Survey. Difference-in-difference estimates suggest that the Directive had a positive and significant effect on both employee representation and the utilisation of flexible working-time arrangements for eligible establishments. The greater use of flexible working-time schemes is driven by establishments in which no local wage-negotiations take place and those with a high proportion of female workers. Our results are consistent with the idea that employee representation provides an endogenous rule-enforcement mechanism in second-best scenarios in which incomplete contracting problems are pervasive and third-party arbitration is unfeasible. Quite paradoxically, the relaxation of shareholders' property rights and the limits imposed on managerial discretion as a result of the operation of employee representation seem necessary to achieve certain valuable forms of organizational flexibility in market economies."
format TEXT
geographic EU countries
id 907212472549_017bf581b7e14d59968405918de1abc2
institution ETUI-European Trade Union Institute
is_hierarchy_id 907212472549_017bf581b7e14d59968405918de1abc2
is_hierarchy_title Employee representation and flexible working time
language English
physical 36 p.
Digital
publishDate 2016
publisher Bonn
IZA
spellingShingle Burdin, Gabriel
Pérotin, Virginie
EU Directive
flexible working time
private sector
workers representation
Employee representation and flexible working time
thumbnail https://www.labourline.org/Image_prev.jpg?Archive=105645792382
title Employee representation and flexible working time
topic EU Directive
flexible working time
private sector
workers representation
url https://www.labourline.org/KENTIKA-907212472549-employee-representation-and-fl.htm