The never-ending workday in flexible-working Europe

One in five workers across the European Union reports being contacted for work-related reasons outside their working hours several times a month. Applied to the EU workforce population at the end of 2024, this corresponds to approximately 39.4 million workers. Regular after-hours contact is a consequence of a long-term transformation of work culture that has occurred in parallel with the increasing digitalisation of work. The working day extends beyond the contractually agreed working hours for a significant number of workers, and some experience this so frequently that it’s like being on stand-by.

The forthcoming Eurofound report Working anytime and anywhere in the EU after the pandemic: The effects on quality of working time analyses this phenomenon, drawing on new data gathered by the European Working Conditions Survey (EWCS) in 2024.

Analysis of the data clearly shows that the frequency with which a worker is contacted outside working hours is directly and proportionally related to their stress levels. Among those contacted on a daily basis, 6 in 10 (59%) report experiencing stress at work always or almost all of the time. At the opposite end of the scale, among those never contacted outside working hours, this figure falls to 17%. Constant availability is not a neutral feature of modern working life: it carries a demonstrable cost in terms of mental strain and heightened work–life conflict.

What are the causes underlying these out-of-hours contacts? The findings of the EWCS 2024 show that the most proximate factor is workload. When employees do not have enough time to complete their tasks during normal working hours, work is more likely to spill beyond contractual hours, and workers are more likely to be contacted outside the working day.

Flexible working arrangements and use of information and communications technology (ICT) are also factors, but they operate differently. Flexibility is associated with more out-of-hours contact. Among employees with flexible start and finish times, 64% report being contacted outside working hours at least occasionally, compared with 49% of those with standard schedules. A similar pattern appears by work location: 63% of teleworkers report such contact, compared with 48% of employees working exclusively at their employer’s premises. These figures suggest that flexibility in time or place can increase expectations of employees’ availability.

ICT use is an enabler that cuts across work locations. Among employees who never use ICT at work, 59% report never being contacted outside working hours, compared with 38% of ICT users. But even among employees working exclusively at their employer’s premises, ICT users are more likely to be contacted outside working hours than non-users. This indicates that digital connectivity, rather than telework alone, is a key mechanism through which an employee’s availability extends into non-working time.

Of all the occupational groups, managerial staff are most likely to be contacted, followed by service and sales workers. By sector, education and healthcare record the highest rates.

In an attempt to empower workers to switch off at the end of the working day, 13 Member States have chosen to regulate the right to disconnect – the right not to respond to after-hours contact without facing negative consequences: Belgium, Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus, France, Greece, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg, Portugal, Slovakia, Slovenia and Spain. The existing regulatory landscape is, however, far from homogeneous. In some Member States (Belgium, France and Spain), the right applies to the entire private sector workforce; in others (Cyprus, Greece, Italy and Slovakia), it is restricted exclusively to teleworkers. Its legal character also varies: from workers not being obliged to respond (Bulgaria and Croatia) to the employer's active duty not to make contact during rest periods (Portugal and Slovenia) to the explicit right to disengage from electronic work communications (Greece and Ireland).

The role of social dialogue constitutes another significant axis of differentiation. In Belgium, France, Luxembourg and Spain, collective bargaining, at both sectoral and company levels, plays a central role in defining and implementing the right. In countries such as Croatia, Greece and Portugal, by contrast, no specific procedures are established for its application.

The data suggest that legislation makes a difference, though not in a linear fashion, nor is it sufficient on its own. As shown in Figure 1, France, which has had regulation on this matter for a long time, has one of the lowest levels of out-of-hours contact in the EU, with 17% of workers reporting being contacted. Ireland has a more recent but already consolidated code of practice on the right to disconnect, and 21% of its workers report being contacted. The Netherlands and Sweden, which are without specific national regulation, rank among the countries with the highest percentage of workers being contacted outside working hours, with 31% saying they are contacted several times a month.

Legislation does not, however, explain everything. The Nordic countries and the Netherlands have a tradition of more flexible ways of organising working time, and therefore being contacted outside working hours may be seen as more ‘normal’ compared with other parts of the EU.

The picture that emerges from the EWCS 2024 is one of structural tension at the heart of contemporary working arrangements. Out-of-hours contact is a widespread feature of European working life, shaped by workload, flexibility of work arrangements, occupational role, sector, workplace culture and national institutional context. As flexible and remote working continue to expand, the question is what approach would be most effective in genuinely limiting work outside working hours.

Image © Rychko Yevhen/Adobe Stock