Flexibility in working time and place of work

A study on the labour market indicates that full-time work is the norm for people in Estonia, with fixed working times and permanent employment contracts. Working time flexibility is less common, and is the result of a one-to-one agreement between employees and managers, allowing for days or hours to be taken off when necessary.

In November 2006, Statistics Estonia (Statistikaamet) published a study on the Estonian labour market in 2005 (Tööturg, 2005). The study aims to provide an overview of labour market developments over the past 10 years. It also examines, among other things, the use of flexible forms of work using Estonian Labour Force Survey (LFS) data.

Working time flexibility

Working time flexibility allows workers to vary their working times according to their needs. Under flexible working time arrangements, the total length of working time, as well as the beginning and end of the daily work schedule, may vary. In Estonia, only just over one in ten employees is able to decide their working time schedule, as most employees have to abide by their employer’s demands, or follow set working hours.

In most employment relationships, the employer determines the length of the working day and therefore the length of the working week. For 83% of employees, the working day starts and ends at a fixed time, although this does not mean that 83% work a typical 9 to 5 day. A significant percentage of employees (16.9%) in Estonia is engaged in shift work. About 33% of employees work in the evening, and slightly more than a third of employees works on Saturdays.

In all, 7.6% of employees work part time: less than 35 hours a week. The relatively low number of people working part time results from the fact that the low salary related to a shorter working time is simply not enough to maintain a sufficient living standard.

Moreover, full-time work is a norm inherited from the former communist regime and about 80% of employees prefer a regular 40-hour working week. However, only 27.3% of those working part time do so by choice (‘Do not want to work full time’), and about half of the people working part time are obliged to do so for reasons beyond their control (Figure 1).

Figure 1: Reasons for working part time (%)

Source: Statistics Estonia, Labour Force Survey 2005

Compared with western European countries, part-time work is not generally used as a way to reconcile work and family life. Although approximately two thirds of part-time employees are women, only 3.6% of all part-time workers work such hours in order to facilitate childcare tasks. At the same time, one fifth of mothers working full time say they would prefer to reduce their working time and devote more time to the family. This is particularly true of working mothers with children under the age of three years.

Although atypical forms of work are rare in Estonia, working time flexibility is often achieved within the framework of regular full-time work. It appears that only 23% of employees cannot take days or hours off at all, even if they need to. Also, some 26% cannot change their working hours (Figure 2). However, 77% of employees can take time off when needed, thus allowing for a certain degree of flexibility.

Figure 2: Flexibility of working time arrangements (%)

Source: Statistics Estonia, Labour Force Survey 2005

Flexible workplace and type of contract

According to the study, 9.4% of Estonian employees avail of the opportunity to work from home: 4.5% work from home for at least half of the working week, and 5.4% of employees make use of teleworking. The Estonian LFS defines ‘teleworking’ as working away from the employer’s premises, such as at home or at a teleworking centre, while remaining in touch with the employer through the use of information and communication technologies (ICT). These categories of workers partially overlap, although about one third of teleworkers do not work from home, but from different locations, for instance from cafeterias or teleworking centres.

In terms of occupation, executive officers and top specialists clearly rank as the top users of this form of work arrangement, representing 18% and 11%, respectively. The demand for flexible location exceeds what employers are willing to permit: according to the 2005 Working Life Barometer data (EE0603SR01), some 7% of the employees who would be interested in teleworking cannot do so because their employer does not support this type of work arrangement.

In terms of employment contracts, most contracts are permanent (88.9%), while only 7.2% of employment relationships are fixed-term contracts. Most work is carried out under employment contracts (94% of employees); other forms of work contracts such as service contracts (1.1%) or oral contracts (2.3%) are thus rarely used in the Estonian labour market.

Reference

Eamets, R., Anspal, S., and Roosalu, T., ‘Tööturu paindlikkus ja paindlikud töövormid’ [Flexibility of the labour market and flexible forms of work], in Yearbook Tööturg Labour Market 2005, Statistics Estonia, Tallinn, 2006.

Epp Kallaste, Liis Roosaar, PRAXIS Centre for Policy Studies