It studied working hours and working time arrangements and their effects on corporate performance and people’s work-life balance.
According to a report released on Friday by the International Labour Organization (ILO), short-term work and work-sharing methods, as well as other kinds of job retention, managed to limit the number of work and save jobs during the COVID-19 pandemic. According to the survey titled Working Time and Work-Life Balance Around the World, flexible working hours enabled people, corporations, enterprises, and industries to collectively lower work hours, a trend that existed before the crisis. The crisis also made it possible to extend working hours in new economic bottleneck areas, such as the healthcare or pharmaceutical industries.
Telework contributed to the COVID-19 crisis response by decreasing employees’ social interactions and allowing them to complete work outside the employer’s premises, sustaining organizational operations and protecting jobs, according to the report. According to the paper, a system of decreased working hours and flexible working time arrangements can benefit economies, businesses, and workers while laying the groundwork for a better and more balanced work-life balance.
The phenomena of ‘Great Resignation.’
“Inclusive short-time work programs with the highest feasible allowances not only retain employees but also sustain buying power and create the prospect of softening the consequences of economic crises. Moreover, Teleworking lets employees keep their jobs while expanding their autonomy in regulating their working hours and work-life balance. At the same time, it appears vital to address the shortcomings of these working-time instruments that emerged during the COVID-19 pandemic,” the report suggested in its policy prescriptions to ILO member nations.
It stated that “the widespread application of telework practically everywhere in the world that it was feasible changed… the character of employment, most likely for the foreseeable future.” Moreover, “There is ample evidence that work-life balance rules deliver significant benefits to companies, supporting the premise that such policies are a win-win’ for both employers and employees,” according to the paper.
“The so-called ‘Great Resignation’ phenomena has thrust work-life balance to the centre of social and labour market challenges in the post-pandemic world,” stated the report’s primary author, Jon Messenger. “This analysis shows that if we apply some of the lessons of the COVID-19 problem and look very closely at the way working hours are arranged, as well as their overall duration,” Mr Messenger added.
