New information and communications technologies have revolutionized daily life and work in the 21st century. This insightful book demonstrates how telework has evolved in the last four decades, as technological developments have improved our capacity to work remotely. Based on a new conceptual framework, this book explores the global variations in telework, examining the effects on working conditions and individual and organizational performance. Breaking the traditional intellectual conception that telework is performed only in the home, this book surveys the full breadth of working environments, as technology allows employees increased working mobility. Contributors expose a profound ambiguity surrounding the effects of 21st-century telework, revealing that its advantages and disadvantages may simply be two sides of the same coin. This timely book is crucial reading for researchers of labour and employment interested in the evolution of contemporary telework and the influence of modern technologies in the workplace. Policy-makers will also benefit from this book's concrete policy recommendations to improve the practice of telework. Contributors include: S. Boiarov, P. D'Cruz, A. Dal Colletto, L. Gschwind, T. Harnish, K. Lister, A. Mello, J.C. Messenger, E. Noronha, A. Sato, O. Vargas

Work sharing' is a labor market instrument devised to distribute a reduced volume of work to the same (or similar) number of workers over a diminished period of working time in order to avoid redundancies. This fascinating and timely study presents the concept and history of work sharing and explores the complexities and trade-offs involved in its use as both a strategy for preserving jobs and a policy for increasing employment.The expert contributors examine the resurgence in the use of work sharing as a job preservation strategy via country case studies of work-sharing programmes implemented across the globe during the Great Recession of 2008-2009. These studies clearly illustrate that work sharing has been successful as a crisis-response measure in a number of countries. Lessons learned and their implications are presented alongside prescriptions on how to design permanent work-sharing policies that would provide appropriate incentives to generate positive effects for employment and promote a sustainable and job-rich economic recovery. This enlightening book will prove invaluable to academics, researchers, students and policymakers in the fields of labor economics, public sector economics and social policy. Contributors: L. Bellmann, A. Crimmann, J. Flecker, H.-D. Gerner, N. Ghosheh, S. Glosser, L. Golden, M.J. Gonzalez Fernandez, J.C. Messenger, K. Ogura, A. Schoenauer, F. Wiessner, E. Yeldan

The gradual reduction in weekly working hours in the first half of the last century, which culminated in the widespread adoption of the 'standard' working week by the 1960s, was grounded in a concern for health and safety and for the preservation of time outside of paid labour.

Over the last few decades, however, this progressive standardization of working time has given way to a diversification and individualization in working hours as employers have responded to the competitive pressures of globalization by requiring that productivity be enhanced through changes in working-time schedules.

As we enter the new century, a common goal has emerged: the removal or liberaliZation of restrictions on unsocial hours and on the variation of working hours. This books draws together an international team of contributors to examine the process.

Globalization, demographic changes, increasing numbers of women in the labour market: all of these changes have resulted in working time arrangements which often look vastly different than they did several decades ago. These changes have significant ramifications both economically and sociologically. This volume examines the changing nature of working time in industrialized countries. It analyzes many aspects of this intriguing sphere including: recent trends in working time legislation working time trends in specific enterprises the work-life balance With its insightful contributions into labour and the work-related arena, this volume will greatly interest those researchers and academics working on labour economics, employment issues and more specifically working time. The policy ramifications that this book uncovers mean that it will also be a useful reference for policy-makers.

First Published in 2007. Routledge is an imprint of Taylor & Francis, an informa company.

John Maynard Keynes once made the bold prediction that the three-hour work day would prevail for his grandchildren's generation. Seventy years later, the question of working time is as pertinent as it was at the inception of the 40-hour week. Not until now, however, has there been a global comparative analysis of working time laws, policies and actual working hours. Despite a century-long optimism about reduced working hours and some progress in legal measures limiting working hours, this book demonstrates that differences in actual working hours between industrialized and developing countries remain considerable - without any clear sign of hours being reduced.This study aims to offer some suggestions about how this gap can begin to be closed. Lee, McCann and Messenger trace the theoretical background of the concept of working time before examining recent trends in working time laws in developing countries and countries in transition. The study then shifts its focus to developments in selected countries, considering both broad trends in working time at a national level and the structure and dynamics underlying these trends.The authors provide a remarkable set of policy suggestions that preserve health and safety, are 'family-friendly', promote gender equality, enhance productivity and facilitate workers' choice and influence over their working hours. This book will be of great interest to policy makers engaged with working conditions or health and safety, labour market experts, trade union leaders and workers' organizations, as well as academics and researchers in the fields of industrial relations, labour economics and labour law.