ABSTRACT

A Practical Model for Voluntary Work Time Reduction

A growing number of Canadians are working longer hours than ever, while an equally large number can't get the hours they need to make ends meet. The standard work week is in decline. Statistics Canada has identified this growing polarization of hours as the main reason for growing income inequality in Canada.

At the same time, those working long hours are having a harder time than ever balancing work and household responsibilities, and time stress levels have risen dramatically in the 1990s. Statistics Canada classifies fully 38% of working mothers as "severely time stressed," and these mothers average nearly 75 hours a week of paid and unpaid work.

With 70% of families now dual earners, households are putting in longer hours of paid and unpaid work combined than 100 years ago. And while women have doubled their rate of labour force participation in the last 40 years, they still do twice as much housework as men and have experienced a major loss of free time.

The more hours we work for pay, the more the Gross Domestic Product grows, and that economic growth is in turn regarded as a sign of progress and well being. Free time counts for nothing, and its loss is as invisible in our current measures of progress as unpaid work. Not surprisingly, the modern workplace has not yet adjusted to the reality of women's labour force participation.

It doesn't have to be this way. The Genuine Progress Index does value free time and unpaid work. And, while we always compare ourselves to the United States, which has the longest work hours of any industrialized country, we could learn instead from European countries that have led the way in pioneering family-friendly work arrangements, in reducing work hours, and in promoting policies that help workers balance their job and family responsibilities more successfully.

By reducing and redistributing work hours, the Dutch, for example, have reduced their unemployment rate from 12% to 2.7%, and now have the shortest annual work hours of any industrialized country (1370 compared to 1732 in Canada). In that country part-time work is good work, with equal hourly pay, pro-rated benefits, job security, and equal opportunity for career advancement. The Danes have 11 more hours of free time per week than Canadians do. And family-friendly work arrangements are at the top of the collective bargaining agenda in the Scandinavian countries, with priority over wage issues.

Work Time Reduction in the Nova Scotia Civil Service is a response by GPI Atlantic to the announced intention of the new Nova Scotia government to reduce its massive $500 million deficit and $10 billion debt by reducing the size of government. The study draws on a large number of case studies of successful work reduction both in Europe and in North America to suggest that significant savings can accrue by offering a wide range of voluntary work time reduction options to civil servants. It also draws lessons from past failures to deduce what methods work and what do not.

The report compares the savings from work time reduction options to the costs of unemployment, and identifies six key elements of successful work time reduction strategies from the case studies. It describes the range of voluntary individualized work reduction options available, the best use of financial incentives, the role of legislation, methods of working with unions and managers, and the necessary educational materials. It uses data from Statistics Canada's work reduction surveys to estimate how much work reduction voluntary options can achieve.

The report finds that work reduction can be a win-win situation, with savings to government, and a better balance between job and household responsibilities for employees. This concise study can be a useful model for any government jurisdiction or private employer seeking cost savings or new job creation through work time reduction options, while improving the quality of life of employees. It lays out precisely the steps employers can take, the necessary time frame, and the information base they and their employers need to determine which work time reduction options will be most successful in their own situations.