WORKING TIME AND WORK ORGANISATION

Policy briefs

Work sharing (short-time working) is a labour market instrument, based on reduced working hours, designed to spread a reduced volume of work over the same (or similar) number of workers in order to avoid layoffs or, alternatively, to create new employment. Work sharing and partial unemployment benefits to supplement workers’ wages are policy measures suggested by the Global Jobs Pact, adopted by the ILO’s constituents in June 2009, to help limit or avoid job losses and support enterprises in maintaining their operations and retaining their workforces. The ILO has prepared three policy briefs on this important subject:

• “Work Sharing: A strategy to preserve jobs during the global jobs crisis”
• “New developments in work sharing in middle-income countries”
• “The distribution of Hours of Work in Developed and Developing Countries: What are the Main Differences and Why?”

Training on working time

The ILO has developed a training module on designing and managing working time. This training module is part of a set of training modules, WISE-R, designed to help small- and medium-sized enterprises to simultaneously improve working conditions and productivity. This training module was pilot-tested in both Cambodia and China during the mid-2000’s, and the module has now been finalized and is available to ILO constituents on demand.

National-level policy and technical advice

National-level technical workshops and/or policy and technical advisory services are provided to ILO constituents on demand. These activities are designed to support ILO Member States in improving legislation, regulations, or policies regarding hours of work and working time arrangements. In recent years, these advisory services have been provided in countries such as Brazil, the Dominican Republic, and Tunisia.