CIPD responds to new proposals from the European Commission on the Working Time Directive

Mike Emmott, CIPD Employee Relations adviser, commenting on the new proposals from the European Commission on the Working Time Directive, says:

Our research showed that the majority of long hours workers don’t want the opt-out removed. People who chose to work long hours should be allowed to do so.

The commission proposal needs very careful scrutiny. While we agree that managers should not be able to force their workforce to work long hours, it is far from clear why workers, through their unions, should be able to force their managers not to work long hours.

The commission is in danger of finding a solution to a problem that doesn’t exist. The evidence suggests that managers and professionals are at least as likely to be working long hours as employees in front line jobs.

It is interesting that the unions are opposed to these reforms. We suspect, on the strength of our research amongst long hours workers, that they recognise their officials would face strong opposition from their members in most workplaces if they were to seek to conclude agreements banning individual opt-outs.