24 / 48
include on-call duty, “on-demand” duty and split duty,
where workers are only called upon during peak working
hours. The common denominator of all these forms is
that work is done flexibly in accordance with workload.
Consequences for workers
Greater flexibility of working hours can provide workers
with the opportunity to have a better work-life balance.
However, it should be kept in mind that, in practice, a
flexible, self-determined way of working does not always
match the amount of work that clients would like done
within a specific time frame.
The most important aspects of this are:
•
Spatially and temporally flexible work provides work-
ers with a large scope for action and decision-mak-
ing. For example, they can determine themselves
how to divide up their work and this results in a satis-
fying degree of autonomy. However, under the stress
of a large workload, this flexibility often leads to
people working longer hours and not taking enough
breaks. Recovery periods are neglected and there
is the danger of permanently exceeding one’s own
limits (“self-endangerment”). Especially with trust-
based working hours, it is becoming more difficult to
document and prove how much effort was required
and how many hours were worked in order to achieve
the desired result. Recent studies have shown that
New Forms of Work
24