A greater use of flexible working hours!
In the first edition of our DP Magazine we talked about teleworking, a concept we’ve been pushing for quite a few years. We want reduce people’s time spend in traffic jams and instead give them more hours to enjoy with their family. Besides the idea of teleworking, offering flexible working hours are one of our top concerns when it comes to improving work-life balance. The use of working time accounts presents a first important step towards a more flexible working schedule.
Universal application of working time accounts
After the introduction of working time accounts in the public sector, our government kept its prom-ise to widen the access to this tool to the private sector. However, the relating law contains a little blemish since it only applies to companies bound by collective agreements. The DP advocates for a universal application of working time accounts, so that every employee can save his overtime and remaining holidays for later plans such as quality time with family and friends, a longer break, or further education.
A flexible approach to working time
Besides the general application of working time accounts, the DP’s political agenda features another innovative approach to organizing work schedules, namely the setup of an annual working time (e.g. 1.800 hours). We want to ease our rigid labor regulations and pave the way for a family-friendly flexibilization of labor. The rules about maximal working time per day (10 hours) and per week (48 hours) however should not be changed. Bonuses for Sunday, public holiday and night work should also stay applicable. In the future, salaried workers should be able to fix their annual working time through joint negotiations with their employer. It is by no means our aim to abolish the traditional 40-hours-week. We just want to support those people that are not interested in a 9-to-5 job. Flexi-bility should not be imposed; it should benefit those who need it the most.
