Nothing Special   »   [go: up one dir, main page]
IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/iza/izadps/dp9583.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

Are Working Time Accounts Beneficial for German Establishments?

Author

Listed:
  • Bellmann, Lutz

    (Institute for Employment Research (IAB), Nuremberg)

  • Hübler, Olaf

    (Leibniz University of Hannover)

Abstract
This contribution investigates whether working time accounts are beneficial for the performance of German establishments. Based on the representative German Establishment Panel of the Institute for Employment Research during the period 2008-2013, effects on productivity, wages, sales, firm size, investments, further training, labor mobility, working hours, operating surplus and profits as performance indicators are estimated. Heterogeneity and robustness are investigated by a subgroup analysis where we distinguished between establishments with a high and a low share of qualified workers, between firms with strong and weak sales fluctuations. Additionally, different lengths of the agreed compensation period and reasons for longer time out periods of the employees are considered. Unobserved firm effects as well as interdependencies between important performance indicators and working time accounts are analyzed. OLS estimates, Lewbel's instrumental estimator and IV panel approaches are applied. As major results we find that productivity and investments are positively correlated with working time accounts. No significant effects of working time accounts can be detected on wages, the number of employees and operating surplus of IV panel estimates. However, on average, we find a tendency towards negative effects on profits. This result is less likely in establishments with a high share of skilled workers. Under strong sales fluctuations we find positively significant on the operating surplus. These mixed results hint to a conflict between the employers and employees interests concerning working time accounts that result in compromise solutions.

Suggested Citation

  • Bellmann, Lutz & Hübler, Olaf, 2015. "Are Working Time Accounts Beneficial for German Establishments?," IZA Discussion Papers 9583, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    • Handle: RePEc:iza:izadps:dp9583
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://docs.iza.org/dp9583.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Danièle Meulders & Sile Padraigin O'Dorchai & Janneke Plantenga & Chantal Remery, 2010. "Flexible working time arrangements and gender equality: A comparative review of 30 European countries," ULB Institutional Repository 2013/135758, ULB -- Universite Libre de Bruxelles.
    2. Susan N. Houseman, 2001. "Why Employers Use Flexible Staffing Arrangements: Evidence from an Establishment Survey," ILR Review, Cornell University, ILR School, vol. 55(1), pages 149-170, October.
    3. D.S. Possenriede & J. Plantenga, 2014. "Temporal and locational flexibility of work, working-time fit, and job satisfaction," Working Papers 14-08, Utrecht School of Economics.
    4. Lutz Bellmann & Hans-Dieter Gerner, 2011. "Reversed Roles? Wage and Employment Effects of the Current Crisis," Research in Labor Economics, in: Who Loses in the Downturn? Economic Crisis, Employment and Income Distribution, pages 181-206, Emerald Group Publishing Limited.
    5. Chad D. Cotti & M. Ryan Haley & Laurie A. Miller, 2014. "Workplace Flexibilities, Job Satisfaction and Union Membership in the US Workforce," British Journal of Industrial Relations, London School of Economics, vol. 52(3), pages 403-425, September.
    6. Brewster, Chris & Mayne, Lesley & Tregaskis, Olga, 1997. "Flexible working in Europe," Journal of World Business, Elsevier, vol. 32(2), pages 133-151, July.
    7. Pindyck, Robert S, 1991. "Irreversibility, Uncertainty, and Investment," Journal of Economic Literature, American Economic Association, vol. 29(3), pages 1110-1148, September.
    8. Alexander Herzog-Stein & Ines Zapf, 2014. "Navigating the Great Recession," ILR Review, Cornell University, ILR School, vol. 67(3), pages 891-925, July.
    9. repec:ilo:ilowps:470847 is not listed on IDEAS
    10. Beckmann, Michael & Cornelissen, Thomas & Kräkel, Matthias, 2017. "Self-managed working time and employee effort: Theory and evidence," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 133(C), pages 285-302.
    11. Addison, John T & Schnabel, Claus & Wagner, Joachim, 2001. "Work Councils in Germany: Their Effects on Establishment Performance," Oxford Economic Papers, Oxford University Press, vol. 53(4), pages 659-694, October.
    12. Shirley Dex & Fiona Scheibl, 2001. "Flexible and Family‐Friendly Working Arrangements in UK‐Based SMEs: Business Cases," British Journal of Industrial Relations, London School of Economics, vol. 39(3), pages 411-431, September.
    13. Arthur Lewbel, 2012. "Using Heteroscedasticity to Identify and Estimate Mismeasured and Endogenous Regressor Models," Journal of Business & Economic Statistics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 30(1), pages 67-80.
    14. Zapf, Ines, 2012. "Flexibilität am Arbeitsmarkt durch Überstunden und Arbeitszeitkonten : Messkonzepte, Datenquellen und Ergebnisse im Kontext der IAB-Arbeitszeitrechnung," IAB-Forschungsbericht 201203, Institut für Arbeitsmarkt- und Berufsforschung (IAB), Nürnberg [Institute for Employment Research, Nuremberg, Germany].
    15. repec:aia:aiaswp:wp84 is not listed on IDEAS
    16. Golden, Lonnie., 2012. "The effects of working time on productivity and firm performance : a research synthesis paper," ILO Working Papers 994708473402676, International Labour Organization.
    17. Peter Berg & Eileen Appelbaum & Tom Bailey & Arne L. Kalleberg, 2004. "Contesting Time: International Comparisons of Employee Control of Working Time," ILR Review, Cornell University, ILR School, vol. 57(3), pages 331-349, April.
    18. Lutz Bellmann, 2014. "Do in-plant alliances foster employment?," IZA World of Labor, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA), pages 1-79, June.
    19. George A. Akerlof, 1982. "Labor Contracts as Partial Gift Exchange," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 97(4), pages 543-569.
    20. repec:iza:izawol:journl:y:2014:p:79 is not listed on IDEAS
    21. Glenn Dutcher, E., 2012. "The effects of telecommuting on productivity: An experimental examination. The role of dull and creative tasks," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 84(1), pages 355-363.
    22. Seifert, Hartmut, 2004. "Flexibility through working time accounts : reconciling economic efficiency and individual time requirements," WSI Working Papers 130, The Institute of Economic and Social Research (WSI), Hans Böckler Foundation.
    23. Robert Drago & Mark Wooden & David Black, 2009. "Who Wants and Gets Flexibility? Changing Work Hours Preferences and Life Events," ILR Review, Cornell University, ILR School, vol. 62(3), pages 394-414, April.
    24. Zickert, Kathi, 2007. "Förderung der beruflichen Qualifizierung durch Weiterbildungs- und Arbeitszeitmanagement : Ergebnisse einer Betriebsbefragung," IAB-Forschungsbericht 200711, Institut für Arbeitsmarkt- und Berufsforschung (IAB), Nürnberg [Institute for Employment Research, Nuremberg, Germany].
    25. Balleer, Almut & Gehrke, Britta & Merkl, Christian, 2014. "Some surprising facts about working time accounts and the business cycle," Kiel Working Papers 1955, Kiel Institute for the World Economy (IfW Kiel).
    26. Groß Hermann & Münz Eva & Seifert Hartmut, 2000. "Verbreitung und Struktur von Arbeitszeitkonten," Arbeit, De Gruyter, vol. 9(3), pages 217-229, September.
    27. Vivian Carstensen, 2013. "The German Labor Market Miracle Revisited: Risk Elimination in Working Time Accounts," Eurasian Journal of Social Sciences, Eurasian Publications, vol. 1(1), pages 19-38.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Lutz Bellmann & Olaf Hübler, 2015. "Working time accounts and firm performance in Germany," IZA Journal of European Labor Studies, Springer;Forschungsinstitut zur Zukunft der Arbeit GmbH (IZA), vol. 4(1), pages 1-18, December.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Lutz Bellmann & Olaf Hübler, 2015. "Working time accounts and firm performance in Germany," IZA Journal of European Labor Studies, Springer;Forschungsinstitut zur Zukunft der Arbeit GmbH (IZA), vol. 4(1), pages 1-18, December.
    2. Beckmann, Michael, 2016. "Self-managed working time and firm performance: Microeconometric evidence," Working papers 2016/01, Faculty of Business and Economics - University of Basel.
    3. Zapf, Ines & Weber, Enzo, 2017. "The role of employer, job and employee characteristics for flexible working time : An empirical analysis of overtime work and flexible working hours' arrangements," IAB-Discussion Paper 201704, Institut für Arbeitsmarkt- und Berufsforschung (IAB), Nürnberg [Institute for Employment Research, Nuremberg, Germany].
    4. Beckmann, Michael, 2016. "Self-managed working time and firm performance: Microeconometric evidence," VfS Annual Conference 2016 (Augsburg): Demographic Change 145623, Verein für Socialpolitik / German Economic Association.
    5. Monteiro, Natália P. & Straume, Odd Rune & Valente, Marieta, 2021. "When does remote electronic access (not) boost productivity? Longitudinal evidence from Portugal," Information Economics and Policy, Elsevier, vol. 56(C).
    6. Deole, Sumit S. & Deter, Max & Huang, Yue, 2023. "Home sweet home: Working from home and employee performance during the COVID-19 pandemic in the UK," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 80(C).
    7. Viete, Steffen & Erdsiek, Daniel, 2018. "Trust-based work time and the productivity effects of mobile information technologies in the workplace," ZEW Discussion Papers 18-013, ZEW - Leibniz Centre for European Economic Research.
    8. Beckmann, Michael & Cornelissen, Thomas & Kräkel, Matthias, 2017. "Self-managed working time and employee effort: Theory and evidence," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 133(C), pages 285-302.
    9. Christian Grund & Katja Rebecca Tilkes, 2021. "Working Time Mismatch and Job Satisfaction: The Role of Employees’ Time Autonomy and Gender," SOEPpapers on Multidisciplinary Panel Data Research 1149, DIW Berlin, The German Socio-Economic Panel (SOEP).
    10. Natália P. Monteiro & Odd Rune Straume & Marieta Valente, 2019. "Does remote work improve or impair firm labour productivity? Longitudinal evidence from," NIPE Working Papers 14/2019, NIPE - Universidade do Minho.
    11. Michael Beckmann & Thomas Cornelissen, 2014. "Self-Managed Working Time and Employee Effort: Microeconometric Evidence," SOEPpapers on Multidisciplinary Panel Data Research 636, DIW Berlin, The German Socio-Economic Panel (SOEP).
    12. Tim Klopries, 2018. "Discussion of “Working from Home—What is the Effect on Employees’ Effort?”," Schmalenbach Business Review, Springer;Schmalenbach-Gesellschaft, vol. 70(1), pages 57-62, February.
    13. Andrey Launov, 2021. "Working Time Accounts and Turnover," Scandinavian Journal of Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 123(3), pages 1025-1056, July.
    14. Marie Boltz & Bart Cockx & Ana Maria Diaz & Luz Magdalena Salas, 2023. "How does working‐time flexibility affect workers' productivity in a routine job? Evidence from a field experiment," British Journal of Industrial Relations, London School of Economics, vol. 61(1), pages 159-187, March.
    15. Natália P. Monteiro & Odd Rune Straume & Marieta Valente, 2019. "Does Remote Work Improve or Impair Firm Labour Productivity? Longitudinal Evidence from Portugal," CESifo Working Paper Series 7991, CESifo.
    16. Ghosh, Sugata & Mitra, Anirban, 2022. "Ethnic identities, public spending and political regimes," Journal of Comparative Economics, Elsevier, vol. 50(1), pages 256-279.
    17. Boltz, Marie & Cockx, Bart & Diaz, Ana Maria & Salas, Luz Magdalena, 2020. "How does working-time flexibility affect workers’ productivity in a routine job?," ROA Research Memorandum 010, Maastricht University, Research Centre for Education and the Labour Market (ROA).
    18. Genevieve Knight & Zhang Wei, 2015. "Isolating the Determinants of Temporary Agency Worker Use by Firms: An Analysis of Temporary Agency Workers in Australian Aged Care," Australian Journal of Labour Economics (AJLE), Bankwest Curtin Economics Centre (BCEC), Curtin Business School, vol. 18(2), pages 205-237.
    19. Kerndler, Martin, 2019. "Size and persistence matter: Wage and employment insurance at the micro level," ECON WPS - Working Papers in Economic Theory and Policy 04/2019, TU Wien, Institute of Statistics and Mathematical Methods in Economics, Economics Research Unit.
    20. Maarten Goos & Melanie Arntz & Ulrich Zierahn & Terry Gregory & Stephanie Carretero Gomez & Ignacio Gonzalez Vazquez & Koen Jonkers, 2019. "The Impact of Technological Innovation on the Future of Work," JRC Working Papers on Labour, Education and Technology 2019-03, Joint Research Centre.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    sales fluctuations; share of qualified workers; flexible working time; working time accounts; productivity; establishments; wages; labor mobility; operating surplus; profits; compensation period;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • C22 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Single Equation Models; Single Variables - - - Time-Series Models; Dynamic Quantile Regressions; Dynamic Treatment Effect Models; Diffusion Processes
    • D21 - Microeconomics - - Production and Organizations - - - Firm Behavior: Theory
    • J21 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demand and Supply of Labor - - - Labor Force and Employment, Size, and Structure
    • J22 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demand and Supply of Labor - - - Time Allocation and Labor Supply

    NEP fields

    This paper has been announced in the following NEP Reports:

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:iza:izadps:dp9583. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Holger Hinte (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/izaaade.html .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.