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Back to the desk in the evening: Very few people want that
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More flexibility is the credo of the new world of work.
A common thesis: it helps employees if they can also work in the evening, for example, in order to be able to better reconcile job and family.
However, a new study shows that this is not desirable for either parents or childless people.
Only three percent of those surveyed would choose to finish work after 6 p.m. if they had the choice, according to a study by the Hans Böckler Foundation’s Institute for Economic and Social Sciences (WSI).
The sociologist Yvonne Lott analyzed data from more than 2,300 full-time employees subject to social security contributions who took part in a survey by the Hans Böckler Foundation in November 2022.
Almost 97 percent of them would like to finish work by 6 p.m. at the latest.
This applies to parents as well as other employees.
Depending on when they start work, the majority would like to finish work between 2 p.m. and 5 p.m. – women on average around an hour earlier than men.
Working in the evening is "not compatible with the rhythm of social life," says the researcher.
The modern gainful society is structured as an »evening and weekend society«, »in which the time in the evening and on the weekend is valued as socially particularly valuable«.
Other studies have shown that working in the evening promotes stress, sleep problems and emotional exhaustion in affected employees, according to the research.
Not only hours of work in the evening can have a negative effect, but also occasional emails or being available for calls.
The expert for working time and gender research believes that the introduction of the four-day week could better help to combine work and family and create leeway for private commitments.
Because this increases productivity, employees and companies could benefit equally.
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