Some 45% of employees, or 10.4 million people, worked in 2021 at least once a month in “atypical hours”, that is to say, in the evening, at night or on weekends, according to a study published this Thursday by the statistics department of the Ministry of Labor.
Working on Saturdays is the most frequent modality, with 36% of employees working at least one Saturday.
Evening work (between 8 p.m. and midnight) concerns 25% of employees, Sunday 20%.
Finally, 10% of employees work at night (between midnight and 5 a.m.) according to this Dares survey.
Self-employed people work even more often in atypical hours: 45% in the evening, 71% at least one Saturday, and 41% at least one Sunday.
Managers work more in the evening, white-collar workers more often at weekends and blue-collar workers at night.
Women are less concerned with working in the evening (23% versus 28%) and at night (6% versus 14%), but more with weekend work (37% on Saturdays and 21% on Sundays versus 34% and 19%).
More common in the civil service
The practice of atypical working hours is particularly widespread in three sectors of activity which meet a need for continuity of social life: accommodation-catering (65% of employees), trade (59%) and transport-storage ( 56%).
It is also more frequent for civil service employees because they ensure the protection and safety of people and property, as well as the permanence of care services.
On average, employees who practice at least one atypical schedule have a more restrictive organization of their working hours than employees with standard schedules.
Their work is more controlled by a device (time clock, badge).