The corona crisis has increased the pressure in the world of work and has even led to job losses for many. But high flexibility and time pressure shaped working life even before the pandemic. In 2019, 41.5 percent of those in employment had to start working earlier or quit later “at least once a month”, according to an evaluation by Statistics Austria for 2019. 40.5 percent were always or often under time pressure.
The stress level in detail: around a tenth (12.6 percent) always worked under time pressure in the past year, with another 28 percent this was often the case and with 41.3 percent sometimes. Only 18.1 percent never experienced stress. This is shown by the survey on work organization and working time organization published by Statistics Austria on Monday.
The industry with the highest proportion of employees who “always” worked under time pressure was accommodation and catering (18.2 percent). Employees in the areas of transport (17.9 percent), health and social services (17.4 percent), construction (13.6 percent) and trade (13.4 percent) were often under constant time pressure. Including those in employment who stated that they “often” work under time pressure, the proportion in accommodation and catering rises to more than half (53 percent). In this industry, the proportion of stress had already reached this level in 2015. At that time, Statistics Austria carried out a thematically similar survey.
Flexible working hours were often on the agenda. 27.1 percent of those in employment were asked to start or end work earlier “at least once a week”; 14.4 percent were asked to do so less often, but “at least once a month”.
The self-employed, at 45 percent, almost twice as often as the dependent (24.6 percent) stated that they had to stay longer or come earlier at least once a week. There were also clear differences between the occupational groups and levels of activity: Executives (51.4 percent), skilled workers in agriculture and forestry (37.3 percent) and employees in academic professions (32.8 percent) were particularly affected by overtime.
Viewed by sector, those employed in agriculture and forestry (35.5 percent) and those employed in the provision of professional and technical services (35 percent) were most frequently required to have flexible working hours. Compared to 2015, the demand for flexible working “has risen markedly, especially for self-employed people,” according to Statistics Austria.
In the other direction, the flexibility is much less – to get one to two hours off at short notice was only very easy for a good third of the employed (36.7 percent) last year, while staying away spontaneously for a day or two for just under a quarter (24, 5 percent).
There were significant differences between the self-employed and the employed: While 77.5 percent of the self-employed in 2019 could very easily take one to two hours off at short notice, this was not even possible for a third of the employed (31 percent). The self-employed were also more than twice as likely to be very easily given short-term leave for one or two days (48.6 percent) than the dependent (21.1 percent).
Clear differences were naturally evident between professions, sectors and levels of activity. In particular, workers in auxiliary and semi-skilled jobs or in the education and training, health and social services, transport and accommodation and catering sectors found it much more difficult to disconnect for a few hours or even days at short notice. According to Statistics Austria, the information provided by the employed indicates that, compared to 2015, it has not only “become significantly more difficult to spontaneously take a few hours off, but also one or two days”.
The majority of those in work are also contacted during their free time on business. In the previous year, 40.5 percent were affected “at least once in two months”. The self-employed were more likely to be contacted about their work outside of working hours (62.8 percent) than the employed (37.4 percent). This is generally more often the case for employees with a high level of activity or high formal education than for employees with a low level of activity or lower education. According to Statistics Austria, contacts made during leisure time fell overall compared to 2015, but professional contacts during leisure time intensified for self-employed people.
The results presented here on work organization and working time organization in Austria are, according to the information, data from the ad hoc module 2019 on the European labor force survey, which was carried out in Austria as part of the microcensus. The microcensus is a sample survey in households. Statistics Austria collected information on the labor market situation in Austria in randomly selected private households in standardized form. 17,669 people were interviewed as part of this module. These data were then extrapolated to the population.
