How Does Working-Time Flexibility Affect Workers' Productivity in a Routine Job? Evidence from a Field Experiment

Abstract

We conducted an experiment in which we hired workers under different types of contracts to evaluate how flexible working time affects on-the-job productivity in a routine job. Our approach breaks down the global impact on productivity into sorting and behavioral effects. We find that all forms of working-time flexibility reduce the length of workers' breaks. For part-time work, these positive effects are globally counterbalanced. Yet arrangements that allow workers to decide when to start and stop working increase global productivity by as much as 50 percent, 40 percent of which is induced by sorting.

Fragmentation of employment relationships, fragmentation of working time: the nature of work and employment of platform takeaway riders and implications for decent work in China

“…There has been considerable research interest in working time flexibility in industrialised economies, particularly European countries, since the 1980s (e.g. Anxo and O'Reilly 2000;Boltz et al 2020;Ciminelli et al 2021;Golden 2012;Ozaki and Ghellab 1999;W€ ohrmann et al 2021). This extensive body of literature has shed light on several aspects of the topic that are central to the study of labour markets, employment regimes and social policies.…”

“…Anxo and O'Reilly 2000; Boltz et al. 2020; Ciminelli et al. 2021; Golden 2012; Ozaki and Ghellab 1999; Wöhrmann et al.…”