Press Release No. 18/2017 IG Metall: Excessive working hours endanger health

Frankfurt am Main – IG Metall is calling for limits on the flexibilization of working hours. “The legal limits for maximum working hours—8 hours per day and 40 hours per week—as well as a rest period of 11 hours form a regulatory triangle that must be preserved even in the digital workplace. A permanent deviation from these limits endangers health, and that is unacceptable,” said Hans-Jürgen Urban, executive board member of IG Metall, on Wednesday at a symposium in Frankfurt.

Urban also referred to the survey published by Gesamtmetall among employees in the metal and electrical industries: “The aim here is to paint a picture of an ideal working world in which employees’ time preferences are not neglected. That misses the mark.”

Excessively long working hours, constant availability, and round-the-clock work are part of the reality for an increasing number of employees: “Working hours in Germany have once again become less healthy,” said Urban. Shift work has reached a new high in recent years. Since 2010, well over 5 million employees have once again been working regular shifts. Digitalization is placing additional strains on employees. Risk factors include increasing flexibility, unregulated availability, high work intensity, time pressure, and long working hours. In light of these developments, IG Metall is calling on employers to fulfill their obligation to curb the dangers of excessive working hours so that employees can once again have greater autonomy in shaping their own work schedules.

Scientific studies show that there is a close correlation between working hours and health. Although the law requires employers to identify and assess potential risks associated with working hours, this is done in only about a quarter of workplaces.

At the IG Metall conference “Time for a New Era: Healthy Working Hours Through Modern Occupational Safety Policy” on March 29, experts from labor unions, occupational safety, occupational medicine, and politics discussed new scientific findings on the topic and presented examples from workplaces of how work can be organized in a way that promotes health.