When private and professional life become increasingly blurred, time recording should put a stop to the delimitation of working hours. But what are the rules? And is that always best for employees?
In the home office, employees often work longer than their employment contract provides for. This should prevent time recording in the company as far as possible. However, an analysis by the Federal Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (BAuA) shows that working hours are only recorded in 66 percent of cases when working from home - this is significantly less common than in the company (80 percent).
For the analysis, the BAuA evaluated data from around 8,400 dependent employees from 2019, i.e. before the start of the corona pandemic. It turned out that even then, employees whose working hours were not recorded reported more frequently that their working hours were no longer limited. There were long working days, missed breaks or no rest periods.
The problem is likely to have worsened during the Corona crisis. According to Hannes Zacher, Professor of Work and Organizational Psychology at the Institute of Psychology at the University of Leipzig, working from home without time tracking caused by the pandemic has meant that people have worked more than necessary - and at "impossible times".
However, the legal basis for recording working hours is somewhat complicated. There is no obligation for employers to meticulously record working hours, says Doris-Maria Schuster, chairwoman of the working group on labor law in the German Lawyers' Association. The Working Hours Act only stipulates that overtime must be recorded. "In any case, that's the prevailing opinion at the moment," says the specialist lawyer for labor law.
In 2019, the European Court of Justice (ECJ) decided in a judgment (Az. C-55/18) that working hours must be controlled by technical specifications. Accordingly, the EU member states are obliged to set up a system in which the working hours of employees are recorded in a traceable and forgery-proof manner.
Since the Federal Labor Court (BAG) announced its decision on recording working hours on September 13, there has been nationwide discussion and speculation. The Erfurt judges have now published the reasons for their decision in writing. The most important questions and answers can be found here. The federal government now wants to examine the verdict. “Probably in the first quarter of 2023”, the Ministry of Labor will then make a “practicable proposal for the design of working time recording” by law, a spokeswoman said.
Time tracking can protect employees. "Time tracking isn't just disadvantageous for employees," says Schuster. In companies with a works council, this is on board when the system is introduced and negotiates in the interests of the employees. This would make it easy to see who is always working at the limit, i.e. working overtime, and take countermeasures.
In fact, such systems also provide structure for those who tend to blur work, says Prof. Zacher: "A line is drawn between work and leisure or family."
At the same time, there is criticism of the system of recording working hours. In fact, as Schuster explains, it is precisely recorded whether you are late, take a longer break or leave early for the end of the day: "You are more transparent as an employee." In her view, however, the recording of working hours serves primarily to protect health and less to meet an exaggerated need for control on the part of the employer.
How useful such a system is depends on the industry, says psychologist Hannes Zacher. According to him, the recording of working hours is generally characterized by distrust: "The time is recorded because companies do not assume that people will work the hours they are supposed to."
This is based on the assumption that the employees do not work enough or too much, but cannot regulate this themselves and may have to be punished or rewarded for it. "This includes an image of man that assumes that everyone has to be controlled and nobody is motivated to work," says Zacher. In addition, the pure working time is valued higher than what is actually done during the time.
According to Zacher, the research recommends working more result-oriented than hour-oriented. Companies should trust their employees and assume that they want to learn and do their job well. "If you have achieved the goals, it's okay to go home an hour early," says Zacher. That is more contemporary than working by the time clock.
In some companies there is already something like trust-based working hours. "In my opinion, that's the future, but it demands more from managers because they then have to clearly define goals that are to be achieved together with the employees," says Zacher. However, trust-based working hours are difficult to reconcile with the requirements of the European Court of Justice, Schuster points out.
As long as it is not fully discussed how working time recording should look like in Germany, employees can at least get used to its advantages where it is already being used. Zacher recommends that anyone who is annoyed about the time recording can help to be clear about their own attitude, then accept the situation and use it sensibly for themselves.
"If I'm just doing my time, it can be good to change something, to take on other tasks or more tasks so that there is no idle time." Zacher also advises not concentrating too much on the working hours, but on the content.
