Time-greedy employment relationships: four studies on the time claims of post-Fordist work

Recent case studies consistently show that employees in contemporary work structures (often referred to as post-Fordist work designs) spend longer hours at work than in more traditional workplaces. This study investigates the association of post-Fordist work with working unpaid overtime and over-employment, using a multi-firm survey in the Netherlands. We test a range of explanations of why people would agree to work overtime for no pay. We also examine how and under what conditions working overtime harms the well-being of employees. For example, are the possible negative effects of working overtime just as severe for people who enjoy their work? These research questions are examined with the Time Competition Survey. The data were collected by means of a multi-stage sample of 1114 Dutch employees within 89 function groups in 30 work organizations in the Netherlands