Flexible working adds to stress

The Finnish Statistics Centre has found that flexible working hours and overtime working is not only reflected in the morale within the workplace and in the degree of stress which is suffered by the workforce. There is also an effect on the overall health and happiness of the family of the employee, and on the degree of conflict which is experienced by the employee, between the demands which are placed by the family on the one hand and by work on the other.

More than 50% of those in employment in Finland work regular monthly overtime and 25% work overtime with no extra pay. A competitive atmosphere at the workplace has been given as the reason for agreeing to work overtime on an unpaid basis.