{"id":350,"date":"2020-11-12T10:00:38","date_gmt":"2020-11-12T10:00:38","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/sage-people-scraping.local\/?p=350"},"modified":"2026-01-07T13:58:51","modified_gmt":"2026-01-07T13:58:51","slug":"eu-working-time-directive-changes-recording-hours-worked","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.sage.com\/en-ie\/blog\/eu-working-time-directive-changes-recording-hours-worked\/","title":{"rendered":"The EU Working Time Directive: What HR and People teams need to know"},"content":{"rendered":"
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\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\tPeople & Leadership<\/a>\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t
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\n\t\t\t\t\t\tThe EU Working Time Directive: What HR and People teams need to know\t\t\t\t\t<\/h1>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t

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\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\"Headshot\t\t\t\tCharlotte Penny<\/span>\n\t\t\t<\/a>\n\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n\n\n

More and more people are working beyond the average 40-hour week.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Many of us feel as though more hours equal getting more done. So much so that we\u2019re becoming a workforce obsessed with being busy<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In the US, for example, the average employee works 47 hours a week, with four in 10 working at least 50 hours, according to Gallup.<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

However, working more doesn\u2019t mean we\u2019re getting more done. In fact, Sage People\u2019s research revealed that one in three full-time employees admit to being productive for less than 30 hours a week.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What is the EU Working Time Directive?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

In an attempt to legislate against this problem, the EU passed the Working Time Directive in 2003. This law says that no employee should work longer than 48 hours a week and that employees are entitled to an 11-hour break every 24 hours \u2013 unless they specifically choose to opt out.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

However, some trade unions have questioned the law\u2019s effectiveness \u2013 particularly when it comes to companies accurately recording the amount of time their employees spend working.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What\u2019s changed with the EU Working Time Directive?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

A ruling from the European Court of Justice<\/a> means that in order to properly implement the EU\u2019s Working Time Directive, every EU member state must make sure that employers keep accurate records of every employee\u2019s working hours.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Why has this happened?<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

This ruling follows legal action raised by a Spanish trade union, which wanted to force Deutsche Bank to record hours worked each day by its members so that compliance with the Working Time Directive can be correctly monitored.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What do these changes mean for employers?<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

In a nutshell \u2013 employers need to establish systems that accurately record every employee\u2019s working hours in order to make sure they\u2019re working within the legal limits.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This means setting up an \u201cobjective, reliable and accessible system enabling the duration of time worked each day by each worker to be measured\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

How does this ruling impact HR teams?<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

As the natural gatekeepers and processors of personal data, HR teams could potentially be called upon to access this information.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ask yourself how data driven is your workforce? What kind of visibility do you really have over your people and information about attendance and leave?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

These are crucial questions not purely for this legislation, but also for better workforce visibility.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The more analytics at your fingertips, the more business decisions can be made from actionable insights, instead of gut feel.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For example, you know your customers inside out, but what if you had the same level of insight and visibility concerning your employees? What if you knew where every high-potential employee could add most value? What about how your staff prefer to work? Or, who is likely to become a flight risk?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What should we be thinking about when tracking employee time?<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

This is where HR cloud technology<\/a> can help. Think about whether your current system can easily:<\/p>\n\n\n\n