1. LAMAS Working Group 19-20 June 2013
Agenda Item 2.5 Task force on measurement of absences and working time

2. Background and mandate
Dec 2012 LAMAS agreed to set up the task force
Selected volunteers: DK, DE, FR, IT, SK, FI, CH,
Mandate: Recommend harmonised solutions for the measurement of the working time variables in the EU LFS
Particular focus on measurement of absences
Propose a model questionnaire

3. 1st task force meeting (11-12 April)
Analysis of current practices for measuring working time, and of the results in Eurobase
Complete agreement that there is a huge comparability issue which must be solved
The major problem is under-reporting of absences, leading to reporting too many actual hours worked

4. DE

5. FR

6. BG

7. NO

8. Proposed solution (under construction)
Standardised question flow:
Contractual hours, usual hours, absences (duration and reasons), overtime and at the end, actual hours which should reflect all information collected before
Contractual hours are optional, but the discussion so far points towards it being a very useful starting point in the block of questions on working time

9. Proposed solution (under construction)
Add reminders:
The next questions refer to the week of .. Please remember that ..was a bank holiday.
In that week, did you take any time off, including bank holidays?
Yes / no. If yes, how many hours?

10. Open issues: How to handle flexi time / working time banking
How to deal with respondents who do not have contractual or even usual hours
Number of answering categories for the reasons for absence might be reduced

11. Overall goal and time frame
Complete a model questionnaire for working time variables (tf meeting in September 2013)
Testing (September 2013 – April 2014)
Review of the test results. Refining the questionnaire (April 2014)
Final report to LAMAS (June 2014)