RE: [GD-General] Working Hours

[Andrew G. <ag...@cl...>]

> That doesn't sound right. I can understand them not being 
> allowed to force
> you to work more than a certain amount, and I've met / worked under
> management types who would read that as limiting their 
> work-hours (as in, I
> can't work a 50 hour week because I can't force my staff to 
> work a 50 hour
> week).

You know, that actually is the case. The European Directive which governs
working time and holidays for workers in the EU states they should not work
more than an average of 48 hour per week over a specified period of time. It
also covers items such as minimum yearly holidays, rest periods, and so on.
There's exceptions for certain areas of work, e.g. the armed forces and
emergency services, where they may have cause to exceed this for the public
interest. Needless to say the video games industry isn't mentioned :)

However, it's only a directive. While each member state must implement each
directive they're free to amend it as they see fit. For instance in the UK
employees can agree with their employer to disregard the maximum working
time, and indeed most companies have a section stating you agree that during
unspecified periods the company may compel you to exceed the maximum working
week.

The basic rights that the UK provides under this law are;

a limit of an average of 48 hours a week which a worker can be required to
work (though workers can choose to work more if they want to).
a limit of an average of 8 hours work in 24 which nightworkers can be
required to work.
a right for night workers to receive free health assessments.
a right to 11 hours rest a day.
a right to a day off each week.
a right to an in-work rest break if the working day is longer than six
hours.
a right to four weeks paid leave per year.

(http://www.dti.gov.uk/er/work_time_regs/)

I'm not sure about Germany/Spain but I know Irelend implement the directive
pretty much to the letter, in a specified period (usually 4 months) you
cannot work more than an average of 48 hours a week. Employers are actually
required to hold all records for an employee and have harsh financial
penalties applied for not being able to produce documentation for a workers
hours. Needless to say there's not many (any?) game companies in Ireland :)

http://www.tormeysols.ie/orgworktime.htm


Andy @
Climax Brighton