U.S. employers are faced with a dramatic increase in the share of older workers and a significant slowdown in labor force growth.  Demand for more diverse work arrangements is high, yet workplace change is lagging behind changing workforce demographics.  

One response to this demographic shift is that the large majority of high-income countries have introduced flexible working statutes aimed at making it easier for employees to change how many hours, and when and where they work within their current job.   

Our Global Policy Summary series provide concise encapsulations of statutes supporting flexible working hours throughout various European Union and English-speaking countries.  These publications outline the varying cross-national legal approaches, describing the mechanics of what these measures contain in addition to the logic behind them.

We are thankful to Ariane Hegewisch and Janet C. Gornick for making these data and publications available.  Ariane Hegewisch is currently Scholar-in-Residence at the Institute for Women’s Policy Research and an international fellow of the Center for WorkLife Law, University of California Hastings School of Law. Janet C. Gornick is Professor of Political Science and Sociology at The Graduate Center, and Professor of Political Science at Baruch College, City University of New York, and Director of the Luxembourg Income Study, a cross-national data archive located in Luxembourg.

Measures that Govern Rights to Alternative Work Arrangements	A table concerning statutory employee rights to adjust contractual working hours. Focusing mainly on EU and English-speaking countries, the table includes four basic categories: general statutory rights; rights linked to parenthood or family caregiving status. rights linked to gradual retirement; rights linked to leave for individual training and educational purposes.
Measures that Affect the Quality of Part-Time or Reduced-Hour Work	This publication outlines legislation from EU, European non-EU, and English-speaking countries relative to employment conditions and social insurance schemes.  Included in the table are measures related to equal treatment for part time workers as well as the impact of part-time work on unemployment benefits, including eligibility and thresholds for these benefits. Contextual information such as legal definitions of part time work in addition to the incidence of part time work among men and women are also provided.