Working around the clock? – The time and location of paid work in Finland 1979-2010

This article draws on Finnish time use data spanning the past three decades (1979–2010) with a focus on the prevalence of wage and salary earners’ work at different locations, namely at the employer’s facilities, at home, outside the home or the main place of work, and on the move. The diary data (N = 13, 277) depicts respondents’ time budgets in ten minute intervals around the clock. According to the results, work practices have remained surprisingly conventional. Although the absolute time spent at the respondents’ main place of work has been decreasing, the vast majority of employees still work at their employer’s facilities during normal business hours, lending no support to the 24/7 working society thesis. However, during a standard working week, alternating between different business facilities has become more common than before, pointing to the growing importance of distributed work arrangements. The data also shows that the share of employees working on days off has not increased, but this kind of activity has lengthened over the years by those who do it, implying that the burden of working time is divided more unevenly than before.