Longer working days pose no increased health risks, study suggests

Clocking up longer daily working hours does not pose an increased health risk for office workers, according to a study by the Cologne-based German Economic Institute (IW).

Employees working more than 10 hours a day do not report significantly more exhaustion or stress symptoms than those with shorter working days, the study found.

Voluntarily accepting longer daily hours did not affect job satisfaction, the IW noted. Longer working days did not negatively impact the self-assessed health of workers, nor their number of sick leave days.

The IW's analysis was based on a 2021 working time survey involving more than 8,600 office employees.

The IW noted that not every occupation was suitable for longer working hours due to safety and health considerations.

Germany's new conservative-led coalition has announced plans to reform regulations governing the 8-hour working day, replacing it with a weekly framework for working hours.

Unions have strongly opposed the move away from the 8-hour day, a standard since 1918.

Analysis by the Hugo Sinzheimer Institute for Labour Law of the union-affiliated Hans Böckler Foundation contradicts the IW's findings, stating that occupational medicine has long proven that working more than eight hours endangers health.