The Rectorate’s Column
Do we have to spend time on that now?
As the University Director, one of my tasks is to ensure that SDU complies with laws, rules and recommendations decided by the Danish Parliament and laid out by the civil service.
Since I started as director at SDU in May 2017, the regulation of universities has unfortunately been increasing. For instance the GDPR (data protection), the URIS recommendations (guidelines for international collaboration), the common government chart of accounts, appointments to boards of directors and certificates of employment and much more.
Many laws and regulations have noble purposes. To me it makes sense, for instance, that SDU helps protect citizens’ data, (see the GDPR). The other side of the coin, however, is that new rules may make our work at the university more difficult. You have to spend time complying with and navigating rules that you may experience as pointless and bureaucratic. I fully understand that!
New law from July 1
For that reason, over the past months I have been giving careful thought to a new law that SDU and other Danish universities must implement from 1 July 2024: Registration of working hours.
In short, the Danish Parliament, taking their cue from the EU Labour Directive, has passed a law requiring all public and private employers in Denmark to register their employees’ working hours. The employer must be able to document the employee’s actual working hours to ensure that the weekly working hours do not exceed 48 hours on average over a period of 4 months, and that the employee has 11 hours of rest between working days. Working hours must be recorded, monitored and documented for 5 years.
The law does not change the 37-hour working week which is stipulated in the collective agreements of the Danish labour market. But in practice, the law means that employees and managers at all Danish universities must register their working hours from 1 July 2024. The registration concerns measuring the daily working hours of the employee – not what the working hours are spent on during the day.
Certain individuals (self-organisers) may be exempted from the registration requirements, but it is still uncertain which individuals may be defined as self-organisers at the Danish universities.
Different impact of the law across the University
For some employees at SDU, these requirements will not be a challenge. For example, if you are already covered by a flex-time agreement and are used to checking in and out at the university entrances, you will probably not notice much difference, except that the system and procedures for recording the time may change.
For other employees at the university, the new requirements may pose a challenge. For example, if you have previously not given any thought to when and how you work. Perhaps you are motivated by solving tasks and delivering results without considering the number of working hours (number of hours per week) or the placement of working hours during the week (hours of rest). With the new rules, you will have to spend time recording your working hours and have a dialogue with your manager about the number and placement of your working hours, so that the rules of a maximum of 48 hours/week on average and 11 hours of rest are complied with.
Finding a pragmatic solution
My many reflections on the new legislation are due to the fact that the new requirements, as the examples show, will be experienced quite differently across SDU. The new requirements will also lead to more bureaucracy.
In addition, registering working hours is much more than just a system and some procedures. It affects the academic values and culture of the university, the freedom to organise one’s own work and the extensive flexibility that characterises SDU and the other universities.
So the new legislation is not of our doing, and the rectorate has actively worked to ensure that the legislation will have as few adverse consequences as possible. But unfortunately, registering working hours will nevertheless become part of the rules and regulations which we must comply with after July 1, 2024.
The Main Cooperation Committee (HSU) has already initiated a dialogue on the matter. I am sure that we will succeed in finding a pragmatic way forward with regard to recording working hours at SDU, and that we will find solutions that are simple and easy to deal with. The new law may also give rise to discussions here at SDU about the University as a workplace and the balance between life at and outside of work.
The management and SDU HR will provide further information in the coming months.
CLICK HERE to read more about the law.
