Dilute to taste? The impact of the working time regulations in the hospitality industry

To investigate the impact of the working time regulations (WTR) in the hospitality industry and dynamics of the employment relationship within the case study firms.

A qualitative case study approach was used, interviewing 18 respondents over two case study organisations. Line managers, personnel specialists, employees and trade union representatives were interviewed in each case.

Both case studies were largely unaffected by the WTR. This was due to both the high amount of numerical and temporal flexibility afforded by large part‐time workforces and to harmonious employment relations. The design of the Regulations also brings the Government’s commitment to the WTR into doubt. On rare occasions where there was a departure from the basic regulations these were generally accounted for by the many derogations contained within the legislation and were with the full consent of employees.

It is hard to generalise from this research alone which is relatively small‐scale. The study suggests reasons for the unproblematic nature of the WTR which could be tested using large‐scale statistically representative methods. The occurrence of “accidental compliance” is of particular interest for future research.

Identifies the way in which the WTR allow “accidental compliance” and would be useful for review by policy makers.

The WTR remains relatively under‐researched and the study draws interesting comparisons with earlier research. The qualitative approach allows the role of the actors to be identified in determining the effect of the dynamics of the employment relationship on compliance patterns, which covers an empirical “gap” in the literature.