Working on Sundays is detrimental to well-being, says Swiss study

Keystone-SDA

The Swiss group "Alliance for Sunday" insists that this special day of the week should not be sacrificed to short-term economic interests. It highlights a study by the University of Bern that shows that working on Sundays is detrimental to well-being and particularly affects women.

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Sunday work is detrimental to physical, mental, and social well-being, especially when flexible working hours are limited. This is the conclusion of a study conducted by the Interdisciplinary Centre for Gender Research at the University of Bern. It was presented on Friday by the “Alliance for Sunday”, a group of trade unions, religious organisations, and the Swiss Society for Occupational Medicine.

The coalition opposes plans under consideration to relax Swiss labour laws. It believes Sunday work should remain limited to professions that are “essential” to society.

Women overrepresented

Currently, women, migrants, and people in precarious employment are overrepresented among those working on Sundays. Women are proportionally more likely (17.3%) to work on Sundays than men (14%), despite an increase in the labour force participation rate. They are more likely to work in sectors with a high rate of Sunday work, such as healthcare, hospitality and sales.

Also, women are one-and-a-half times more often affected than men by precarious working conditions, including limited ability to determine their own working hours.

Multiple impacts

According to the study, the health consequences range from sleep disturbances to cardiovascular disease and depression. Without rest periods on weekends, the risk of emotional exhaustion increases. Sunday work also impacts social rituals such as religious services, family gatherings and sports events.

Sunday work is generally prohibited in Switzerland. It is subject to authorisation in sectors where it is necessary. The alliance denounces a growing number of attacks on employee rest periods. It believes that the increase in Sunday work must not become the norm.

There are currently plans to relax Sunday working laws in Switzerland. One initiative launched by canton Zurich calls for twelve unlicensed Sunday openings per year, three times more than today. Another, by Radical-Liberal Senator Thierry Burkart, aims to make telework more flexible by authorising nine Sundays per year.

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Translated from French by DeepL/sb

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