In Germany the majority of employees continue to work according to rigid working time models, which stipulate both the daily duration of work and the start and end time. This is the result of a survey by the Federal Statistics Office. According to this survey such an inflexible working time model applied to 58.1 per cent of employees in 2010. In comparison, merely 36.3 per cent had an influence on their working time arrangements and were able to use different forms of flexibility.

This flexibility had different characteristics: 24.1 per cent of employees had greater selection possibilities through a working time account. They merely had to reach a given total number of hours and possibly had to be present during so-called core times. A further 10.2 per cent were able to set the start and end of their working time flexibly using a flexitime regulation. 2.0 per cent of employees were completely flexible in setting their working time. Working time regulations did not play any role at all because their performance was assessed exclusively by work results.