WORKING TIME: HUMANIZATION OF WORK PRINCIPLE
WORKING TIME: HUMANIZATION OF WORK PRINCIPLE

Summary/Abstract: Work, as an indispensable social category, serves as a cornerstone and pillar for the survival of humanity. Each period of human civilization has, in its own way, approached work in line with its own level of understanding of equality and humane treatment. Therefore, in the early developmental epochs (slavery and feudalism), the issue of favourable working conditions was incompatible with societal structures marked by clear class divisions. Such systems prevented workers from engaging in employment relationships as we know them today; in fact, employment relationships did not exist because workers were considered the property of their employers. Only with the development of capitalism did favourable conditions emerge, allowing workers to gradually achieve equality with employers and start to assert rights that were previously unimaginable. First and foremost, these rights embody the humanization of work principle, which recognises workers as equal participants in the work process alongside employers. The results of this new approach became more evident over time, with workers being guaranteed rights such as limited working hours, fair wages, rest, occupational protection, and more, at both international and national levels. Working time, therefore, represents a component of humane treatment and a guarantee of respect for the employee as a person who must not be exploited in the work process. The right to limited work ing time was among the first demands by workers to protect themselves from employer despotism, so it is not surprising that the International Labour Organization dedicated its first convention, adopted in 1919, to this very issue. Given the importance of these labour law institutes for the successful functioning of both employees and the teams they work in, this paper explores the definition of working time and the need for its legislative protection. We also examine the advantages of rational use of working time as well as the disadvantages of poor work time management. The aim of the paper is to demonstrate the immense contribution that working time has made to the functioning of employment relations in the contemporary world.

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