Interaktive Freizeitdienstleistungen und Arbeitszeit – eine explorative Studie

The concept of the ‘value of time’, operationalised in the 1980s, is being expanded in view of significant changes in the world of work, particularly tertiarisation. To this end, the concept is combined with insights from research in labour sociology focused on service work in order to include the reciprocity between the different actors involved in service interactions. Building on this, the interference between work and leisure time is examined in an exploratory way. Thereby, the focus is on interactive leisure services as an area that has gotten little attention in research. Methodologically, the usability of free time based on selected rosters of employees in various service sectors characterised by frontline work is investigated. This is combined with qualitative findings regarding the service employees’ (and their representatives’) perception of their own working time in the retail and hospitality sectors. These data emanate from a larger comparative study on working conditions in frontline occupations. The observations and analyses underline that increasing the value of time of one social group can come at the expense of another.