Open Access
CC BY-NC-ND 4.0 · Sleep Sci 2025; 18(S 02): S1-S40
DOI: 10.1055/s-0045-1812756
ID: 75

HR Representatives’ Experiences of the Implementation of New Working Time Rules Guaranteeing Healthcare Employees Eleven Hours of Rest Between Shifts

Authors

  • Marie Söderström

    1   Department of Clinical Neuroscience, Karolinska Instiitutet, Solna, Sweden

  • Sofia Renman

    2   Department of Psychololgy, Stockholm University, Stokcholm, Sweden

  • Lina Ullman

    2   Department of Psychololgy, Stockholm University, Stokcholm, Sweden

  • Anna Dahlgren

    1   Department of Clinical Neuroscience, Karolinska Instiitutet, Solna, Sweden
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Introduction: Working time rules are a central part of work environment legislation aiming to ensure employee recovery and to promote health and safety. From October 2023, new working time rules guaranteeing employees at least eleven consecutive hours of rest during a 24-hour period have been implemented in Swedish regional healthcare. The aim of this study was to investigate the HR representatives’ experiences of the implementation of the new working time rules within Swedish regional healthcare, guaranteeing employees a minimum of 11 hours of rest time between shifts.

Methods: Semi-structured interviews with twenty HR representatives, from different healthcare regions in Sweden, were conducted. The interviews were recorded (audio recordings) and transcribed before coding. A subsample of seven of these interviews have now been analyzed using thematic analysis. The analysis process is ongoing and the results presented here are preliminary.

Results: Five themes were identified highlighting factors that challenged or facilitated the implementation process. Among the main challenges identified were “Resistance to change,” “Lack of knowledge and skills related to working hours and scheduling,” and “Working hours not a prioritised area.” At the same time, “Collaboration” and “Information and support” were highlighted as important success factors. As a common thread, connected to all themes, leadership was especially important explaining both implementation difficulties and success.

Conclusion: The study deepens the understanding of factors hindering or facilitating the implementation of working times rules in healthcare organisations from an HR perspective, highlighting the key role of managers and the challenge of change management when there is a low readiness for change. Support: The study was funded by FORTE, Swedish Research Council for Health, Working Life and Welfare, (2023–00556).



Publikationsverlauf

Artikel online veröffentlicht:
08. Oktober 2025

© 2025. Brazilian Sleep Academy. This is an open access article published by Thieme under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonDerivative-NonCommercial License, permitting copying and reproduction so long as the original work is given appropriate credit. Contents may not be used for commercial purposes, or adapted, remixed, transformed or built upon. (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/)

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