EUKN - European Urban Knowledge Network - New Maastricht Times Project (Nieuwe Maastrichtse Tijd)

New Maastricht Times Project (Nieuwe Maastrichtse Tijd)

Introduction

The Federatie Samenwerkingsverband Ondernemersverenigingen Maastricht (FOVM) (Maastricht Federation of Entrepreneur Associations), took an inventory and tested solutions for time bottlenecks that Maastricht’s MKB entrepreneurs, their customers and their staff experience when combining work and care.

Problem

Entrepreneurs, customers and staff of medium and small-sized companies had problems combining work and care. Could this be solved using a common approach?

Description

The aim of the New Maastricht Times Project was to gain an insight into the desires, conditions and possibilities of making working hours and opening hours more flexible in Maastricht’s retail trade. The project contributed to solutions for:

the time bottlenecks for care combiners;
the real possibility of staff shortages in the retail trade;
the currently inactive staff shortages;
the economic climate and the quality, variety and continuity of the retail trade;
the city’s accessibility, via the Route Help Project that was linked to the New Maastricht Times Project.

Approach

The project aimed to make work and opening times more flexible in four to-be-distinguished shopping areas. The path taken was as follows:

a study into the desires and conditions of making working hours and shopping times flexible for entrepreneurs, staff and consumers;
design and implement alternative arrangements based on the previous study;
create a platform that can initiate feasible changes using the results of the research;
a final meeting in which the conclusions of the studies and the deliberations are discussed in the platform.

Results

• A set of research data on the desires and conditions of making working hours and shop opening hours more flexible, which is practical with regard to policy and implementation in the coming years.
Opening hours that are geared to customers, employers and staff.
More job opportunities by offering people the opportunity to work with short contracts or during different working hours.
A sounding board group, setup and operational.
The cooperation of entrepreneurs and entrepreneur associations in the four shopping centres.
A minimum of four tested alternative arrangements.
A platform that realises feasible alterations and changes to the times of the city of Maastricht.
A final meeting in which the research and project results were presented to the interested parties. These results are transferable to other municipalities and other entrepreneurial partnerships. The expected products are: a needs’ study, bottleneck study, literature search, a questionnaire and a checklist.

EU involvement

This project was granted a 140,000 euros subsidy from the ESF-funds.

Contact info

Maastricht Federation of Entrepreneur Associations
J. Persoon, tel. +31 43 6040339

Project start date

01/10/2003

Links

City of Maastricht

Document type

case

Themes

Urban Policy > Economy knowledge & employment > Working patterns

Keywords

Flexible working