Hours and holidays: 1 - Working time 2000 - In the first instalment of a three-part survey, we look at the holidays and working hours of 263 employee groups in 110 employing organisations. Based on information from respondents in 74 private sector and 36 public sector organisations, the survey embraces more than half a million employees. Our review focuses on: basic holiday entitlements: company days (where workplaces are closed between Christmas and New Year, for example, or where the Tuesday after a bank holiday is deemed an ''extrastatutory" holiday): service-related leave; sabbaticals and other extended leave arrangements:, and basic working hours (including the number of hours and whether they cover work outside weekday, daytime hours). 'We also examine the extent to which working time arrangements have been changed over the past three years, whether as a result of harmonisation or because of the introduction of annualised hours schemes, nine-day fortnights and other flexible approaches. We conclude that what are sometimes called "nonstandard" working time arrangements are becoming more common as we move towards a 24-hour, seven-day-a-week society. Almost six out of 10 (57%) of the IRS panel employ at least some workers whose basic working week includes periods outside Monday-to-Friday standard daytime hours. Among our surveyed organisations, average basic holiday entitlement for manual groups is 22.2 days, and for non-manual groups it is 23.9 days. The averaye basic working week for manual groups is 38.6 hours. compared with 37.1 hours for non-manual groups. The second part of the survey, to be published in the spring, will look at the rules and practices governing annual leave and unused holidays. Soon after, the final instalment of the investigation will examine the formulae used to calculate holiday pay and compensation for staff who work on public holidays.