He is the author of Sharing the Work, Sparing the Planet: Work Time and Consumption & Ecology (Zed Books, 2000). Hayden has numerous articles and book chapters on the topics of social and political responses to climate change, the successes and limits of the European Union and the United Kingdom as relative leaders in ecological modernization, and climate action policies and initiatives to reduce hours of work, which are a key part of a sufficiency-oriented political vision. He has worked with non-governmental organizations involved in issues of human rights, a reduction and redistribution of work time, social justice, and international development.