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Why Finland leads the world in flexible work
- Quipunotch104 7y agoEveryday I love this country a little more...
- algui91 7y agoNordic countries are so advanced in so many things... Look at Swede, with its 6 hours/day of work.
- thecopy 7y agoWhat? Sweden works 40 hours per week.
- algui91 7y agoThey were transitioning to a six-hours workday, as far as I know. - https://www.sciencealert.com/sweden-is-shifting-to-a-6-hour-workday https://www.sciencealert.com/sweden-is-shifting-to-a-6-hour-... - https://www.thelocal.se/20140408/swedish-workers-to-test-six-hour-work-days https://www.thelocal.se/20140408/swedish-workers-to-test-six... Experiments shown an increment in productivity and happiness.
- asparuh_kostov 7y agoWell I work and live in Sweden (notice I put work first?) and it's far from 6hrs/day for most industries. Actually now that I think about it I don't know a single person who only works 6 hours per day. The idea is great though, wish it were true :/
- algui91 7y agoOh, what a shame, I though it was real :-(
- hylaride 7y agoIt's never as real or good as you think. France's famous 35 hour workweek only really applies to people who clock in hourly wages. Even there, it's merely the number where overtime kicks in. If you're a professional/salaried you work as much as the job requires, just like the US.
- outside1234 7y agoPlus it is super difficult to get said professional/salaried job because they are so afraid of hiring folks.
- refurb 7y agoYup. I hear about this awesome work-life balance in Europe and then I jump on a call with my Swiss colleagues who are in the office at 6pm working their asses off.
- eloisant 7y agoExcept if you're not at 35 hour per week you have RTT: basically additional PTO, about 2 weeks (10 days). This adds up to the legal 5 weeks (25 days), for a total of 7 weeks (35 days). It's pretty common to use half a day here and there, basically reducing your work week. So it's clearly not "just like the US".
- LIV2 7y agoDepends on whether you consider breakfast & fika to be work hours ;)
- neka 7y agoWasn't this just a trial that had mixed results? https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-38843341 https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-38843341
- algui91 7y agoYes, it seems I was misinformed. Sorry
- seppin 7y agoNo this was a PR stunt that apparently really worked well.
- eionh 7y agoWhy $culturally_homogeneous_and_highly_educated_country leads the world in $social_wellness
- fsloth 7y agoThe article was very specific about the culture of flexible working hours, not a general set piece about social wellness. All you need to do is set aside the notion that modern productivity equals having everyone at their desk at the same time. What does cultural homogeneity have to do with it?
- rayiner 7y ago> What does cultural homogeneity have to do with it? Homogenous cultures have an easier time agreeing to all do the same thing. It’s called establishing social norms. I went to a STEM magnet high school that was about 1/3 Asian when I was there and is now 2/3 Asian. It was already known as a pressure cooker when I was a kid, and the competitiveness went way up since then. Why? Well I was one of those Asians. My dad grew up in a village in Bangladesh, moves his family to the US through hard work and a lot of luck. When I was in high school he told me I had to work 16 hours a day to be successful. I understand the arguments for limiting working hours at an intellectual level, but my gut reaction is to try do a little more than the next guy to get ahead. Even if it’s more for show than substance. And I’m raising my kids to do that too, because it’s my culture! (I can’t even really help it. My daughter is already kind of a striver to begin with, and my natural reaction is to reinforce those instincts.)
- alkonaut 7y ago> he told me I had to work 16 hours a day to be successful. "Success" in what sense? When have you succeeded? How much should a 16h/day workweek pay for it to be a "success" if you have kids? Would the kids agree on the assessment?
- deleted 7y ago[deleted]
- mothsonasloth 7y agoIts interesting how there are 3 top rated articles today on working hours / patterns.
- HNcantBtrustd 7y agoI can't fathom what life is like in such a small country. If 1 major company goes out of business, does it cause chaos? High unemployment and lower tax revenue sounds like any moment the country could find itself in an economic depression. In my local area this almost happened.
- jks 7y agoYes, the fall of Nokia (even though it didn't go completely out of business) had a big impact, especially in some regions. Here is a rough timeline: https://www.quora.com/How-has-the-decline-of-Nokia-affected-Finland-and-Finnish-people https://www.quora.com/How-has-the-decline-of-Nokia-affected-...
- HNcantBtrustd 7y agoIt doesn't explain what life is like due to losing that industry. We are told of Utopia in Europe, but aren't told these stories.
- xornox 7y agoNordic countries are quite good if you want give away some personal freedoms. A reverse side of security is always loss of liberty in some way. Some people like it and some not. I don’t.
- beefield 7y agoI'm quite curious to hear what these personal freedoms are you need to give away in the Nordic countries? Freedom to pay huge student debts maybe?
- ganzuul 7y agoCan you be more specific about what you mean? Here in Finland we have Everyman's Rights, which are quite expansive. We have duties to par though.
- tekkk 7y ago
- mxuribe 7y ago> Since then, discussions about the benefits of flexible working have intensified around the world, with a boom in large global companies embracing the concept... I sure hope companies operating in U.S. adopt this behavior more and more. It always seems like in the U.S. we work harder and not necessarily smarter; certainly not healthier. I'm envious of the health-related foundations that other countries at least try to establish for their citizens. I'm tired of chasing the dollar, and wish to only pursue happiness. </sigh>
- verttii 7y agoOn the other hand, exactly because of the high work ethic USA excels in many regards that these "well-being nations" do not. But you're right, it doesn't necessarily lead to a better health to work harder, however, often it does lead to better business results.
- toxik 7y agoCitation needed on that. Scandinavian work ethic and culture is in my opinion good, and puts emphasis on overcoming hierarchical inertia (e.g. we don't use titles) and lateral thinking in a way that I feel North Americans don't, rather, the emphasis is on "the grind." Putting in insane hours, staying after the boss, etc. A thin veneer of productivity if you ask me. The reason the US excels in business is, I would say, being more willing to sell out their people, though they're probably meeting their match with China and Asia in general now.
- mxuribe 7y ago> ...The reason the US excels in business is, I would say, being more willing to sell out their people... Yes, THIS exactly!
- verttii 7y agoWell just dropping a link to a news article or a study wouldn't really change things. If you look at who's the one producing major digital innovations it's still USA. Sure the Nordic countries are smaller but it's hard to compete against countries like USA with well educated people with strong work ethic when you're pushing in half the hours. Sweden sure is doing well with digital innovations but can't say that the rest of the Nordics are performing equally as well. USA still has Silicon Valley which outperforms every other region in the world.
- outside1234 7y agoNokia is a good example of why this doesn't work. As soon as there was a talented company that wanted to work hard for the market (Apple), Nokia was toast.
- pjc50 7y agoSurely Apple is an example of working smarter rather than harder?
- verttii 7y agoit's of both. Nokia was heavily constrained by the Finnish labor laws and working culture.
- nextlevelwizard 7y agoListening to people who worked at Nokia before shut down there was a lot of wasted time and effort on products that lead nowhere. They missed the boat with the smart phones. It took too long for Nokia to come out with a smart phone line and it was plagued with hardware design flaws. Then they gambled on the OS and rest is history. Had Nokia jumped on board of the smart phone grace right off the bat and supported Google instead of Microsoft the scene might be way different.
- eloisant 7y agoIt's hard to predict an alternate future, but by the time the adopted Windows they were already in a bad position. To put it simply, they missed the transition to smartphones, just like Blackberry. They were in control of their OS, it makes sense they didn't want to give it away before it became clear that they couldn't do it. They had Symbian, which was old and crappy, and Maemo then Meego which apparently, they didn't push enough. The real winning move would have been to bet everything on Meego, bring in the partners they have with Symbian before Android took the market. They didn't do it because they were clinging to the dying Symbian. Honestly, if they had adopted Android right away I'm not sure they would have been able to compete against HTC/LG/Samsung and other Asian companies.
- dlphn___xyz 7y agoim pretty sure scandanavia leads the world in quality of life
- verttii 7y agohttps://www.numbeo.com/quality-of-life/rankings_by_country.jsp https://www.numbeo.com/quality-of-life/rankings_by_country.j...
- iikoolpp 7y agoFinland isn't Scandanavia.
- freehunter 7y agoIn common English usage it often is: >In English usage, Scandinavia also sometimes refers to the Scandinavian Peninsula, or to the broader region including Finland and Iceland, which is always known locally as the Nordic countries. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scandinavia https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scandinavia
- acd 7y agoI can highly recommend the world to adopt like in the Nordics at least 4-5 weeks of yearly vacation. Staff are more rested with more vacation so they are more productive plus you get a different perspective having time off. Also companies should allow remote work and flexible hours. Further due to increased automation we could actually work less hours keeping the same output. If we automate more work we could allow us selves more free time, still enjoying the same output. I think tech companies will lead the way because of the competitive nature hunting for talent. Hopefully other industries will follow. Maybe California as state will lead the way in the US? Annual leave by country. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_minimum_annual_leave_by_country https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_minimum_annual_leave_b...
- bitL 7y agoIncreased productivity doesn't lead to increased wages and increased automation doesn't lead to less work/lower number of days/hours at work. Management plays dominance game, that only works when employees are made feel frustrated and stressed; any move towards happiness like reduced hours and work from home/remotely diminishes any gains from dominance game; relaxed employees with many options would require any monetary gains from productivity to be reflected on their paychecks.
- jgust 7y agoYou state this like it's a natural fact. That's how it is in many places, _today_. It doesn't have to be this way. As far as I know, there is no law of physics that has us locked into this way of operating society.
- perfmode 7y agoit’s helpful to articulate the status quo as a first step toward authorizing an alternative. i agrée it doesn’t have to be that way. and i agree it’s not a natural law. what we need is for people among is to articulate alternatives. and for us to be open minded and willing to take some risks to get toward a better dynamic.
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- AdrianB1 7y agoIt is fairly easy to pick up a success, make a story around it and generalize. But in the same time Finland is at the top of European countries on the depression. Is there any relation between flexible work and depression? No idea, just throwing random "leads the world" facts.
- verttii 7y agoI really doubt it's that. Probably more to do with how little sunshine there is over the winter (which is long and cold).
- znpy 7y agoGod that kind of articles are awful. Don't tell me an effing child fable, just lay the facts.