May 27, 2012
Published: 9 Nov 11 12:49 CET | Double click on a word to get a translation
Online: http://www.thelocal.se/37258/20111109/
Swedes have a reputation for studying longer, working fewer hours and enjoying more holiday leave than people in most other comparable countries, while others argue that the careerism rat race has taken hold. What do you think?
What do you think? Leave your comment below.
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lång
adjective
Lång means long, tall and can be used for height, distance or time.
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Second, Swedish people have terrible work ethics, the biggest problem in my opinion is that Swedish employers have terrible reward ethics. I don't care if someone only does half the amount of work or spend half the time less productive then I do, as long as I get payed more.
This doesn't seem to exist in Sweden, working harder, longer, better, faster, or generating the company more revenue are no factors to reward you better. That is the reason why international companies won't settle here, because staff isn't motivated to achieve something. Also promotions are in most cases done by period of employment rather then most qualified person. And then there is the tremendous tax burden that scares companies and professionals away.
I personally also really hate that Swedish people consider having children to be a problem for their employer rather then an inconvenience for their selves. They have no problem with leaving their colleagues in the cold for a year while their off slacking. I really do not understand this. Having children is YOUR problem, if your kid is sick then that is YOUR problem, this shouldn't be the companies concern in ANY way.
Yes
I have not seen such slow work so far in any country..
It's really very disappointing....
My company even takes it further and tops up the salaries of senior management, to ensure the whole of the workforce can take advantage of this benefit, as apposed to losing 50% of your salary sue to the cap from the social.
For sure it is a challenge for the companies to manage these leaves, but also keep in mind that it is the tax payer that covers these costs primarily, with some input from the company. As most decent working people pay extremely high taxes in comparison, for sure the benefit is not without pain.
Retention values in Sweden are some of the highest in the world, entrepreneurial drive is one of the highest and the skill base with regards to education is surely one of the world leaders, due to the unique system.
So it is to knock Swedes, due to the benefits they have compared to many parts of Europe, an for sure without adapting to the culture, be really being part of it makes it impossible to understand, but the system works. Do we need to look at the US or the UK debts to be in any doubt. What's more, I have lost count how many expats settle down here with families due to the family orientation.
Generally the comments of a negative nature, which I made myself in the beginning, are from the usually single expats, who either leave or have no family, and spend all their time within the circle of expats who make no attempt to understand the culture, but make comments on a very shallow level. Family being termed as a problem, is a pretty clear hint.
In the top two of family ownded companies (as well as family orientated) in the world are Ikea and Tetra Pak!
Life is about choices, if you do not like the work ethic of Sweden, leave and go and join the un-employment lines in your respective countries.
Society is build up base on the continuity of human reproduction, obviously you do not have children. They are NOT anyone's problem. They are someone that will take care of you when you are old or sick. They are someone that will make sure you live a quality life until you pass on.
Why do you think government promote birth rate, and tries to make sure every kids has proper education and has no health issue? They are not just been stupid and wasting all the money. It is everyone's concern!
Let's put it this way, if it weren't your parents, you won't be here, no?
You are in wrong country if you want monetary rewards. Pick other country that has low tax rate.
@ everyone else, watch the following seminar
Richard Wilkinson: How economic inequality harms societies
http://www.ted.com/talks/richard_wilkinson.html
I have had people come in to apply for a position with my firm and during the interview when I ask if there are questions I am asked" Yes, what times is fika and lunch?"
Also, when told that it may be necessary at times to work late or on weekends with a project they look at me as if I am crazy and say " But do we not quit work at 4:30" or "Work? On a weekend?" I also find that most Swedes find it impossible to a) multi task and b) turn off cellphones (which is a job requirement)
People always ask me why I usually hire immigrants. I am not biased. I just find their work ethics better and their level of dedication to the job far superior.
I think it may have to do with the education system which is (in my opinion) inadequate and doesn't push excellence or drive but just a "get by" attitude.
Life is NOT about working all day long.. it is about Living and work should be a means to make it possible.
If you look at countries that work and work and work, their people are burned out, get sick more, are more depressed, less happy etc etc. Not what I would like to see in Sweden at all.
It happens too much nowadays that companies lay off people and the workload is only spread onto the left over staff. That is not a good system, it brings up profits for a while, but breeds contempt amongst workers.
@Abe L - Having children is YOUR problem, if your kid is sick then that is YOUR problem, this shouldn't be the companies concern in ANY way.
It is this sort of thing that I don't understand... a company is reliant upon it's workers.. take care of your workers and they WILL take care of you.. not the other way around. In the US and other EU countries it is .. profits profits profits and see where that has brought them..
I think Sweden is doing just fine.. keep it up... and @ferretlegs - brilliant post. tack.
1. Reklam, go to hundred of houses (go upstairs and down countless time) for a very low-salary maybe 50kr
2. Delivering morning newspaper: However, the mailboxes are at the ground floor but people need paper on their Bed.
Learn to accept the reality! Wake up from dreams of blonde fairy tales!
It's time to work 3:00am!
Old saying "Work smarter, not harder"
I think you should do an opinion piece on the work ethic of Sweden for the local. We need more people praising this work ethic.
@repat_xpat
The social and family ethic is what I love about this country, why should men pass up on there paternal leave? what a ridiculous thing to say.
I quote my Italian boss when presenting to him that i shall take pappa leave, "but you have no breasts". This way of thinking is out dated in the modern world, where women and men are equals. I have known men be penalised due to taking the choice of pappa leave in their career growth, and therefore it takes a strong individual to stand their ground and take the time they have paid for when working for a non-Swede. When asking my boss what the difference is whether it is me or my wife who shall stay at home, his answer was simply, "she does not work for us".
Thankfully in my company, this is an opinon of the few, and therefore they shall die out like the dinasours they are.
I do not understand why expats hate on the Swedes, for such a life style, that had it been inbedded into our culture in the UK, we would have a much safer and happier country. I grew up only seeing my father at weekends, which were few and far between due to the need to work overtime at his company's request. If this is the life bringing up a family in England would mean, then I am happy to be a father in Sweden and have quality time with them.
For the expats that do not see the benefits, I recommend you find a nice Swedish partner like myself, give up your large expat package (which is why you are expected to work harder), take a local contract and start to enjoy the Swedish life...lagom is good, once you understand it.
For reference, I am a Director with a team of 40. This year I lost 40 months of work time due to mamma and pappa leave. We managed and the team are grateful and work extremely hard and more importantly, efficiently!
ps. Thanks for the good feedback, this article has touched a nerve. My expat friends that still live in the expat circles make such comments about Swedes. The ones that have integrated, have stopped this line of discussion many years back.
Take up that promise to write an op-ed for The Local - they carry reader stuff all the time. I am sure it would be enlightening and very interesting to keep this topic running.
In the US at the daycare centers they'd have babies as young as 8 weeks old, because the parents had to get back to work ASAP. Which is really sad to see something so small and fragile be left at the daycare center for minimum of 10 hours a day.
@ferretlegs - great post.
@abe l - Everyone should be able to enjoy time with their babies. If you like working in slave like conditions, then that's your choice. I don't see the US' economy doing so well, and they don't have much benefits or leave time. Companies should take care of their people, and not treat them as slaves that owe the company something.
Some of us have to , in order to live, but to do this with a passion and actually want to be more dedicated to it?
Some comments here astound me.
Selling off my time, more than 8 hours a day (half my life) for some items , money and social status just seems so petty to me.
You climb that corporate ladder , robot man, the one that dies with the most things and money is the winner!
P.S. This is the world, where value of a man is tested by the amount of money he is capable to produce!
Try getting some work and taking a year or two to work in another country. Your outlook maybe vastly different.
As far as your last statement is concerned: You really don't seem to work under pressure (It was rational) So I find parallel it to what you say and what you did!
If it is other work ethics you want (based on fear of losing a job like in the south of europe or the US) that is fine with me but please don't say people in those countries are dpoing a better job....because they don't.
By the way, I don't get paid for fika time.
The men on paternity leave are so enthralled with their own breeding skills they are unaware that their co-workers, though they grin and bear it, in reality consider them slackers. They dump their work on colleagues while expecting admiration for what is nothing more than a life-style choice.
To the topic: A job in Sweden resembles therapy more than work.
It isn't just a life style choice, it's THE LIFE choice.
Europe already has unsustainable birth rates.
Without children even the corporate nightmare (you so praise) wouldn't exist , nothing would exist, our world would end in a few decades if enough people don't have children.
If you want to keep the world (in the most concrete sense), that is a "burden" you will have to live with.
It honestly makes me want to laugh when Swedes say or believe that they are hardworking.
The amount of laziness, incompetence, entitlement and the lack of responsibility, discipline and motivation are just staggering here in Sweden. People do 2 hours of actual work during an eight hour day and think they're accomplishing something.
Customer service is nonexistent in Sweden; getting anything done in a timely manner or finding someone in charge (that will actually take responsibility) when something is wrong is next to impossible. For some reason, half the workers in Sweden have apparently suffered some sort of trauma and are only able to work 20-60% of the time, even though they're employed as full-time. (Another possible reason the figures are so screwed up?) The other half are usually too busy taking one of their multiple fikas, checking Facebook on their phones, finishing up their conversation about what happened over the weekend etc. to even bother asking if you need assistance, while some are busy purposely ignoring you so that they can have as little human interaction as possible. This can be seen at the hospitals where groups of 5+ nurses will be sitting and laughing while there's a 3+ hour wait, the restaurants where waitstaff have to finish up their 10 min conversation before seating guests or taking orders, the retail stores where employees will run into / push past you instead of saying excuse me etc. etc.
Anyone who thinks Swedes are hard-working or participating in the rat race have no idea what a normal day's work is for most of the world. Many, if put in the situation of having to work elsewhere, would probably find themselves fired rather quickly.
Putting people first and having decent benefits is great, but Swedes don't work for it, it's given to them. Few realize how easy they have it here.
Very nice post,and..... from an Ex Brit, who also found love and a very good life here in Sweden.......would like to use parts of your postings for a forum in the USA....OK
George
I hold with Doug Lansky, being an American raised to believe that hard work, daring and a little luck can take a man a long way towards fulfilling his dreams, whatever they may be. Of course this philosophy doesn't sell very well to those who think of work as what they must do when they're not vacationing, but then this lot are never keen to scrub their own hotel toilets, either.
As a thought exercise, envision a society organized around the principle that work should be minimized at all costs, freeing up individuals to invest as much time and resources as possible in pursuits believed to produce physical and spiritual well-being. What kind of people would such a society produce, and what would happen to it when it runs out of money? The PIGS will soon find out.
Sure as eggs are eggs, we will all die, how much time you spend working or doing something more enjoyable is your choice. Live in Sweden, you'll enjoy your spare time and family more. Work in the UK, have a house full of material items and kids you never see, because you're flogging on all the time. It's an easy choice for any family person on which system works.
You can't fight the Swedish ethic ,but why would you want to?
As for writing an article, how would I do that... I like this topic!
Swedes are well educated because their college education is free? For whom? Not for the taxpayers, to be sure, particularly those taxpayers who couldn't get into college yet must pay for others to go. I suggest you consult the economic research showing that taxpayer funded higher education is inherently regressive because kids from lower income families invariably have a lower attendance rate than kids from middle and upper income families.
If college weren't free, would Swedes not go? If you answer yes, then your answer would apply to Americans as well. Thing is, American universities are full of students incurring massive debt to go. Hmm ... seems like people who want a college education will go to college regardless of who pays.
It's not surprising that your view of the world crumbles when it must bear the burden of facts and reason. This is also happening to the OWS rabble, who have discovered that they've incurred $100,000 in debt for a useless degree that employers ignore. The same will happen to the Swedish worldview as competition with emerging economies ramps up. I'm still amazed by Swedes who believe that they get paid not to work, that university and health care are free, and that their system is clearly the best ever devised.
Exactly.
@ pemberj #36
Maybe we don't want to be stuck in North Korea with the internet, but our companies sent us here or we just happened to fall in love with a Swede and end up here. Believe me, we are NOT all here by choice.
There are great opinions on both sides of the commitment scale, but not much discussion related to the work tasks or managerial level associated with the opinion. I suspect that if we look at the issues of paternal leave, overtime, extra holidays, etc. from a mid to low level workers, or production workers standpoint, (WORK TO LIVE, NOT LIVE TO WORK) these things are great, motivational, and an important part of the culture. Redundancy of skills and less dependence upon the INDIVIDUAL is a major factor. Workers that exceed the standards of performance are frequently seen as "making coworkers feel bad" about theselves, and as not being team players. Cultural misfits to be weeded out.
On the other hand, if we look at these entitlements from a senior management or driven team leader viewpoint, they are major disruptions in the continuity of work and natural progress, or consistency of leadership. Now we are talking about leaders/managers with a shared vision. Life is about the accomplishment. Fun, pride, personal satisfaction and self image are all wrapped up here. The world has alotl of high and over-achievers. Without them, few new companies would be formed, discoveries made, or limits pushed.
Which is right? I say both! But we need a culture that recognises both and allows each to thrive. Entitlements say the companies have responsibilities to workers and workers families. But most of us have probably met the person who just accepted a new job only to go on paternal leave a month later... I think that is a bit of dishonesty, or at least irresponsibility on the part of the worker.
To discriminate against families is not only illegal but in a greater sense it is morally wrong and plain short sighted. The children of today will one day inherit this planet. The only way to ensure our forward movement is to nurture and encourage humility and understanding from an early age.
It's important for us as a society to encourage the care and development of our children since they will be the leaders of tomorrow. Perhaps if this had happened in other countries decades ago, the planet wouldn't be in such as mess as it is now.
A child that feels loved and secure in their environment grows up to be confident and well adjusted. Personally these are the types of individuals that I want to be making decisions on my behalf when I get too old to.
Those that feel that Swedes take too much time off are in my opinion compensating for other deficiencies in their lives. It's OK not to understand this phenomenon however don't criticize it until you understand the long-term benefits it creates.
Life is short and if work is the only way you can define yourself then Sweden is not the problem...
now seriously what kind of moron comes and questions peoples holidays as if they were something lazy ? by what standards? by standards of slaves everyone is lazy.
if someone works hard 8 + hours a day 5 days a week arent they entitled to weekend off? and holiday once a year ?
who says the human mind was made to work nonstop for low pay and only have time to eat and sleep.
in my country ive had jobs where i would do 14 hours a day, 30 days a month . and at the end of the month they didnt pay me, that lasted for 2 months and i had to go to court to get my money 8 months later.
i prefer the "lazy way"
Han ar pa semester, hon ar sjukskriven, hon ar pa kaffe paus,
han pa lunch ...... when we phoned on the mobile, we were number 66 in the queue ...... God give me patience!!
Since 1990, Sweden has performed fast labor productivity growth in private sector although public sector shows little improvement.
OECD statistics on labor productivity show that Nordic countries are among the highest http://stats.oecd.org/Index.aspx?DatasetCode=LEVEL
Productivity is based on human and technological resources and how these are used. Sweden has strong regulations to protect intellectual property, promotes competition in most sectors, is well equipped with transportation infrastructure, information and communication technology, and has comparatively high levels of education and skills of workforce, transparency in public and private sector, among other advantages.
In 2010 Sweden was ranked second most competitive nation in the world by the World Economic Forum.
I have encountered colleagues & employees in Sweden who have both poor & high work ethic in the 6 years I've worked here - same as I found working in San Francisco, where I am from. My conclusion is that people are individuals around the world & if any of you are dissatisfied with the team you work with, you need to keep looking for a work environment that suits you better.
my credentials: 12 years in-country (this being the 2nd tour of duty so to speak), hundreds of thousands of tax kronor paid, been manager for quite a few swedes, Swedish wife and children who are all dual nationals...and I usually sum it up like this for our inquiring friends:
Sweden: some things good, some things bad (depends on what you value) if you are an ex-pat with a choice for Pete's sake don't hang around whining, go back to, or somewhere else, where your values are reflected in the system. and for everyone, heed the words of the famous person who advised "Be the change you seek in the world"
You people seem to have completely missed out on the statistics of the amount of Swedish people that end up in a "utmattningsdepression" or take a long-term sick leave due to "utbrändhet". About 100 people get the diagnosis "utmattningsdepression" every day in Sweden and these people generally end up in sick-leaves that lasts many many years. There are currently more procent of the population in "long-term sick leave" than unemployed!
So, why would so many people in a system that is generally viewed as lazy by the rest of the world end up in exhaustion-caused depressions? Long parental leaves and multiple fika pauses per day surely isn't making the working population happier and more content with their situation.
You are not comparing like with like Compared with the rest of the world it has historically been easier in Sweden to get signed off with a long term health condition. Furthermore, previous governments used long term sickness and early retirement as a parking place for the unemployment to keep the jobless figures low. This is very well known.
Its not that people have "completely missed out on the statistics", rather that you have failed to provide even the most cursory of interpretation of them.
Whenever they ask for a wage increase, employers just increase the work load. I dont think that the swedes wages are anything special either when you consider that the majority are working 150%.
I cant remember the statistic but parts of sweden have the highest percentage of unclaimed/payed overtime as well as having a huge amount of burnt out people on wellfare.
commands your thoughts, liberates your
energy, and inspires your hopes."
- Andrew Carnegie
On the other hand, there are many way to suicide: lifestyle, bad eating habits, drug abuse, car "accidents" driving drunk, domestic violence, HIV and other preventable infections, diseases caused by lack of education, public services and medical care. Also by delinquency, social insurgence, revolutions, suicidal attacks, etc.
Of course there is no such thing as "paradise country" but Sweden enjoys one of the highest life expectancies in the world.
http://update-seputar-software.blogspot.com/2012/01/software-akuntansi-laporan-keuangan.html