The Scandinavian Secrets to Work Life Satisfaction.

Friends, this isn't about employee perks, this is about Scandinavian work life and how they are benefitted (Kind of a perk).

Apart from high-cost living and increased hours of sunlight in summer, I would like to pay attention to work-life satisfaction in Scandinavia.

Why Scandinavia? Because they remain at top of “World Happiness indicators”.

(World Happiness Report, 2019)

Scandinavian Culture Is Leading the Charge in Work-Life Satisfaction - Let's See Why? 

 Shorter Workdays and Workweeks

Do you think if you have more time, would allow you to do more tasks in your work life? The answer is no. Certain studies reveal the following.

“. According to Expert Market, Norwegians work an average of 1,424 hours per year—that’s 359 hours less than Americans—and still have a higher annual GDP per capita than the U.S.”

 (Rigby, n.d.)

This incurs because when you realize that you have a shorter time to work, you will utilize the resource more meaningfully, efficiently, and effectively.

Assume that you are paid overtime, how do you work, if you’re not provided with the same, how do you work?

"A phenomenon called Parkinson’s Law states that “work expands to fill the time available for its completion.” For example, if you allocate five hours to complete a task that could arguably be done in two, you will inevitably fill all five of those hours with work".

 (Walsh, n.d.)

 (www.bing.com, n.d.)

Generous Parental Leave and Subsidized Child Care

Welcoming a newborn child to a family is a joyful thing, still, it will bring new worries about how to take care of a baby, and at the same time it will definitely affect the work life of the particular family. For Scandinavians, those worries have become simplified due to government-mandated parental leave.

In Sweden, they offer 480 days of parental leave at almost with 80% of their salary. In this country, young dads are doing their dad thing meaningfully, changing diapers and taking care of the children while their wives return to work. These men are known affectionately as “latte papas” because they hang out in coffee shops and are frequently appreciated by Swedish women.

Parental leave allows the father to spend a lot of time with the newborn. Further, this will boost family relationship satisfaction as well as work-life satisfaction.

Heaps of Hygge

As per the official website of Denmark Tourism,

“Hygge means creating a warm atmosphere and enjoying the good things in life with good people. The warm glow of candlelight is hygge. Cozying up with a loved one for a movie – that’s hygge, too.”

 (Visit Denmark, n.d.)

 Storms Pakhus

Photo: Storms Pakhus

Remote And Flexible Work Structures

In the modern digitalizing world, remote work has become a norm.

 The Working Hours Act of Finland has allowed workers to adjust their start or end times by up to three hours.

If that isn’t enough, effective January 2020, Finland’s updated act allows workers to determine the time and location of their work for at least half of their regular working hours.

(www.infofinland.fi, n.d.)

Consistent Coffee Breaks

How many times do usually we have a coffee break? In Sri Lanka -not often. Even if we are entitled to have one or two breaks, how many employees would have enjoyed these breaks in the modern stressed working environment?

In Sweden, employees have coffee breaks. In these times they are not only having coffee with a pastry but also socializing with their colleagues. Although this seems counterproductive, this boosts your productivity.

As per Dr. Travis Bradberry, the human brain naturally works in bursts of high activity that last about an hour, and then it switches to low activity for a while. When that happens, it's in your best interest to take a break.  (Zetlin, 2019)

(www.youtube.com, n.d.)

Long Vacation Days

In Denmark, Sweden, and Norway have laws mandatorily a minimum of 25 days of paid vacation—making its employees the recipients of some of the most paid annual leave in the world.

Is this help to improve productivity?

In a study carried out by the University of Waterloo, they found that when participants take more paid vacations, their overall health and life satisfaction improved.

Considering the above, wonderful employee perks have greatly contributed to happiness in Scandinavia.

References

Rigby, A. (n.d.). The Scandinavian Secrets To Work (And Life) Satisfaction. [online] blog.trello.com. Available at: https://blog.trello.com/scandinavian-secrets-to-work-and-life-satisfaction#:~:text=7%20Reasons%20Scandinavian%20Culture%20Is%20Leading%20The%20Charge [Accessed 7 Apr. 2023].

World Happiness Report (2019). Home. [online] Worldhappiness.report. Available at: https://worldhappiness.report/.[Accessed 7 Apr. 2023].

Walsh, C. (n.d.). The Science Behind Sweden’s Six-Hour Workday. [online] blog.trello.com. Available at: https://blog.trello.com/swedens-six-hour-work-day.[Accessed 7 Apr. 2023].

VisitDenmark. (n.d.). What is ‘Hygge’? [online] Available at: https://www.visitdenmark.com/denmark/things-do/danish-culture/what-hygge.[Accessed 7 Apr. 2023].

www.infofinland.fi. (n.d.). Conditions of employment and salary in Finland. [online] Available at: https://www.infofinland.fi/en/work-and-enterprise/employees-rights-and-obligations/conditions-of-employment-and-salary-in-finland [Accessed 7 Apr. 2023].

Zetlin, M. (2019). For the Most Productive Workday, Science Says Make Sure to Do This. [online] Inc.com. Available at: https://www.inc.com/minda-zetlin/productivity-workday-52-minutes-work-17-minutes-break-travis-bradberry-pomodoro-technique.html[Accessed 7 Apr. 2023].

www.youtube.com. (n.d.). Importance of Taking Breaks (Animated Story). [online] Available at: https://youtu.be/X53-8g49EjQ [Accessed 7 Apr. 2023].

www.bing.com. (n.d.). Parkinson%e2%80%99s Law - Bing video. [online] Available at: https://www.bing.com/videos/search?q=Parkinson%e2%80%99s+Law&&view=detail&mid=260063E6C13ED097BA30260063E6C13ED097BA30&&FORM=VRDGAR&ru=%2Fvideos%2Fsearch%3Fq%3DParkinson%25e2%2580%2599s%2BLaw%26FORM%3DHDRSC6 [Accessed 10 Apr. 2023].

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