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PHOTO: DEREK STORY / UNSPLASH. A VERSION OF THIS ARTICLE PREVIOUSLY APPEARED ON WWW.THELOCAL.COM
few offices that don’t have the option
to at least share access to a standing
desk. Their health benefits are
obvious even if the choice may seem
to be to sit at a desk and die early or
stand at a desk and look stupid. That
huge leather office chair you used to
lust after, the one with the inbuilt
drinks cabinet, that’s a no-no. Stand
up for your new Swedish boss.
Get used to the phrase ’work-life
balance’. You’ll hear it a lot in
Sweden. Swedes may not all be
quite ready to graduate to six-hour
working days, but the number of
hours they work each week are
among the lowest in Europe. Most
people simply do not work that late,
although more are starting to reply
to work e-mails out-of-hours on their
smartphones.
5. ” I D O N ’ T N E E D A N Y H E L P
W I T H T H E R E P O RT - I ’ L L
J U S T S TAY U N T I L 10 P M TO
FINISH IT OFF”
The Swedish workforce is all about
cooperation too. There’s no great
scope to be a maverick – if you try
to do it all yourself, you’ll simply
be frozen out. If there is a pressing
deadline, everyone will be expected
to work extra hours and muck in. All
for one and all that. There’s simply no
need to try to be workaholic – it just
won’t get you anywhere.
And, if you thought that all this
down-time, parental and sick leave,
short hours and general civility
would leave Sweden in the economic
doldrums then you’d be mistaken –
Seriously, don’t say any of these things. Your boss will HATE you.
despite the Covid-19 pandemic,
Sweden’s economy grew faster than
expected in the final quarter of
last year. Sweden’s gross domestic
product grew by 1.4 percent in the
three months to December 2021,
~ 23 ~
following a two percent expansion in
the previous period, and beating the
market forecast of one percent. Proof,
if any were needed, that good people
and good businesses do prosper.
Now, time for that coffee break...