Posted on 05/27/2007 3:21:00 PM PDT by WesternCulture
Norwegians have the highest job loyalty in Europe, and all of the Nordic countries are happy at work. The European Employee Index (EEI) survey carried out by Danish consultancy Ennova, covered 20 European nations. The EEI showed that besides being loyal, in terms of job enjoyment Norwegians were second only to Danes.
"We are part of a Nordic tradition of cooperative relations in the work place that is completely unique in an international context," said *Even Bolstad, head of HR Norway, Ennova's cooperative partner in the survey.
"The five Nordic nations are all in the top ten in all categories pertaining to quality of life and competitiveness. We thrive at home and at work, and are productive at the same time," Bolstad told management newspaper Ukeavisen Ledelse.
Bolstad told the newspaper that he believes the Nordic management style is special, both in a European and global context.
"Nordic bosses largely manage through trust and conduct, and not via learned techniques or by being authoritarian. Soft values create hard cash. It goes against all economic theory and is a management style that other countries can't make work. I meet Germans and Englishmen who shake their heads and cannot understand that it works at all," Bolstad said.
Swedish per capita income is about the same as Americans, black Americans per capita income that is. And the US does much better than that on on purchasing power basis.
Ping...
- This is true. Personally, I’ve experienced the unique ‘Viking’ management culture during almost 20 years and it sure works well.
Scandinavian workers are even more reliable and productive than their German and Japanese counterparts.
“Swedish per capita income is about the same as Americans, black Americans per capita income that is. And the US does much better than that on on purchasing power basis.”´
- That was true some years ago when one dollar was worth about 11 SEK. Today, one dollar costs appr 6.83 SEK.
Average Swedish wages are way higher than those of US workers.
I recall reading articles that claimed that Norway and Sweden have very high absenteeism rates, so something doesn’t add up here.
Sounds like they have something going for them. The company I work for isn’t Nordic but it is run much the same way. We work in virtual offices and have a wide latitude to take responsibility for ourselves. There are rules of course but we schedule our own flights and make our own reservations and we are responsible for our contribution to the team. We also schedule our own training which is all paid for and we are expected to have a minimum number of hours a year on site and web based a year.
No one is looking over our shoulders and micromanagement is nonexistent. It was strange at first getting used to the idea of not being told what to do and actually having a choice. I’d always been independent minded and sometimes my forward thinking and willingness to make decisions did not always sit well with the bureaucrats I worked for but I always judged things by results and no one could ever question my results. This is the best company I’ve ever worked for and though there are gripes that can be made about anything having the sense of freedom and independence I have is invaluable.
Nope. I checked first and you are wrong. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Per_capita_income#Some_national_per_capita_income_levels
Not very reproductive, however. They are not reproducing at replacement levels. Subtract the moslem births, and they are in a death spiral.
I wonder how they are going to thrive and produce when there aren't enough trustful, cooperative workers to sustain all those generous pensions and welfare benefits?
Hmm I suppose being so far North may mean they get sick more often. lol The proof is in the pudding. This could work better here if people would take more responsibility for themselves but too many look for the government to solve problems they should be solving themselves.
Maybe we should try that with government workers- har har!
People get paid good money for doing "studies" like this.
I can't make up my mind whether join a group like this or become an illegal alien in the USA.
FMCDH(BITS)
I do think they should let more people in general work from home. It is a waste of time and just pretend having them come in to the office to do 2 hours of real work in an 8 hour day.
I think that Government would benefit from more at home workers. I wish they’d get rid of 60 percent of government managers. That would be an improvement too.
Swedish per capita income is about the same as Americans, black Americans per capita income that is. And the US does much better than that on on purchasing power basis.
But many Swedish men do manage to save enough to go on sex tourism jaunts to Thailand and related venues.
” think that Government would benefit from more at home workers”
I don’t know about that, but if they promised to stay off the roads during the time that they were “working”, the rest of us who do the actual work of the country would be able to spend less time commuting, and more time being productive.
- While this is true, it doesn’t necessarily hurt their employers much, especially not in the case of bigger companies (and many Scandinavians work for big companies contrary to, for instance, German and Italian employees).
If you call in sick and you’re away for one day or two in Sweden (where I live), you don’t receive any money from your employer or from anywhere else.
Furthermore, let’s compare two large European employers, namely Volkswagen and Volvo. Volkswagen employees recently worked a mere 28.8 hours a week (today, I think they work around 32-34 hours a week). Volvo employees are often forced to work around 50 hours a week (even though they are generously compensated for working more than the basic 40 hours). Now, let’s say an average Volvo worker is away from work 8-16 hours a month, he/she will still work more than an average VW employee. This ought to be remembered.
Scandinavians accept the fact that prosperity comes from hard work. Today, more and more continental Europeans are beginning to realize this as well.
Tell you how my former Swedish employee did it. He came to the states on an H1B visa, bought a Corvette (new), drove it for two years, went home and sold it for more than he paid for it. And no, he was a nice married guy who didn’t take the money and go to Thailand.
I’d rather they be at home doing nothing than at work doing something just to appear busy. I’ve seen so many projects born out of no need of the citizenry but simply out of the need of bureaucrats to justify spending more money and acquiring more personnel. I think DC would especially benefit from this. It isn’t hard to tell which workers are useless no matter if they are home workers or not. The only difference between a bureaucrat working at home and one working at the office is that he/she can be diligently observed wasting tax payers money. They still don’t do anything about it. Might as well save the money being wasted to lease expensive offices in DC. (Tell me why they have to lease office space in DC?)
“Nope. I checked first and you are wrong.”
- I’m talking average Swedish versus average US WAGES.
“In 2005 The median income for an individual age 25 or older in the labor force with earnings was $32,000”
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Usa#Income
The average wage, individuals BELOW the age of 25 INCLUDED, was around $39 000-40 000 in Sweden in the year of 2005.
The US GDP/capita at PPP (Purchasing Power Parity) is greater than that of Sweden, while the nominal GDP is about the same.
I claim the GDP by PPP/Capita measurement is an inadequate way of comparing US prosperity to Swedish wealth as this instrument doesn’t acknowledge the fact that Swedes get a lot of things for free that US citizens do not in the area of education, child care, health care and social security in general.
Anyone that has been to both Sweden and the US would probably admit the standard of living is very much the same.
The standard of living in Sweden is clearly higher than most other parts of Europe.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.