2150. Why Sweden Is a Long Way From Six-Hour Days

By The Local, October 1, 2015

A stressful Swedish office

Just before lunchtime, I got a call from a major UK broadcaster asking if I could help out with a feature on what the producer described as "Sweden's new six-hour work day". He said he had "spotted a story about it in the Sydney Morning Herald".

I turned down the request politely. I usually love sharing my knowledge of Sweden and my experiences of living here when approached by global media. But on this occasion I was unable to. Because the idea that there's a been mass shift towards shorter days in my adopted home simply isn't true.

It may be factually accurate that Swedes work some of the shortest hours in Europe and savour and respect work-life balance. But among the 100 or so contacts I have built up in Stockholm over the past 13 months, not one of them works for an employer offering such compressed hours. From expats in the startup scene to Swedes with jobs in schools, media organizations or at major Nordic brands, I am unaware of anyone who gets to go home before their afternoon coffee break.

Yet, after reviewing the global press over the past few days, most people outside Sweden would, just like that British journalist, be easily forgiven for thinking that Swedes were clocking off en masse at 3pm.

According to the Sydney Morning Herald, "businesses across the Scandinavian country are implementing the change so workers can spend more time at home or doing the activities they enjoy".

Meanwhile the Science Alert website reported that "Sweden is moving towards a standard six-hour work day".

The UK-based Independent proclaimed that the entire nation was "moving to a six-hour working day in a bid to increase productivity and make people happier".

The list goes on.

For those of us reading these articles in Sweden, the few examples cited by the global press were old news.

Toyota centres in Gothenburg, Sweden’s second largest city, moved to shorter days 13 years ago. A district council in Kiruna, in Sweden's far north offered 250 staff a six-hour work day in the 1980s (scrapping the method in 2005).

The most high-profile case in recent months is of a retirement home in west Sweden which started trialling a six-hour day in February, following long discussions about the experiment. A hospital in Gothenburg followed suit.

Since then a few companies have announced that they are also testing the concept, including a number of startups quite obviously hoping to make a name for themselves. These include Filimundus, an app developer based in Stockholm which must be cracking open some Swedish 'snaps' this week after being quoted by media across the globe, and Background AB, a creative communication agency in Falun, Dalarna.

Most of those trialling the idea have reported a positive impact, from increased efficiency to better communication and fewer staff sick days. So, it makes sense that other companies could soon start taking up the mantle.

But, the idea that Swedish firms are currently queuing up to offer their staff even shorter contracts than they do now is quite simply wrong.

"I'm close to hitting the wall," sighed one Swedish media professional approached by The Local.

"I might leave the office at 5.30pm, but I am checking my emails during the evening and at weekends.”

And as for our Australian contacts working here in the Swedish capital?

"Ha ha, I read that piece in the Sydney Morning Herald this morning over breakfast...and laughed," said Claudia Reiners, a sales manager from Melbourne who works for a fashion tech firm.

"I work probably 50 hours a week, which is more than the 40-hour work week most people have in Australia," she added.

Meanwhile an Australian-born lawyer told The Local it was "hard to be humourous" about the false buzz around working hours in Sweden, when she'd recently found herself "writing legal memos at 1am on a Friday".

She concluded: "There are stories of young lawyers sleeping under their desks at the big firms here just like in London or Sydney: the desks are just sleek Scandinavian ones." 

2149. Sweden's Experiments with the Six-Hour Work Day

By Hardeep Matharu, Independent, October 1, 2015

Sweden is moving to a six-hour working day in a bid to increase productivity  and make people happier.

Employers across the country have already made the change, according to the Science Alert website, which said the aim was to get more done in a shorter amount of time and ensure people had the energy to enjoy their private lives.

Toyota centres in Gothenburg, Sweden’s second largest city, made the switch 13 years ago, with the company reporting happier staff, a lower turnover rate, and an increase in profits in that time.

Filimundus, an app developer based in the capital Stockholm, introduced the six-hour day last year.

“The eight-hour work day is not as effective as one would think," Linus Feldt, the company’s CEO told Fast Company. 

"To stay focused on a specific work task for eight hours is a huge challenge.  In order to cope, we mix in things and pauses to make the work day more endurable.  At the same time, we are having it hard to manage our private life outside of work.”

Mr Feldt has said staff members are not allowed on social media, meetings are kept to a minimum, and that other distractions during the day are eliminated -  but the aim is that staff will be more motivated to work more intensely while in the office.

He said the new work day would ensure people have enough energy to pursue their private lives when they leave work – something which can be difficult with eight-hour days.

“My impression now is that it is easier to focus more intensely on the work that needs to be done and you have the stamina to do it and still have the energy left when leaving the office,” Mr Feldt added.

According to Science Alert, doctors and nurses in some hospitals in the country have even made the move to the six-hour day.

A retirement home in Gothenburg made the six-hour switch earlier this year and is conducting an experiment, until the end of 2016, to determine whether the cost of hiring new staff members to cover the hours lost is worth the improvements  to patient care and boosting of employees’ morale.