For instance, offering out-of-school hours care at a low price; a parental benefit that allows one to stay at home with their young children instead of working, if they so choose; and VAB — paid leaves to stay home with a sick child. Overworking is not celebrated in a Swedish organisation — at all. Rest assured that there will be no calls or emails past working hours or during vacation time. There is an unsaid mandate of staying till 7. It also increases the risk for the company that you could burn out, have more days of sick leave, and feel overall less satisfied with your current workplace.
Most Swedish workplaces want you to feel good and not squeeze that last drop of working power out of you. For Swedes, the fika or coffee break is a key part of the daily schedule at work.
In fact, if you skip one too many fika breaks on account of deadlines or some such excuse, it is often viewed with suspicion. A 2-pm meeting means that your colleagues will be ready for you five minutes prior. Hustling into the meeting room at pm will only be seen as unprofessional. This rule, in fact, extends to Swedish social circles as well. It is not for nothing that Swedes are notorious for pulling out their calendars to schedule even informal engagements with family or friends.
On the contrary, in Swedish organisations, subordinates often have more responsibility in conducting negotiations or closing a deal. So remember not to take these responses as an approval or agreement.
When looking for a job in Sweden or working with a Swedish organisation, know that your word will be taken as your guarantee. There is trust and honesty both in the system and the individual. Even verbal promises are honoured in Sweden. They are more realistic. The other side of the coin to the egalitarian equation is that all decisions are made on a consensus.
