Alright, as most of you already know\u00a0 I have written a few posts about various \u201cquirky facts\u201d. This time we\u2019ll be focusing on the office. What you must understand is that there will of course be exceptions to the things I have written in this post. I am telling you about the rule not all the exceptions \ud83d\ude42<\/p>\n
I am going to start with the number one and the most essential thing that happens at Swedish work places.<\/p>\n
#1. FIKA! (Coffee break) This happening during the normal working day is a social and very central part of belonging to a work place. Many of you will know another meaning of Fika and immediately thought when reading the explanation above \u201cwhat about the three o\u2019clock fika?\u201d Well you are quite right about that as well. At the Swedish workplace people usually start at 8 o\u2019clock unless their job requires them to be there at seven, no matter really since the morning Fika still takes place at nine o\u2019clock. This is the first Fika session of the day, people all go down to the lunchroom, have their coffees and usually have a bun or a sandwich as well. Everybody is expected to be there, not like a lot of coffee breaks in other countries where people actually just go to get their coffee and then bring it back to their desk. Otherwise you are considered antisocial. There are also groups in a workplace called \u201cFredagsfika grupper\u201d <\/strong>(Friday fika groups) Usually between three and five people are in charge of providing the rest of the employees with Fika for the nine o\u2019clock morning fika. In the afternoon (three o\u2019clock) people eat their sweet fika.<\/p>\n #2. In Sweden there is a law called \u201cLagen om Anst\u00e4llningskydd\u201d (Secure Employment Law) most commonly known as LAS. This law means that the first person employed is the last to go, ie. last in first out. This is meant to give people job security, the people who have worked the longest stay the longest. This sounds really fair (r\u00e4ttvist<\/strong>) doesn\u2019t it? But if you have been working at a place for 15 years but everybody else has been working there for 20 you are still the first to go, no matter how good you are at your job. This law does not take into consideration if you are lazy (lat) <\/strong>or do a bad job. Most people who have just finished university have a lot of new and good methods but don\u2019t really get into the system and don\u2019t get to keep the jobs that they do really well for long.<\/p>\n #3. However weird (konstigt) <\/strong>it might sound there are \u201csummer and winter\u201d working times in Sweden. After a certain date in the spring the working week is shortened by a certain number of hours. You still work the same number of hours per year but the hours are just distributed differently over the year.\u00a0 This whole thing about summer time is to give people more free time when it is light out and is organized by the unions (fack f\u00f6reningar)<\/strong>.<\/p>\n #4. Swedes dress much more casually <\/strong>for work than in many other countries, the clothes that people wear here to work would be considered \u201cweekend clothes\u201d elsewhere. If you have read the previous posts about \u201cQuirky lifestyle facts\u201d you\u2019ll know about Swedes wearing special shoes that are supposed to be good for your feet, posture and with therapeutic toes, open toe sandals (Birkenstock).\u00a0 So people go to work in nice shoes,\u00a0 heels etc. but switch as soon as they arrive. High heels are in general saved for parties, not for work.<\/p>\n Once I started asking people and brainstorming about all the different or funny things about the Swedish workplace I thought of so many things that I have planned to write a part 2 on \u201cThe office\u201d. Feel free to comment if you recognise any of these Swedish ways or tell us about the differences between Sweden and your own country.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Alright, as most of you already know\u00a0 I have written a few posts about various \u201cquirky facts\u201d. This time we\u2019ll be focusing on the office. What you must understand is that there will of course be exceptions to the things I have written in this post. I am telling you about the rule not all…<\/p>\n