Could the UK learn from the world's happiest country when it comes to work-life balance?
Should UK businesses take inspiration from Finland? (Picture: Getty Images)
Saunas, the Northern Lights and the beloved 2023 Eurovision artist Käärijä are just three of the remarkable things Finland is known for. It’s also renowned for consistently being named the happiest country in the world.
And believe it or not, this widespread contentment is also present in the workplace.
On World Happiness Day, the World Happiness Report ranks more than 140 countries on how happy they are based on survey data from the Gallup World Poll. The study analyses factors such as life expectancy, confidence in government, average income and social support – and Finland consistently ranks highly in all of these areas.
The country has free childcare, while the UK childcare system is the most expensive in Europe, and the Nordic country has an emphasis on work-life balance.
A Finnish business has now revealed how it manages to keep its employees happy at work – and it’s something work experts say UK businesses should use as inspiration to improve the wellbeing of staff.
Framery, a manufacturing company that makes soundproof pods for office spaces, regularly surveys its 400 employees about the things that keep them happy.
The one thing that always appears in the top two places on the list is work-life balance. Anni Hallila, Framery’s head of people and culture, spoke to CNBC about how the company actively supports flexibility in their employees’ work schedules and break times.
Helsinki is the capital of the happiest country in the world (Picture: Getty Images)
Leaders at the company support regular breaks throughout the day, which may be easier when working remotely compared to being stuck at a desk in an office. They encourage employees to go out for walks to take care of ‘their focus’ and the business doesn’t have set hours.
People tend to arrive between 7 am and 9 am, and it’s ‘normal’ for their employees to leave at 4 pm. By law, a standard week of work in Finland is 37.5 hours and in the UK it’s 40 hours.
‘It’s completely normal that you can mix your personal life and work life,’ Anni said, referencing how employees structure their work week. ‘If you need to take your kids to daycare in the morning, you can start your day earlier, or you can come later if you need to go home for them in the middle of the day.
Flexible working has become a divisive topic as companies shift back to a five-day work week after introducing remote, and then hybrid, working during and after the coronavirus pandemic.
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We all got used having a bit more independence, even though we couldn’t do much outside of work. It’s only natural to want to retain that now we can actually have fun.
Unhappy workers have recently taken to social media to complain about not having time to do their hobbies because of the slog that is the 9-to-5. According to a 2023 YouGov poll, nearly half of Brits (43%) want a hybrid working situation, where they are in the office for a couple of days and WFH on others, while 29% of Brits want to work remotely on a permanent basis.
However, research released by LinkedIn found that 49% of companies would prefer staff to work more from the office, with 10% planning to force a return over ‘productivity paranoia.’
Is this flexible working system doable in the UK?
The experts all say there are numerous benefits to working flexibly, for both employees and employers, but there are some drawbacks.
Charlie Coode, founder of business behaviour and performance company Culture15, tells Metro.co.uk employees get ‘a greater sense of autonomy and trust and the ability to fit work around other commitments,’ and employers in return get a ‘more engaged and loyal workforce’ and ‘access to a wider pool of potential workers’.
Charlie also highlights that hybrid working is not practical for all businesses or entire industries, such as frontline services or those working in a shop.
‘Flexible working creates challenges for organisations, particularly with work that requires collaboration, ensuring effective information flow and creating a clear, coherent culture in the organisation.’
Could flexible hours be the key to happy workers? (Pictures: Getty Images)
Georgina Sturmer, a registered counsellor at the British Association for Counselling and Psychotherapy, says the benefits of being able ‘to plan our working life around our own needs, commitments and timeframe, without feeling guilty or stressed,’ is one of the benefits of hybrid and flexible working.
There are companies in the UK that have incorporated a working pattern similar to that of the Finnish company. Molly Johnson-Jones, co-founder and CEO of Flexa, a platform for people to find companies that have flexible working, says ‘work-life balance is the key to health and happiness.’
Molly’s team can work ‘wherever and whenever’ they want, ‘as long as the work gets done’. They have core working hours of 11 am to 3 pm, but staff can fit their work around their personal schedules. ‘Rigid working hours and strict office policies hinder more people than they help, and very few jobs need to be bound by these traditional set-ups in reality,’ she says.
And it’s not just her employees who benefit from this hybrid and flexible system; Molly does as well. ‘I am not naturally a morning person, and have an autoimmune condition that can cause pain and leave me unable to walk at times. This means strict working hours and office environments are not an option for me.
‘Whereas having a slower morning and getting some exercise in before starting work helps me manage my flare ups, and feel energised as possible by the time I open up my laptop.’
A widespread shift towards a flexible Finnish approach to working is probably quite far off, but having more control over when and how we work could definitely come in useful.
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