Finnish employees are not as well informed as before about changes relating to their work. For example, one in four employees face changes without any prior information. In 2003, only every third employee was informed about changes at the planning stage, compared with 41% of employees in 1997. Lack of information increases the likelihood of conflicts and bullying in the workplace.
According to Statistics Finland’s 2003 Quality of Work Life Survey, approximately 25% of Finnish employees face changes relating to their work, without any prior information about them. Two out of five employees (39%) are informed shortly before the change, and one third (34%) are informed at the planning stage. A significant decline in being informed about changes has also been recorded in recent years. In 1997, 41% of employees were informed about changes relating to their work at the planning stage, and 22% were informed at or after the implementation stage. Previous to this, in the 1990s, information flow had slightly improved.
Biggest decline is in private sector
Employees in the private sector have experienced the largest decrease in being informed (from 41% to 32%). This contrasts with the situation for public sector employees, who are now better informed than they were at the time of the 1997 survey (from 41% to 49%).
The determining factor for receiving information is the respondent’s position in the workplace. While 51% of upper salaried employees (i.e. in the professions) are informed at the planning stage, only 22% of blue-collar employees are informed at this stage. Looking at the figures by gender, significant differences emerge: 57% of male upper salaried employees are informed at the planning stage, compared with 44% of their female counterparts. Since 1997, the steepest decline has been in this female group - from 55% to 44% - whereas there was no significant drop among their male colleagues. For men, the steepest decline is to be found among blue-collar employees, from 33% to 21%.
Changes continuously taking place
Despite the deterioration in information flow, changes are continuously taking place at work. Almost half of employees recently experienced, or will experience, changes in management (49%) or in information systems (45%). One third (36%) expected, or experienced, changes in customer groups or products, and 18% experienced changes in company ownership.
There is little differentiation between women and men with regard to experiencing changes, though changes in ownership are more common for men. This is mainly due to the differences in gender distribution by sector, with men typically being employed in the private sector and women in the public sector.
In the private sector, more changes have taken place in the past number of years than in the public sector, although more changes were expected in the public sector. This illustrates the fact that employees are better informed about changes in advance in the public sector than in the private sector.
Lack of information increases ill-feeling in the workplace
The lack of information about changes relating to work is clearly linked to certain psychosomatic symptoms reported by employees, as well as the prevalence of conflicts and mental violence in the workplace.
For example, compared with their colleagues who are informed well in advance, employees who are not given prior information about changes report: three times as many conflicts between superiors and subordinates, twice as many conflicts between employee groups, and three times as much continuous bullying in their workplace. These differences are even more pronounced when workers feel insecure about unforeseen changes.
In relation to psychosomatic symptoms, the proportion of those suffering from problems such as weekly headaches, sleeping difficulties or fatigue, is significantly greater among employees lacking prior information, compared with those who are informed at the planning stage. The same breakdown can be seen among those who experience work exhaustion as a high risk factor.
Further information
Further EU level research is available on the Foundation’s website concerning information and consultation in the workplace.
