The Finnish Working Life Barometer 2007 reveals wide differences in the quality of working life between the best and the poorest working environments. The former are characterised by equal treatment, open relationships between management and staff, and good training opportunities. On average, more opportunities exist for workplace development. Meanwhile, every fourth employee uses new information technology to work away from their main workplace.
About the survey
The Finnish Working Life Barometer 2007 (in Finnish, 471Kb PDF), monitored by the Ministry of Employment and the Economy (Työ- ja elinkeinoministeriö, TEM), is the 16th national barometer measuring annual changes in working life. Computer-assisted telephone interviews were carried out among employees aged 15 to 64 years throughout September and October 2007. With a total of 1,480 interviews completed and a response rate of 83.2%, the results can be generalised to cover the entire population of wage and salary earners in Finland.
Benefits of good quality of working life
The Working Life Barometer 2007 reports significant differences in the quality of working life between the best and the poorest working environments. The most significant differences between working environments were found in the equality of treatment of employees at the workplace, the level of opportunity to participate in workplace development and the openness of communication between management and staff. The differences among workplaces were striking, showing a gap of several dozens of percentage points. For example, about 62% of workers employed in the best working environments consider that equal treatment applies in their workplace, while the same is true for only 7% of employees in the poorest working environments.
According to the latest statistics, a characteristic of the best working environments was the possibility for workers and management to discuss work-related issues together, which means that no hidden issues exist under the surface that would require attention. The opportunity to learn new skills and a constructive attitude towards employee initiatives are also typical of the best working environments, as well as the encouragement of workers to try new tasks. In better working environments, work is well organised and the number of personnel is sufficient for managing the workload. Furthermore, the psychological stress of work was significantly lower in the working environments that scored high in the above qualities compared with the poorest working environments.
In relation to the research, the senior researcher responsible for the Finnish Working Life Barometer at TEM, Pekka Ylöstalo, highlighted:
Based on other research, we know that workplaces with good quality of working life are also more productive and efficient than other workplaces. Poor quality of working life inflicts continuous friction on all the activities in the workplace and wastes the resources of the employees.
In the Working Life Barometer, the best and the poorest working environments were identified by the scores given by respondents in relation to their workplace in a number of questions asked about the quality of working life. Overall, the highest scoring third of workplaces are considered ‘the best working environments’ whereas the lowest third are labelled as ‘the poorest working environments’.
Increased participation in workplace development
Opportunities for participating in workplace development had increased in 2007 compared with 2006. In 2007, about 36% of Finnish employees had good opportunities to participate in development activities, while the respective figure for 2006 was 30% (FI0702019I). The best opportunities for participating in workplace development were found in the public sector at state and local government level: 40% of employees at each level had good opportunities in this regard. Meanwhile, the poorest opportunities were evident in the industrial sector (29%).
At almost all of the workplaces studied, at least some development activities had taken place, although employees may not have been able to participate in such programmes. On average, 93% of the workplaces studied had engaged in such activities in 2007. Most typically, the training concerned safety at work or improvements of the competences and skills of personnel.
E-work and mobile work common
In 2007, a new theme concerning e-work and mobile work was introduced to the Finnish Working Life Barometer. E-work and mobile work refer to work that makes use of new information technology (IT) and allows work to be performed outside the primary workplace. The new forms of IT do not necessarily reduce the need to travel. On the contrary, expanding networks have increased the need for mobility, and the new forms of IT are thus of assistance.
Overall, about 25% of Finnish employees work away from their primary workplace on a regular basis. About 11% of all employees only work at home in addition to their primary workplace. The remaining workers – about 14% of all employees – work away from their home or primary workplace on average about one week a month, and could be called mobile workers. About 40% of these workers work mostly at their customers’ premises.
Noora Järnefelt, Statistics Finland