According to the Working Life Barometer 2006, Finnish employees are optimistic about their future employment prospects. The overall employment situation and the economic situation of individual companies are viewed in a more positive light in 2006 than in the previous year. However, the employees’ overall perception of the significance of their work has remained negative since 2000. In particular, relationships between management and workers seem to have deteriorated. Notable differences between the sectors have also remained as employees in the local government sector face particularly difficult working conditions.
The Working Life Barometer 2006 (in Finnish, 177Kb PDF), monitored by the Ministry of Labour (Työministeriö), is the 15th national barometer measuring rapid changes in working life. Computer-assisted telephone interviews were carried out among employees aged 15 to 64 years in September and October 2006. With a total of 1,284 interviews completed and a response rate of 87.3% recorded, the results can be generalised to cover the entire population of wage and salary earners.
Satisfaction with working life
Finnish employees seem to be relatively satisfied with the current state of working life. In order to describe these general views, the working life barometers have used the grading scale of the Finnish school system, from four (fail) to 10 (excellent). Measured by the responses to several different questions, the general state of the quality of working life has remained at around the same rate in the past few years, namely at eight on the grading scale. At school, this grade would correspond to reflect a ‘very satisfactory/good’ level.
The 2006 barometer shows a clear positive change in employees’ views on their employment situation compared with the previous year. The majority of employees expect employment to improve in the coming year. Over 40% of employees in the private sector also expect that the economic situation at their workplace will get better, compared with a respective proportion of only about 10% of workers in the public sector who held this view. The perceived threat of dismissals or lay-offs have also decreased from the previous year, especially in the private sector.
Decline in significance of work
Nevertheless, more employees perceive a decrease rather than an increase in the significance of their work (FI0606019I). This negative balance has remained since 2000. These results indicate that, despite the improved economic situation, changes in the quality of working life have moved in a negative direction.
Indeed, the results of the Working Life Barometer 2006 indicate a deterioration in working relations between management and staff. More employees than before perceive that their superiors show a negative attitude towards their initiatives. Likewise, an increasing proportion of employees believe that a lack of communication exists between themselves and their superior. Furthermore, employees have noticed a decline in the level of opportunity to influence their work since 2000.
Work demands and physical violence
The psychological demands imposed by work continue to increase, particularly in the local government sector. Almost 80% of employees in this sector report that their job is emotionally demanding, compared with around 50% of workers in other sectors. Moreover, as many as 45% of employees in the local government sector state that their work is physically demanding, mainly due to the requirement to carry out such tasks in the health and social work sector. In comparison, 36% of workers in the private sector and 11% in the central government sector report physically demanding work.
Furthermore, in terms of physical violence, bullying and discrimination, the situation seems to be most serious in the local government sector. In 2006, almost 40% of employees in this sector reported that someone at their workplace had been subjected to physical violence or the threat of it in past 12 months, compared with 3% in manufacturing and construction, 14% in private services and 18% in central government. One in five employees in the local government sector reported having been subjected to physical violence or the threat of it themselves, while in the other sectors the relative proportions were much lower. The proportion of workers facing physical violence or the numbers of those who have been threatened by such violence have been increasing in the local government sector.
Most employees still prefer reduced workload
In the Working Life Barometer 2006, the respondents were asked to consider their work, family and leisure time as a whole. Participants were asked about the importance of their work in their life at that moment: whether they would be ready to give up work, if they had seriously considered such an option or if they would prefer to work reduced hours. The proportion of workers who would be ready to give up working at any time, if possible, increased slightly to 11% in 2006. On the other hand, the percentage of workers who would not have given up working at any price slightly increased to 29%. Furthermore, the proportion of those who would prefer to have a reduced workload declined from 58% in 2005 to 53% in 2006.
Reference
Ylöstalo, P., Työolobarometri, Lokakuu 2006, Ennakkotietoja [Working Life Barometer, October 2006, Preliminary information], Ministry of Labour, Helsinki, 2006.
Hanna Sutela, Statistics Finland