Work Environment — Nordic Labour Journal

Challenge to Finland's health sector "not due to lack of resources”

(Mar 07, 2011) Finland's health and social care sector is facing major challenges. But this is not about a lack of resources. Systems and processes need an overhaul to allow doctors and nurses to work with what they have been trained for: to take care of people, Finland's Minister of Social Affairs and Health Juha Rehula tells Nordic Labour Journal.

Editorial: The need to limit working life without boundaries

(Feb 11, 2011) Mixing work and free time can have unwanted consequences. Nordic Labour Journal puts the spotlight on our portable working hours. How will we deal with the grey zone between work and free time?

Work without boundaries can severely increase number of burnouts

(Feb 11, 2011) The borderline between work and leisure time is becoming fuzzy. It's getting increasingly difficult to achieve the old dream of eight hours' work, eight hours' off and eight hours' sleep when the smartphone wants your attention, colleagues work in other timezones and you need to work a night shift to get through your inbox.

Online culture's effect on work-life balance

(Feb 11, 2011) A working life without boundaries puts new demands on management, employers and unions. They all need to prevent workers slaving away until they drop.

Working hours: a hot topic for the Labour Inspection Authority director

(Feb 11, 2011) Ingrid Finboe Svendsen's dream is to create a popular drive for a better work environment. The Norwegian Labour Inspection Authority has often been in the spotlight for dealing with cases of social dumbing, but the Authority's director wants to showcase the full scope of what the organisation does. And this is where Facebook comes in.

Changes to IT affect systems as well as the social environment

(Dec 06, 2010) Many businesses and organisations change their IT systems, yet in 70 percent of cases the change ends in failure with regard to time, budget or function. There have been many studies of what went wrong. Einar Iveroth chose to study what went right in the cases that succeeded.

Why Swedes are aware of integration issues

(Dec 03, 2010) What is it that the trade unions and employers in Sweden do to make them top a ranking of awareness of integration issues made by the European Union Agency for Fundamental Rights (FRA)?

Nordic region's anti-social dumping drive

(Nov 26, 2010) The fight against some Eastern European workers' bad working conditions in the Nordic countries depends on better information.

Hillevi Engström: more social responsibility needed in working life

(Nov 24, 2010) Once the leading star of Swedish Police, Hillevi Engström is now in charge of whipping working life into line. She wants to use her role as Minister for Employment to challenge businesses to take social responsibility. In return she offers economical incentives and an improved education system.

Work environment key to Swedish competitiveness

(Nov 03, 2010) The work environment is often associated with risks, but now the Swedish government wants to turn the phrase on its head and highlight the positive sides. A good work environment can improve workers' health, lift the business and improve competitiveness. Those are some of the conclusions from the government's national action plan for the work environment which it presented in September.