In Focus
The core idea of labour law is under threat
The core idea of labour law is to protect the weaker party in an employment relation. This is increasingly under attack from market-led thinking where the main aim is to create opportunities for everyone to get a job.
Sharing economy glossary
The new way of organising the selling of services can be confusing, and so too the accompanying terminology. Here is a short glossary for the most common expressions.
Can the Nordic model survive the sharing economy?
The sharing economy, where customers use the Internet to find providers of different services without using physical middlemen, is also a threat to the Nordic model which builds on collective agreements. Employers and employees are forming non-contract relationships within a growing number of trades. If there is a contract, it mostly states that the partners cannot be considered to be employer or employee.
Young workers at greater risk of psychological ill health
Many young workers in the Nordic countries live dangerously in the workplace, according to a new Nordic report. The risk for physical injury as well as psychological ill health is considerably higher among young workers compared to older ones.
A top psychological working environment on the Danish island of Lolland
Employees should be whistling when they go to work and when they go home again. That is the ambition at the Center for Social Indsats (Centre for Social Measures) – a municipal workplace employing 275 people on the Danish island of Lolland. And there are many reasons to whistle contently: their psychological working environment has been named the best in Denmark.
Many Danish municipalities seek help to improve psychological working environments
A newly formed group of consultants will be helping municipalities improve employees’ psychological working environments. There is great interest in getting support.
Working women’s psychological ill health made worse by uneven structures
There has been a strong increase in work-related psychological ill health in Sweden in recent years. People working in the health, education and care sector are particularly exposed. But this is not only a Swedish phenomenon. The same development can be found in all developed economies, and hardest hit are women and youths.
Job boredom – a taboo subject
There is a lot of talk about burnout in the workplace. But there is not much serious debate about being bored at work. Yet these repetitive, grey days can dramatically influence work capacity and efficiency.
Sick leave down by 40 percent after focus on attendance
The Norwegian municipality of Songdalen went against the grain in order to cut the level of sick leave. They concentrated on attendance instead of absence, and used the staff’s own knowledge about their working environment with great success.
Refugees can become an engine of growth
Many types of voluntary organisations played an important role when Sweden received a record number of refugees last autumn. There are many challenges, but with successful integration many municipalities consider refugees to be the solution to the future need of labour.
Can Nordic refugee policies be coordinated?
The large number of refugees arriving in the Nordic countries is having consequences for Nordic cooperation. This is the theme for the Nordic Council’s session in Oslo. New border obstacles have emerged, and if the refugee situation is handled very differently in the different Nordic countries it could have grave consequences.
Danish businesses to train refugees for jobs
Less than one in three refugees in Denmark finds work after three years. Now the government and the social partners want to change this by introducing a two year integration education programme in the workplace.
Defining Sweden's feminist foreign policy
Sweden’s feminist government wants to use its foreign policy to promote women’s and girl's rights, representation and resources based on the reality in which they live. What exactly a feminist foreign policy means is hard to define, but the perspective should permeate everything the foreign ministry and the diplomatic missions to.
A slight dip in gender equality in Nordic positions of power
Since last year’s barometer there has been a change of government in Finland and in Denmark. Both resulted in governments with fewer female ministers. As a result Nordic gender equality falls by three points to 64 points. Behind the seemingly slight loss, women particularly in Denmark are facing a real setback in the fight for power.
Sustainability must be based on democracy and has a hefty price tag
Nordic countries are leading the way in sustainable development and welfare, built on solid democratic foundations. That was one of the central themes when Finland organised its first conference after taking on the 2016 Presidency of the Nordic Council of Ministers.
When the diversity diversifies
“Immigration to the Nordic region does not only mean more diversity. What we’re seeing now is that the diversity is diversifying. We get super-diversity,” says Tuomas Martikainen, Director of the Finnish Institute of Migration.
Iceland's Welfare Watch cushioned the crisis and led to stronger Nordic cooperation
The Finnish programme for Nordic cooperation aims to secure welfare by extending cooperation between different government departments and organisations. But can it be done? Iceland’s Welfare Watch is one of the best examples of an innovative way to cooperate.
Kick off for "How are you doing in the Nordic countries?"
Kick off in Turku/Åbo for the Finnish Presidency and a great drive for Nordic cross-sector cooperation. How can work, welfare and culture be combined?
Art, culture and wellbeing
What if we turned the pyramide upside down and allowed the ministry of culture, rather than the ministry of finance, to be in charge of social development? What would happen if that ministry, which is usually bottom of the hierarchy, could prioritise measures to promote sustainable development? Would it make a difference?
What happens when the refugee stream has been stemmed?
“It’s like on a plane when the oxygen masks have been activated. When you’re told to put on your own mask before helping people sitting next to you. If we are to help the world, we must look after our own country first,” says Jøran Kallmyr, State Secretary at the Norwegian Ministry of Justice.
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