Time has a major influence on Nordic workers’ work environments and
how Nordic businesses manage their work environments. These are among
the conclusions in the latest major survey form the European Agency for
Safety and Health at Work, looking at how European businesses handle
work environment risks, especially psychosocial risks like work related
stress.
The survey, called ESENER-2, was presented by the Director for the
European Agency for Safety and Health at Work, Christa Sedlatschek, as
she gave a presentation during a meeting at Denmark’s National Research
Centre for the Working Environment (NFA) on Monday 19 October 2015. She
presented important conclusions from the survey, which was published in
early 2015.
She pointed out how Nordic employees and
businesses stood out from the rest of Europe in several areas when it
comes to how they handle stress and time pressure.
“Time pressure represents a greater psychosocial risk factor in the
Nordic countries than elsewhere in Europe,” said Christa
Sedlatschek.
The Nordic region stands out
On this particular point the ESENER-2 survey says the Nordic
countries “stand out quite markedly” compared to the other 36 countries
which are part of the survey, as well as from the EU as a whole where
43 percent of businesses consider time pressure to be a psychosocial
risk factor — only surpassed by difficult customers and citizens. In
all of the five Nordic countries time pressure is an even bigger risk
factor. More than 70 percent of Nordic businesses see time pressure as
a risk factor. The Netherlands comes is in sixth place, where 62
percent of businesses point to time pressure as a risk factor.
Time pressure also plays an important role when it comes to how
Nordic businesses deal with work environment issues, according to
ESENER-2. The survey asked the businesses to identify the biggest
barriers to managing the work environment, and businesses in Denmark,
Finland, Norway and Sweden point mainly to the lack of time and staff.
In the EU as a whole businesses identify legal requirements and red
tape as bigger barriers than a lack of time when it comes to
managing work environments properly.
More offer psychological assistance
ESENER-2 also shows that many of Europe’s businesses struggle more
with handling psychosocial risk factors like stress than other work
environment issues. Nearly one in five of the businesses that said they
had to handle difficult customers, or that experienced time pressure,
also said they lacked information or suitable tools for how to handle
the risk in an efficient manner.
ESENER-2 also looked at how businesses handle psychosocial risks,
and whether they have action plans and procedures for how to handle
stress. One in three businesses with more than 20 employees in
the EU have that, but there are big differences between countries.
Sweden and Denmark score high.
Only 16 percent of EU businesses offer psychological help for
employees suffering from stress. Again the Nordic countries are ahead.
In Finland and Sweden some 60 percent of businesses say they use a
psychologist.
The survey also looked at whether businesses have work committees
and employee representatives. Here too the Nordics top the list of
countries with the highest number of employee representatives in
Norway, Iceland and Sweden, while Denmark tops the list for the number
of businesses that have a safety committee.
