Why Finland leads the world in flexible work • Hacker News Board

Re: Why Finland leads the world in flexible work

#131

Post by rficcaglia » Sat, Aug 24, 2019, 3:10 PM UTC

beefield wrote: post #81

rficcaglia wrote: post #49

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Low taxes. Edit: not anecdotal. I personally know 3 execs from Scandinavian countries who tell me this is why they moved here. Also health care. They travel back to EU for routine stuff, but when they need elective procedures or advanced treatments you just cannot get those back in the EU.

> Edit: not anecdotal. I think that is pretty much anecdotal as per definition.

to clarify, not anecdotal to me having primary sources, but yes anecdotal to those reading my anecdote.

Re: Why Finland leads the world in flexible work

#132

Post by dominicr » Sat, Aug 24, 2019, 7:09 PM UTC

miskin wrote: post #105

dominicr wrote: post #85

Earlier quoted context omitted.

One effect of this in the Nordic culture is that often a lot of these holidays are taken at the same time. People take 3 or 4 weeks off at once between the end of June and early August, especially in Norway. Productivity for the company effectively hits zero for 6 weeks whilst the Norwegians have their holiday, then the Swedish and Danish have their turn. Although the few people that do work get a lot done due to hav…

I worked in Finland in 2001-2002 in what we would call now startup and even lead managers or scientists in company were not in the office in July-August. They simply worked more during winter and spent as much of Finnish summer outside as possible. But as article mentions, it was usual to take long vacations even in government jobs - if you needed visa for your relative, you'd better have it before June, or you would…

I worked for a year in an incubator in Oslo, full of start ups that talked about “work hard, play hard” & having to put in extra effort. The building was practically empty by 6pm.

Re: Why Finland leads the world in flexible work

#133

Post by jgust » Mon, Aug 26, 2019, 4:19 PM UTC

bitL wrote: post #75

jgust wrote: post #71

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You state this like it's a natural fact. That's how it is in many places, _today_. It doesn't have to be this way. As far as I know, there is no law of physics that has us locked into this way of operating society.

It's a fact in majority of companies; I have experiences with two companies that ran on different principles and were wildly profitable, so it could be done differently. Also, I am pretty much disgusted by what I observe, but it's an unfortunate part of reality and I am not going to unsee it to feel better about whatever. If you want to change something for the better, you need to understand what is wrong and what is…

All fair points. I was discouraged when I read your original comment, because I took it at face value as "this is what it is, this is what it always will be" but that wasn't your intention.