9 Random Things About Work Culture in Finland

This is my last week in Finland before I wrap up the priorities here and head back to India. Four weeks here have been quite an experience in terms of understanding a whole new country, culture and its nuances. The more you get to know the culture, the more you start respecting it. Travel teaches you to be open minded to understand and appreciate different cultures. By the time I am back, I would have visited three most prominent cities of Finland namely Helsinki (where I stayed and worked), Tampere and Espoo.

I wrote a post “8 Random Things About Helsinki, Finland” a few days back. In this post, I will attempt to mention 9 prominent things about work culture in Finland. Here they go –

• There are many characteristics of Western working culture on Finland where individuality and independence are highly valued (and also highly expected). People take lead in their initiatives and too many instructions are not required to be given. Instead of typical hierarchical structures, Finns like to work out solutions in groups. Management loosely controls the teams and promote initiatives. Power and flexibility are well distributed.
• Because of loosely controlled management, bosses respect their people and remain polite. (I actually saw the boss knocking the door before entering his sub -ordinate’s cabin and apologising for an impromptu appearance). Even if fully convinced, boss cannot take certain decisions unless people (who are impacted by that decision) are not convinced about the reasoning behind decision. Decision making is very democratic in nature.
• People endeavor to use their time sensibly.  Most people in modern-day Finnish work culture maintain and adhere to calendars of meetings/tasks. If a meeting has to be scheduled between three people, one of them would access shared Outlook calendars of others and confirm if all are available. All formal meetings happen after meeting invites via Email/Outlook Calendars. Meetings are expected to start on time and also end on time. They keep their commitments in terms of time/deliverables and expect the same in return.
• It is forbidden to work on weekend or sit back late hours unless there is an emergency situation at work. They try to pack more meaning in an 8 hour work day and avoid unneccessary activities where they don’t see value during the day. Impromptu meetings are avoided unless it is something urgent and needs to be addressed immediately.
• Office timings are very flexible and one can choose to work around 7.5 to 8 hours a day. Most people start at 8:00 AM and end the day by 4:00 PM with around 30 minutes of lunch break. Working week is between 38-42 hours and timings are flexible.
• Finns in general don’t like to talk much and are not very expressive. The day I started working here, I was told (or warned!) that Finns are generally reserve and I need not worry about it. As a rule, exceptions have to be there and I found some of the Finnish people to be very friendly and transparent.  But in general, it takes some time before you can break the ice with them and get comfortable. Once comfortable, Finns can be very open and transparent friends. They are very courteous too (e.g. if they take you somewhere in their car, they would open the door for you as a sign of courtesy.)
• Communication from Finnish people is very clear and straight-forward. Since their primary language is not English, it makes a lot of sense to speak slowly and clearly.  When writing, they prefer brevity and do not appreciate long documents. Most of the times, they would prefer a powerpoint presentation with less than 10 slides over a 20 page document. Interrupting when someone is speaking is considered impolite (unlike US, where people wouldn’t mind, or rather appreciate  if you ask questions mid-way). 
• For the dress codes, smart casual dressing is preferred. All Finnish work places have a special place where people can hang their long coats and jackets. In business meetings, a dark color suit with tie is preferred dressing. People wear light/pastel colors at work place and avoid very bright colors. Most people carry warm clothes/jackets because of climate. 
• Work in Finland is governed by strict Labor Laws. There is a huge building in Hakaniemi area where lot of Labor Unions are located. Firing someone is not always possible. Once an employee is confirmed, it is very difficult to fire him/her because it has to be justified. If it is not justified, company has to pay the damages. So hiring is done very selectively with a long term perspective. People are also entitled to take 4 weeks of vacation. If a company refuses to grant holidays, employees can sue the company.

I am sure the above points would be of some help to those who may be scheduled to travel/work in Finland or may travel in future. I am sure there are other nuances that I may not have covered and hence I will try to keep this post updated with things-as-I-learn-them.

Have a good Sunday and a fantastic week ahead!