FRANCE The

FINLAND
Preliminary information on the 2002
Working Conditions Barometer
The difference between work and leisure time is
more flexible and less defined
Job growth in Finland has slowed down or even stopped. The number
of jobs being cut is nearly the same as the number of jobs being
created. In the public sector, the increase in the number of jobs
outpaced the decrease in 2001 but now that difference is no longer so
marked. Overtime – which had been compensated either through
money or through time off in lieu – has clearly fallen. However, the
surprising thing is that only paid overtime has decreased; unpaid
overtime is actually on the rise.
One-third of Finns take work home voluntarily, without additional
pay. A large proportion of the workforce can also be contacted at
any time. In August-September 2002 around 900,000 people were in
contact either with their workplace or their customers outside
working hours. Many were in constant contact, several times a
week, by mobile phone or over IT networks. Working time is
becoming more flexible. At the same time the difference between
working time and leisure time is becoming less and less clear. These
figures are based on the 2002 Working Conditions Barometer.
The Working Conditions Barometer is used to monitor changes in
the quality of working life at many levels. There had been a longstanding
trend in Finnish working life showing an increase in workrelated
stress and pressure. This increase has tailed off in recent
years. So far, however, one in two employed persons thinks that the
mental pressure has increased; few take the opposite view. The
increase in mental pressure has been much clearer amongst workers
at municipality level and, indeed, the majority of people who feel
that they are under pressure work for the municipality services.
An increase in sick leave has been noted and this has been
accompanied by an increase in the length of sick leave taken. The
reason for this rise is work pressure and the ageing workforce. This
increase has been especially rapid in the municipality services.
Slow increase in permanent new jobs
Uncertainty at the workplace has risen, but dismissals and threats
of redundancy have not really increased in comparison to previous
years. The most common method for reducing the number of
personnel is to not replace those who leave. However, one third of
new employees are being hired into permanent positions. All in all,
the number of permanent new jobs is slowly increasing. The same
applies to temporary jobs. The abundant use of fixed-term jobs is
very common in municipality services and federal Government
employment. Fixed-term jobs are clearly used less in industry and
the private sector than in the public sector.
Most discrimination clearly targets temporary and part-time
workers, confirming the observations made in 2001 on how
common this kind of discrimination is. In municipality services, this
has even increased slightly in comparison with the previous year. In
fact, there are many times more cases of this than there are cases of,
for example, sexual discrimination.
Working Time
Major changes in the workplace continue
There continued to be major changes in the workplace in 2002.
Some 46% of workers attended training at the workplace, with
training accounting for an average of six days per year. Nearly one
workplace in two had different development programmes and
projects, but their numbers are in decline. On the other hand, there
has been a strong increase in activities that support working
capacity.
Workers’ assessments of the leadership and organisation of the
workplace are slightly more positive compared with previous studies.
Salary systems are changing and it is less common to have a fixed
salary. Salaries tied to the quality of work or performance are
common in industry and the private sector. In the public sector, and
especially in the municipality services, the number of people drawing
a fixed salary is still high, but there have been a lot of changes to
salary practices.
Union memberships decreased in 1990s, with the fastest rate of
decrease seen amongst 25-34 year-olds. The number of employees
paying into the unemployment fund only has increased. In the last
couple of years there has been a slight increase in the number of
employees belonging to unions and the unemployment fund. In 2002
the percentage of the workforce belonging only to the
unemployment fund was 8.3%.
Workers’ prospects nose-dived a year ago. In particular, people
complained that their work was not enjoyable although the trend
was slightly more positive in 2002. However, uncertainty has
remained a constant issue and expectations are clearly more tentative
than they were in the late 1990s. Today, a large proportion of
employees doubt that there will be any improvement in their job’s
economic status or their general employability. Public sector
employees in particular are worried about the future financial
prospects afforded by their job.
The information contained in the Working Conditions Barometer
was collated by Tilastokeskus (Statistics Finland) via telephone
interviews carried out in September/October 2002. A total of 1,296
interviews were conducted, with a failure rate of 12%. The findings
can be generalised to cover the entire nation’s workforce. Most of
the information is comparable with the Working Condition
Barometers for 1992–2001.
FRANCE
The “35-hour week” in France made
more flexible
French law on working hours was profoundly transformed by a law
of January 2000 when legal weekly working hours were reduced
from 39 to 35. Companies with more than 20 employees were legally
bound to keep to these hours from 1 January 2000, while those with
20 employees or fewer had until 1 January 2002 (with a transitional
period running until 2004) to organise the move to a 35-hour week.
The Government formed in 2002 took the view that this regulation
was an obstacle to productivity, represented too onerous a burden
for companies and, moreover, did not create sufficient new jobs. A
bill, which is soon to come into force, makes the regulations more
flexible on three counts: the 35-hour week, the reduction of
employers’ social security contributions and “the convergence of
minimum wages”.
Spring 2002 | European Employment Observatory Review 37