Quality in work and employment — Norway
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Quality of work and employment is back at the top of the European employment and social policy agenda. At the first Informal meeting of Ministers for Employment and Social Affairs held under the German Presidency on 18/20 January 2007 in Berlin, agreement was reached on a set of policy principles covering what the Presidency termed ‘good work’ – a new EU terminology following on from the ILO use of ‘decent work, and the more established EU mantra of ‘more and better jobs’.This is the contribution of Norway.
1. The importance of quality in work and employment
In January 2006 a revised working environment act was released. Prior to the release there were several areas that the government, politicians, trade unions, employers, press and other interest groups discussed. Some issues that were discussed were flexibility, use of temporary workers, working hours/ overtime, protection against discrimination in general, autonomy, protection for whistleblowers etc. Aspects of the Norwegian working environment act will therefore serve as a basis of the answers to the questionnaire for the Norwegian national fact sheet on quality in work and employment.
The purpose of the Act is:
A) To secure a working environment that provides a basis for a healthy and meaningful working situation, that affords full safety from harmful physical and mental influences and that has a standard of welfare at all times consistent with the level of technological and social development of society.
B) To ensure sound conditions of employment and equality of treatment at work.
C) To facilitate adaptations of the individual employees working situation in relation to his or her capabilities and life circumstances.
D) To provide a basis whereby the employer and the employees may themselves safeguard and develop their working environment in cooperation with the employers and employees organizations, as well as with the requisite guidance and supervision of the public authorities.
E) To foster inclusive working conditions.
With this Act, the Norwegian government demonstrates that they are interested in overall issues related to quality in work and employment.
Information in English: http://www.arbeidstilsynet.no/c26980/lov/vis.html?tid=28120
Working hours and arrangements compatible with life outside work.
The Norwegian working environment act stipulates that there must be a balance between the “working life” and the “private life”. The main focus is that there has to be a possibility both to participate in the working life and to have a “family life”. The department will therefore establish by law, the right for all employees to have flexible working hours where there is no problem for the enterprises. Data from the Fourth European Working Conditions survey shows that nearly half of the Norwegian working force has flexibility in their work, related to working hours, deadlines etc.
2. Career and employment security
The concept “flexicurity” has not been an issue for the Norwegian employer or employees. Several investigations conclude that the Norwegian work force feels that they have a great deal of security related to keeping their job in the future. There is also a common opinion that a job with an indefinite contract is preferable from a point of view of employee job security. In this context, job security refers to an individual phenomenon, that express the employees apprehension and expectations about future job possibilities in the organisation. At the same time it is a fact that the European labour market and the working life are going through a lot of changes. Some years ago there were a lot of discussions related to the use of employees with a temporary employment contract, but the Norwegian working environment act emphasises that a contract of employment should be indefinite. The capacity to employ workers with a temporary employment contract is submitted to limitations.
Instead of discussing “flexicurity” a relevant topic in the Norwegian working life is the focus on inclusive working conditions.
The letter of intent about inclusive working conditions is an agreement between the government, employers' organization and the labour organizations. Information in English: www.nav.no/binary?id=1073753571&download=true
The background for a focus on inclusive working conditions is due to the latest years of development, when more people in the working force have disappeared from the working life. This is mainly a result of long lasting award benefits, which is problematic in relation to the individuals, the undertakings and the community. Absenteeism, disability benefits, and early retirement also contribute to impair the access to labour for all member of the work force
The letter of intent concerning more inclusive working conditions (IA) shall contribute to:
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A more inclusive working environment to boost the employee, work unit and the community.
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A reduction in absenteeism and the use of disability benefits.
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To ensure that each persons resources and work capacity is utilise in active work.
This agreement is aimed at contributing to keep more people in the work force. Other goals of the agreement are; to prevent absenteeism, focus on presence at work, and avoid exclusion from the working life. It is additionally aimed at recruiting people who are unemployed.
In this agreement there is a focus not only to include people who are disabled but also to be an instrument to counteract discrimination in the work environment. Another focus is on the seniors in the work force, as this agreement has an increased focus on systematic health and safety work.
3. Health and well being
Results from several national working condition analyses, as well as the European survey on working conditions, concludes that musculoskeletal disorders and stress can be related to health problems caused by situations in the work environment (social, psychological, physical and organisational causes). Stress, time pressure and repetitive, monotonous work have been related to muscle/skeleton problems. National data shows that frequencies in occurrence of MSDs are stable in the period 1996 – 2003.
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Change in working conditions and higher demands in terms of efficiency can cause health problems. Partially, this may be because of increased awareness as a result of research results being made public, through discussions in the media, political discussions etc. These mentioned health problems are often seen as the main reasons why employees are absent. This is an evolving agenda in the debate especially related to causes for absenteeism in the Norwegian society.
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Government and political parties are discussing the retirement age. Life expectancy in Norway has increased over the last decades. The population is increasingly dependent on the seniors in the workforce, because of the general needs for employers. Though 67 years is formally considered the “retirement age” in the last years more people seem to leave working life earlier. A reason for this is the possibility to contractual pension another reason is lack of flexibility and general problems with adjusting their work situation. There have also been discussions about discrimination related to age. A goal in the agreement of inclusive work environment is to include and not discriminate against senior employees.
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There has been an increased focus on the psychosocial work environment over the last years. Because of the agreement of including work environment there shall be focus on harassment and bullying in the work environment. Other psychosocial factors` are discussed as job control, job demands and social support in the work environment as well as there has been a focus in several national surveys on working conditions.
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Investigations show that more female workers report MSDs than men. This does not mean that women are more prone to be stricken by MSDs, but that the women are exposed to other types of strain both at work and at home than men. When both sexes are exposed to the same work factors data show that they react in similar ways. These findings also show that age has no strong correlation with the predisposition to MSDs.
4. Skills development
The Royal Ministry of Education and Research define that lifelong learning is an important principle in Norwegian education policy. The goal is that everyone shall have the possibility of education and to update their competences through their whole life.
In the agreement about the letter of intent about a more inclusive work environment, there is a goal that each person’s resources and work capacity is utilised in active work. In this statement there is an acceptance, both from the employers' organization and the labour organizations, that there is a need for life-long learning in order to cope with continuous structural change in the working life.
The Norwegian working environment act says that an employee who has been in the work force for at least three years and has been employed, in the same enterprise for two years, has the right to be on leave part time or full time to participate in organised education for up to three years.
A) Results from the 4th European Working Condition Survey indicates that above half of the respondent claims that the main duties in the work correspond well with their present skills. Nearly one in four claim that they have the skills for more demanding duties. 15 % claim that they need further training to coop well with their duties. Above 40 % claim that they have undergone training paid by the employer.
B) The fact that the demand for manual skills is falling (related to a reduced need for employees in the manufacturing), and the demand for non-manual skills is rising is reflected by the government and should be reflected in the educational and training systems. The Royal Ministry of Finance have emphasised that the educational system should be organized based on general needs in the labour market. Lifelong learning and investment in competence is decided for development of new knowledge and new international oriented enterprises. They argue that it has to be a focus on education beyond qualifications to attend to develop further competence for the workers, so they can perform well through the whole working life. It is also a goal that the enterprises have a qualified workforce. A trend in the Norwegian society related to this question is that there is a focus on formalised knowledge. One reason for this is the demand for documentation. In some enterprises that have employees who are unskilled, the enterprise (private or public) offers training and education that lead to certificate of completed apprenticeship.
5. Work life balance
There is a growing interest in the Norwegian work life to focus on the importance of a balance between “work life” and “family life”. The Norwegian working environment act from January 2006 emphasises that there is a time for job contribution and a time for rest, family life and spare time. Work is the basis for welfare. The Royal Ministry of Labour and Government Affairs wish to make safe the workplaces through flexible overtime provisions. But this has to cater to the employees´ health in the long run. Efforts in the work life and responsibilities for family must be combined. Time for work and time for family should be equal for male and female employees. It is believed that a flexible working hour arrangement will contribute to an easier way to combine work and family, as mentioned earlier.
A) This is successfully achieved were there is a possibility to work flexible hours, perhaps with the possibility to work at home a few days a week. In some occupations you have to be at the workplace at a certain time, as in the service occupations, flexible work is therefore not an issue. On the other hand, in these occupations there are often possibilities for part time jobs or reduced hours. Female employees are often represented in service occupations.
B) There is some discussion in the media concerning shorter workdays. Some political parties and research on work environment argue that shorter workdays are a way to contribute to reducing the rate of absenteeism.
C) From the beginning of the Norwegian work-life balanced debate it has been a goal of the government side to adapt the working life to periods of childcare. In the community debate there is also an evolving discussion about a need for flexibility related to senior employees who have responsibilities for older parents. This is a discussion especially related to social benefits, which is in turn relate to absence from the job due to urgent needs to take care of elderly parents. Today an employee has the right to 10 days sickness benefit because of absence from work as a result of caring for a sick child and 15 days if the employee has two children. If the employee is a single parent, you have the right to 20 days sickness benefit and 30 days, if the employee has two children.
D) Some workplaces arrange that the employee include the travel time in work time if the employees have a long way to work. The possibility to read documents or computer based work is well organized if you travel by train. This means that this possibility to include travel time in the work time is limited to some occupations or workplace.
Steinar Aasnass, Stami