A decade back at the motherland! Yes, that’s 10 years since I came back to live and work in Finland after being away for nearly 20 years.
A decade worth of empirical research on what are the biggest differences Finland versus other countries I have worked in. I think 10 years gives sufficient time to form an opinion, gather data – what do you think? And now, am ready to share my findings of the biggest curiosities in regards to working culture in Finland vs. other countries.
Finland, the happiest nation in the world ; our working life is actually pretty unique and differs significantly from other countries I have worked as a HR leader in.
Some background ; at the tender age of 18 I left for University in Glasgow. And subsequently, following 5 years in Glasgow and a postgrad masters from the Scottish Business School and MA from Glasgow Uni I then worked over 15 years abroad. In Edinburgh, London, Belfast and then later in Doha during the exciting time of Qatar modernization period, Abu Dhabi in UAE and Singapore. I also took a year long sabbatical teaching and living in India and Cambodia and did couple of longer secondments in US, particularly in White Plains. And it is important to add ; I have always worked in the Human Resources, in the people and culture profession. First more in the training and leadership development specialization before becoming the most senior HR leader of a large, multinational country little after I turned 30. (Young I hear you think. Maybe too young? Back then when I was promoted I felt very ready. Was I ready? Probably not but that is a story for another day.)
So the background cleared, bear in mind that what I am about the declare comes from comparing Finnish working culture to multiple other countries and their working cultures and it very much comes from the HR perspective. So less of the sales, the customs and cultures, more of employee experience, on how people are led, to motivate and compensate.
Here are my 3 biggest curiosities based on my empirical findings:
1. At Finland, we worry A LOT about the individual skills of an individual contributor or indeed a leader during recruitment and promotions – and this goes to all the companies I have worked for! My experience ; collective results should matter more than rockstar individuals.
Now, we can come up with multiple excuses why individual superstars are the recruitment criteria in Finland. For example, every hiring decision is a massive investment because the employer costs in Finland are the highest to any country ever I have worked in– so there is A LOT OF pressure on that one hire. The big problem with this is that individuals do not double the output, they don’t innovate alone, or if they do, they can not sell or get the production going and this is, for me, ultimately, the reason why Finnish companies stay so small and very rarely are competitive in the international markets.
Where I have seen greatness, superb growth results and business success, companies have been consistent on delivery and it has been achieved through collectively produced results. Emphasis on collectively. This business understanding is lacking in Finland. Over dependence on key person, or few persons, is ultimately never going to deliver long-term growth or sustainable success.
2. In Finland, we rate low on risk adversity but also in genuine, continued innovation. To me, this feels like companies do not really want to continue to make money. We have a lot of companies centered around one time off innovation but building on from it lacks.
I am writing this on the last days of May, in sunny Berlin and in every street corner, in front of every shop and tiny café, there are outside tables. The terraces come in all shapes and sizes, some are well polished with white linen, some are crooked chairs on uneven pavements. In Finland, we do not have this. Outdoor dining areas are strictly regulated and only some have them. This translates to business ; in way too many Finnish companies, once the employee count goes beyond 10, real business development slows down and bureaucracy takes over. Without getting into discussions about how Finland is too government regulated(and yes, to me it is. The legal context about having chairs to drink coffee outside is a prime example of this), I do feel that the ability to take risks and maintain continuous innovation, the real drive to develop business somehow becomes ‘too much to handle’ and it stops. Bureaucracy suffocates it am sure, but in my experience, elsewhere the leaders of businesses fight the regulations and norms and they are winning!
As much as I have tried to understand why we are so risk adverse and lack continues, real business development, I have only some theories without real answers. What I can sum is, that this is such a collective feature of so many Finnish companies that it is more of a norm than anything else, Finnish companies do not grow big and they do not conquer successfully international growth.
Maybe it is our DNA and collective historical package as a nation that true business success ultimately is just too scary. I don’t know why, but I am determined to change the landscape and help more and more companies overcome this. WE need more success stories!
And my heart goes out to all the little cafes, bars and restaurants in Finland – continue to FIGHT the bureaucracy for the right to for us customers to enjoy our food and beverages outdoors on the rare days that summer sun shines.
3. In Finland, salary increases are collective. One size has to fit all and rewards need to be equal. Phew. This is the one that really blows my mind.
Now, do not mix this up with the current legal landscape when it comes to EU Pay Transparency – let’s stay focused and remember that the EU directive is really to ensure that the basic salary scale is the same for employees, managers and leaders that do the same exact job regardless of their gender or sexual orientation. This is very much needed, in Finland as well ; a man’s euro is still women’s 70 cents. So the equal pay legislation is still very much needed!
But what is not needed, is cookie cutter approach to performance based pay. The ‘one size has to fit all’ and company common bonus pay-outs was unheard of in other countries I have worked in. For a business to succeed long-term and to grow, making sure high performers are rewarded is key! While working abroad, it was given that salary increases and spot-on bonuses, and indeed actual bonuses were individual performance based. Managers did this automatically, because their own pay was also performance based and hence there was an authentic desire to give the salary increases to the employees who excelled. At HR, we spent a lot of time calibrating the increases, ensuring that documented performance evaluations backed up the payments. In Finland, I can not count the times that as HR I have actually had to coach the managers to not give an exact amount to every employee when it comes to salary increases. Giving a 20 year annual salary increase to everyone is not looking after the best interests of the company, it is false economy. Giving increases to those employees who are not excelling in their current roles is also inhumane ; giving false impression that they are in the right job stops the person from going out and finding something that they are actually very good at! And a 20 euro increase to those who are really doing a stellar job and increasing the company value, revenue? Well laid road to the company high performers becoming demotivated, disengaged (they might be there, but they no longer bring their best to the job) and ultimately, turnover and increased recruitment costs, lost revenue and business failure.
I cringe at the salary review processes where ‘everyone needs to get the same amount’ and ‘where it needs to be equal’. No, actually it should not be equal, it can not be if the company is to make profit. And again, index increases due to increased living costs or fixing base salary scales is a different process. As an HR consultant, helping companies fix the processes and problems related to compensation and benefits, designing competitive bonus schemes have been the most rewarding projects – the results start to show in the company overall performance in less than a year.
To me, these are the three key findings of the past 10 years on how the business culture in Finland differs from working in HR abroad, the curiosities of Finnish work culture. If any of these resonate with you – please let me know! I am continuously working as HR advisor and interim HR lead in Finland and these are things that I can assist companies with confidence – designing competitive and objective performance review processes and motivating bonus schemes, helping to design and train managers on recruitment processes that enable collective success. And right now, if you haven’t started yet, it is time to get ready for the EU Pay Transparency – if you need a quick fix on how to get your company ready for the upcoming legislation ; get in touch and let’s get started!
And all the past or current Finnish expats out there, with experience of working outside the motherland. Tell me – do you agree or disagree? What are the biggest differences to you?
And shout out to photographer Veikko Venemies – we have never met, but your photographs of Finland capture the very unique beauty that I love about Finland. Thank you!
