However, the long commute, after a long work day, took its toll on the thirty-five-year-old. She developed stress-related stomach problems, became depressed and developed pinched nerves in her lower back from so much time sitting behind the wheel.
Nine months later, she had left her job and become self-employed, working as a freelance designer and photographer. The pay was less – but she could work from home. When the BBC reported on her story in July 2016 she was six months pregnant.
FREEDOM
Work–life balance
Denmark: Danes enjoy one of the best balances between work and play in the world. A standard working week is thirty-seven hours. Danes also enjoy a high level of flexibility at work, for example working from home and choosing at what time they start their working day. Read more on this page.
Universal basic income
Finland: In 2017, a two-year social experiment was launched in which two thousand citizens were given a guaranteed income of 560 euros a month, regardless of income, wealth or employment status. The Finns hope it will cut red tape, reduce poverty and boost employment.
Thirty-hour working week
Sweden: Several public employers and private companies are experimenting with shorter working days and weeks. One of them is the SEO (search engine optimization) company Brath, which reports: ‘Today we get more done in six hours than comparable companies do in eight. We believe it brings with it the high level of creativity demanded in this line of work. We believe nobody can be creative and productive for eight hours straight. Six hours is more reasonable, even though we, too, of course, check Facebook or the news at times.’
There is no place like roam
Budapest, Hungary: Now that work does not always have to be done in the office, and with improved digital connectivity, more and more freelancers and entrepreneurs are thinking out of the cubicle and working from abroad. Budapest, Bangkok and Berlin come out on top on the list of destinations for digital nomads. One month’s rent for a one-bedroom apartment in the centre of the Hungarian capital is around $500 – and a cup of coffee in a café will set you back only $1.25.
Live Near Your Work Program
Maryland, USA: The program gives monetary rewards of up to $3,000 towards the purchase, down-payments on or final costs of new homes for people who move within eight kilometres of their workplace. Participants consequently spend less time commuting and a substantial number have switched their mode of transport from driving to walking.
No emails after work
Germany: In 2011, Volkswagen stopped its BlackBerry servers sending emails to a proportion of its employees when they are off-shift. The staff can still use their devices to make calls, but the servers stop routing emails thirty minutes after the end of employees’ shifts, and start again thirty minutes before they return to work. (This did not apply to senior management.)
TRUST SPOTTING
One evening in 1997, Anette went to a restaurant in New York. The restaurant had a seating area outside which was marked off with a chain, and Anette let her daughter sleep there in her pram, watching her through the window.
However, Anette was soon arrested and handcuffed, and only narrowly escaped jail for child neglect. To offer up a defence: she did what most parents in Denmark do.
Travel to Copenhagen and, once you have got used to the number of bikes on the roads, you will notice something else: children sleeping outside in strollers in public spaces. While their mums and dads enjoy a cup of coffee indoors, little Gustav and little Freja are tucked up outside the cafés. Go to the countryside, and you can find vegetable stands by the road, unmanned. You grab what you want and put the cash in the box.
Trust is not only something you see, it is something that is shown to you. One afternoon, I went to pick my bike up from the repair man – but, distrait as I am, I had left my wallet at home. ‘No worries. Take your bike and bring me the money tomorrow,’ the repair man said. The same day, I had to read and sign a six-page contract to write a one-page editorial for an American media outlet. The bike repair man made my day better (and built my loyalty towards using him again); contracts for simple transactions make only lawyers’ days better.
In an article ‘Happy in Denmark – How Come?’ in Forbes Magazine, Erika Andersen describes having had a similar experience when she visited Denmark in order to find out why the country always does so well in the happiness rankings. During her visit, she went horse-riding and wanted to hire a horse. The stable did not accept credit cards, but the owner said that Erika could go riding now and come back later with the cash.
After this, Erika came to the straightforward conclusion that Danes are happy because of the high level of trust in their society. And Erika is on to something, because trust is one of the six factors that explain why some countries are happier than others. According to the World Happiness Report 2015, ‘A successful society is one in which people have a high level of trust in each other – including family members, colleagues, friends, strangers and institutions such as government. Social trust spurs a sense of life satisfaction.’
People who trust other people are happier, and trust does make life easier. High levels of trust exist in offices across Denmark. You don’t need to write up a contract for every small transaction. A deal is a deal. Your word is your word. In Denmark, your managers will not micromanage you but simply trust that the work will be done within the agreed timelines, unless informed otherwise – and of course you are working when you are working from home.
You call the CEO by their first name, just as you do everybody else, and you have lunch at the same table and talk openly about both your work and your private life. You base your success on collaboration and teamwork rather than striving to be the star.
This spirit of cooperation, equality and trust in workplaces in Denmark is no coincidence. As we will see, social skills, cooperation, empathy and trust are part of the curriculum in Danish schools and something all Danes are encouraged to carry on into our adult lives.
Percentage of people expressing a high level of trust in others
Denmark: 89%
Norway: 88%
Finland: 86%
Sweden: 84%
Netherlands: 80%
Switzerland: 74%
Estonia: 72%
Israel: 71%
New Zealand: 69%
United Kingdom: 69%
Belgium: 69%
Australia: 64%
Spain: 62%
Austria: 62%
Germany: 61%
Japan: 61%
OECD average: 59%
France: 56%
Ireland: 56%
Czech Republic: 56%
Slovenia: 53%
United States: 49%
Poland: 47%
Slovak Republic: 47%
Hungary: 47%
Korea: 46%
Greece: 40%
Portugal: 38%
Mexico: 26%
Turkey: 24%
Chile: 13%
Source: OECD: ‘Society at a Glance – Social Indicators’, 2011
HAPPINESS TIP:
ENCOURAGE PRAISE AMONG CO-WORKERS TO INCREASE TRUST
Employee of the week is the one who has made their colleagues shine or told other people about their achievements.
Employee of the week is far from a new invention, but this model is a little different, because the flowers are not given to the employee who has done the best job but to the colleague who has praised others. If J?rgen has done a great job and Sigrid has told the boss about how well he’s done, Sigrid will receive the flowers.
A few years ago, this model was used at the intensive neurological ward at Copenhagen’s largest hospital, which had been having challenges with a large amount of sick days being taken. The climate was characterized by mistrust, job satisfaction was low and staff turnover was high. So, the department started to give a bouquet of flowers to the employee of the week, as part of a larger focus on using praise to create motivation. The strategy resulted in sick days being reduced by almost 75 per cent.
THE LOST WALLET EXPERIMENT