By Mark B. Odom

Copyright yle

More than 60 percent of company managers in Finland say they have considered changing jobs over the past year, according to a survey cited by the daily Helsingin Sanomat.

However, the paper reports, Finland seems to be an outlier in that regard, as managers in other Nordic countries do not have similar dreams of switching jobs.

The “productivity and wellbeing at work” survey was published by the firm Lähtijät, which specialises in changes in the workplace.

While the survey found over 60 percent of managers in Finland saying they have thought about switching jobs over the past 12 months, only 32 percent of their counterparts in Sweden said the same. In Denmark that proportion stood at 27 percent and in Norway 25 percent of managers said they had considered leaving their current posts for other work.

“The difference is startling,” Lähtijät’s CEO, Liisa Holma, told the paper. According to her, the managers’ desire to leave indicates dissatisfaction with their current jobs, and that the reason can be found in the atmosphere at companies.

“Finnish managers feel a distrusting and discouraging atmosphere in their work community. According to them, these are obstacles to success,” Holma said.

Holma, who conducted some of the manager surveys personally, added that there was a clear link between poor working atmospheres and desires to leave. She said the prolonged weak economic situation has weighed heavily on the managers’ shoulders and that it was eating away at their motivation.

“We have been plunged into a state of hopelessness. There is no clear vision of when and how the situation will turn around. If you don’t believe that something can be done about it, you can easily feel hopeless,” Holma explained.

The firm’s survey was part of a broader study of more than 2,200 respondents, including employees, experts and managers. It also included participation from the Technology Industries of Finland group, the Industrial Union, the Trade Union Pro, and the Federation of Professional and Managerial Staff YTN.

The survey queried 418 managers in Finland and 310 managers or supervisors in Sweden, Denmark and Norway, according to the paper.

Helsinki City’s costly flats

The prices of new rental apartments offered by Heka, the City of Helsinki’s subsidised housing firm, are too high for many low-income residents to afford, Helsingin Sanomat reports.

For example, Heka’s new flats in the city’s Kalasatama and Jätkäsaari districts exceed limits set by social benefits agency Kela, HS reported on Wednesday.

“Even small apartments can be so expensive that rents no longer meet the housing affordability standards,” the City’s housing programme manager, Mari Randell, acknowledged.

HS also spoke with Jafar Musawi, who moved into one of the apartments in Kalasatama. He said that while he’s pleased with the flat’s design and features, there are other concerns.

“Will we be able to pay all the costs for the apartment? We won’t get a cent in housing benefits,” he said.

Musawi told the paper that his application for housing support from Kela was turned down, and that he had appealed the decision. He lives with his wife and young daughter, with a second child on the way. They receive the usual social benefits granted to families with children.

According to HS, Musawi earns between 1,800 and 2,200 euros a month working at the Jumbo shopping centre in Vantaa. Meanwhile, rent, water and parking fees for his family’s new home amount to around 1,400 euros.

The paper noted that Heka has found itself in financial difficulties in recent years, as the firm borrows money to construct apartments and rising interest rates caught them by surprise.

The situation has prompted Heka to raise rents a number of times in recent years.

APN hears how government cuts to integration funding could worsen Finland’s unemployment crisis. Listen to the episode via this embedded player, on Yle Areena, via Apple, Spotify or wherever you get your podcasts.

Mild end to the year?

Citing a medium-range forecast, tabloid newspaper Iltalehti said Finland could have a mild start to winter this year.

It said that the European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts (ECMWF) has published its October-December outlook, which suggests that average temperatures during that period will be one or two degrees Celsius higher than usual in Finland, as well as Sweden, Norway and the Baltic countries.

The paper also noted that September has been warmer than June, as this month has already seen four “hot” days (above 25 degrees), compared to just two in June.

In the closer term, rainier weather is expected to begin on Thursday. According to a blog post by Foreca meteorologist Joanna Rinne, Finland will be rainier than usual this autumn.

“According to the seasonal forecast, the October–December period will have a clearly warmer average temperature than usual throughout Finland. The forecast also predicts that there will be more rainfall during the three-month period than average,” Rinne’s post said.

Despite ECMWF’s forecast, Rinne said that variable conditions are common in Finland, and that both mild and cold weather is still possible throughout that period.

At the beginning of the year it was reported that the Nordic region is warming considerably faster than the rest of the world.