Published 12 December 2022 at 13.56
Domestic. Allowing employees to work from home has disastrous results for productivity and causes costs to skyrocket in almost every business. The worst at getting something done from home are Swedish employees.
Like the article på Facebook
Companies are now trying to eliminate the possibility of working from home, but employees have become so comfortable that they now simply refuse to come back to the office, and call in the union when the employer tries to force them.
The Swedish clothing giant H&M's employees must work at least four days a week in the office from December 1, but this decision has sparked protests internally.
According to the consulting firm Boston Consulting Group, remote work is giving disastrous results when it comes to development within the companies.
The way of working also leads to an explosion of costs and the inability to make decisions, especially in Swedish companies where the union and employees' opinions and convenience are often in focus. At the same time, the shyness of conflict leads to video meetings not producing any clear results.
– The Swedish consensus culture does not work remotely. A meeting ends with agreeing on a new meeting, instead of making a decision. In the US, where the corporate culture is more hierarchical, decision-making still works, says Erik Flinck, Sweden CEO of BCG, to Dagens Industri.
Even in American companies, profitability and efficiency are affected. One of the first measures that Tesla founder Elon Musk introduced after the purchase of Twitter was that everyone should go back and work full-time in the office, otherwise they have to quit.
For the Swedish companies, the situation is described as more or less urgent .
– We see a significant decline. After the pandemic, it has become painfully clear that the companies' ability to develop has deteriorated significantly, Flinck tells DI.