Working in Norway - A Beginner's Guide 

Ensieh
[00:00 - 00:23] One thing that was a kind of cultural shock at the beginning when I moved to Norway, that the employee can, if he wants to put his legs on the table or put a "snus" in front of the manager, that he can do it and he doesn't need to hide it because people are themselves.
[00:23 - 00:36] And working environment is by respect friendly, but at the same time they can't be themselves. But this is something that is seen that culture doesn't exist in other countries.

Vibeke
[00:38 - 00:58] You spend a huge amount of time in your life at work. So a working life that actually works is hugely important to have a happy life. This episode of our podcast "Organisert", or Organized, is especially made for you who have recently arrived in Norway to work. We will dive into what you need to know about working life culture.
[00:59 - 01:21] You will learn about the role of the trade unions, salary negotiations, working hours, holidays and more. So you can know the facts and enjoy your stay. First of all, let me introduce myself and my guest here in our podcast studio in Oslo. I am Vibeke Vestragen and sitting next to me is Alexander Iversen.
[01:21 - 01:45] Hi. Hi. We both work for Tekna, a union for people who are graduates in STEM, science, technology, engineering and mathematics. Tekna has more than 100,000 members and helps its members with employment law, salary negotiations. We have many professional networks that covers several academic fields and hosts different courses and events all over Norway.
[01:46 - 02:02] Alexander, you are an advisor in Tekna and you are in touch with a lot of our elected representatives and businesses. Can we just get straight to the core? What would you say is the most essential thing to know before entering the Norwegian workforce?

Alexander
[02:02 - 02:25] I think the most important thing to know when arriving here is that Norwegian working life tends to be less hierarchical than in most other countries. There is a short distance to top management in most cases. And it is also important to know that it is completely normal to be a member of a union. It is not considered weird or you are another rebel if you are a union member.
[02:25 - 02:31] About half the Norwegian working force is a member of a union, so it is considered completely normal.

Vibeke
[02:31 - 02:40] And what would you say is the difference between working in Germany or France compared to the Nordic countries or Norway in this case?

Alexander
[02:40 - 03:07] It is more hierarchical and the unions are not as strong. They have some strong unions, but they are not as widespread as in Norway and they have a bit of a different role. They are not so involved in the running of the business as they are in Norway where the employees have a say in the running and in how the workplace is organized through their unions.
[03:07 - 03:08] So that is a difference.

Vibeke
[03:09 - 03:13] So in what way would you say that we are part of running the business?

Alexander
[03:14 - 03:39] We have a right to have a say in working conditions as employees through our unions. This applies to all businesses that have a collective agreement and also in some cases businesses that do not have a collective agreement through law, through the Working Environment Act. But those rights are stronger when you have a collective agreement that is negotiated by the unions.

Vibeke
[03:39 - 03:42] So how do you come about having this collective agreement?

Alexander
[03:43 - 03:48] Oh, that's a long story. Can we start at the beginning? Yes, please. Yes.

Vibeke
[03:48 - 03:51] Because I know that you are quite an expert in the history.

Alexander
[03:52 - 04:12] Okay. So what you need to realize is that this system has not come about by itself. It has been fought for. And it started in the 1800s in Norway with unionization, with industrialization led to unionization. The first unions appeared in the mid to late 1800s.
[04:14 - 04:41] And they fought for the rights. The working conditions were very poor at start, in the beginning of industrialization. So one very famous incident in Norwegian history is the matchstick workers strike in what was then called Kristiania, now Oslo, in the 1880s, where a group of women had their wages cut overnight.
[04:42 - 04:57] And they organized, they went on strike, they fought for higher wages and less dangerous working conditions. Those were the main criteria because they were working with dangerous chemicals and they were poisoned at work.

Vibeke
[04:57 - 05:01] Yes, and this weren't just women, it was children, wasn't it?

Alexander
[05:01 - 05:26] Children, yes. So much younger. Child labor. Child labor, because there were no child labor laws. The strike went on for a long time. It wasn't very effective as strikes go, but it gained popular support. It gained support by some very influential people like Bjørnstjerne Bjørnson, author of the National Anthem.
[05:27 - 05:51] And it gained the support of the newspapers and it gained support from a large part of the population in Oslo. So even though the strike wasn't successful, they raised a lot of issues. We got the first Working Environment Act, child labor laws as a result of the strike because the politicians started to take an interest in the working life.
[05:51 - 05:58] So in that regard, it was very successful, but they didn't get their wages back. They still had the wage cut.

Vibeke
[05:58 - 06:03] But they did an enormous job for people to come later.

Alexander
[06:03 - 06:26] They were not the first union. They were not the first strike, but they were a huge inspiration because it was so popular. They had so big a popular support that it was a huge inspiration for other workers. And a side note is that these were women and girls. The men did not go on strike with them during day one.
[06:26 - 06:32] So this is part of women's history as well as labor history. Very, very cool.

Vibeke
[06:33 - 06:38] But now in 2023, how many unions do we have in Norway? Do you know that number?

Alexander
[06:38 - 07:05] I don't know the number. There are a lot. Most professions have their own union. And Teknai is a bit broader than just one profession because we take all people with masters in STEM. So we are a big union. But there are confederations that collect all the unions into four main confederations, LO, US, UNIO and Akademikerna, which Teknai is part of.
[07:06 - 07:14] So there are four confederations of unions. And then there are a lot of unions under these umbrella organizations.

Vibeke
[07:14 - 07:25] Before we continue, we shall listen to this little story from reporter Sondre Tallaksrud about someone who let their career lead them to Norway. Let's hear about what the experience has been like so far.

Ensieh
[07:26 - 07:34] My name is Ensieh Khasheh and I moved to Norway 2011 as a student. I am from Iran.

Sondre
[07:34 - 07:38] And where do you work and what do you do at work?

Ensieh
[07:38 - 07:52] I am working in ABB Marine at the moment as automation engineer. My job is to support the vessels or ships that are sailing all around the world.

Sondre
[07:52 - 08:04] Is there something that surprised you by working in Norway? Like our culture? Is there something that we do that you thought was special in a positive way or a negative way?

Ensieh
[08:25 - 08:43] It is very easy to talk with a line manager and management. It is easy to have a very simple conversation. But in my country, as I know in many countries, there is a hierarchy system.

Sondre
[08:43 - 08:45] You never see the boss really?

Ensieh
[08:45 - 09:00] You don't see the boss or the relationship should be very much formal. But in Norway, everything is by respect but also very friendly. You can easily go for a coffee with your manager.

Sondre
[09:01 - 09:08] She was also surprised by our relaxed demeanor regarding our leaders. For example, that we may leave the workplace before the bus.

Ensieh
[09:09 - 09:32] One thing that was a kind of cultural shock at the beginning when I moved to Norway. That the employee can, if he wants to put his legs on the table or put a "snus" in front of the manager. That he can do it and he doesn't need to hide it because people are themselves.
[09:32 - 09:45] And working environment is by respect friendly but at the same time they can be themselves. But this is something that is still that culture doesn't exist in other countries.

Sondre
[09:46 - 09:54] In many other countries, it's not that common to be a part of an union. But Ensieh found it useful, even in the first years living here.

Ensieh
[09:54 - 10:14] For me and some of my classmates in university, because we were new, we didn't know how to find jobs in Norway. The Tekna representative was helping us to correct our CVs and instruct us how to apply for a job in Norway.
[10:15 - 10:29] And that helped? Of course, it really helped, especially for us as a beginner in Norway. They were supporting us free and also with a lot of good information.

Sondre
[10:29 - 10:38] Do you have any similar unions in Iran? Is there something you can compare it to?

Ensieh
[10:39 - 10:51] As I know, no. Structure and organized unions like Tekna or other unions in Norway, it doesn't exist in Iran.

Sondre
[10:51 - 10:59] What about vacation? Because we have usually five weeks. Is that the difference or is it the same?

Ensieh
[11:00 - 11:23] In Iran, we have a four weeks vacation. But the good things regarding Norway that you can use your one month or four or five weeks all together. But in Iran, it is almost impossible to get all together. You should use it one day, two days.
[11:23 - 11:39] If there is an opportunity to work overtime, you can gather your hours and later you can use it as a some days vacation. We don't have such a structure system in Iran.

Sondre
[11:39 - 11:43] Is there something Norway can learn from Iran?

Ensieh
[11:44 - 11:58] In Iran, the working environment is more friendly. The colleagues have more close contact and friendly relationship together than Norway.

Sondre
[11:58 - 12:02] That we have a barrier between work and private life?

Ensieh
[12:02 - 12:25] Absolutely, yes. There is a barrier. But in Iran, they try to get together for any simple things that happens at work. Or even if the employee has a kid or if the employee buy an apartment, so they just buy a cake and invite the other colleagues to celebrate.

Sondre
[12:26 - 12:37] Do you have any tips for people who want to create a network in Norway when they work here with network work-wise and new friends?

Ensieh
[12:38 - 12:59] Generally, it is not much easier to find a network and friends in Norway. But it is not impossible. By learning the language, it causes to have more integrity to the society, learn about the culture.
[13:00 - 13:15] By joining to the hiking trips and also there are some other events, by joining to some events, that it helps to find friends and networks.

Vibeke
[13:16 - 13:25] Alexander Iversen, most people are interested in their wages. How are unions involved in salary negotiations in Norway?

Alexander
[13:26 - 13:54] It varies, but there are some. If you have a collective agreement, then you also have collective bargaining at the workplace. In the private sector, your local representative will negotiate the size of the settlement and then the company management will allocate that settlement to each and every employee in your union.
[13:54 - 14:15] Because they negotiate on behalf of the union members. In the public civil service sector, it is a bit different. There is a central negotiated settlement size and then those funds that are allocated through the central negotiations are negotiated locally afterwards.
[14:16 - 14:29] So they know the settlement size and then they negotiate the distribution afterwards. In the municipality sector, it is a bit of both.

Vibeke
[14:30 - 14:42] If you work in the private sector, like most of our members, they would need to do a salary review with their boss to get their share of the...

Alexander
[14:42 - 14:58] Yes, I would say that applies to everyone. Not just the private sector member. If you have ambitions, if you want to make more money, you should probably talk to your boss about it. Have a salary discussion, salary review. Preferably every year.

Vibeke
[14:59 - 15:08] Once a year. Why would you say you should join a union in Norway? What are the benefits, the everyday benefits?

Alexander
[15:08 - 15:38] The everyday benefits is that you have access to a local representative at your workplace. This is the most important benefit, I would say. There will be someone at your workplace who will listen to your problems in the working life and take it up with management. They will negotiate salary on your behalf. They will raise working environment issues with management. They will discuss budget issues with management.
[15:38 - 16:06] So someone at your workplace will represent you and they will make sure that management is aware of what the employees think about the workplace. Then there is also, of course, legal aid. If you get into trouble, if you are in danger of losing your job, you can have access to union lawyers. You can have access to union advisors.
[16:08 - 16:32] This is a big benefit and this is free for union members. If you need help in your working life, legal aid, you can get it for free as a union member. A big benefit. You pay the membership fee. You pay the membership fee, yes, but this is like an insurance policy, right? You also pay an insurance policy on your house. You hope that it doesn't burn down.
[16:32 - 16:39] But if your house burns down, at least you have insurance and you don't have to take the full expense yourself.

Vibeke
[16:40 - 16:45] In addition to what you just said, there are banking and insurance benefits.

Alexander
[16:46 - 17:09] There are a lot of benefits because unions have a lot of members in Norway. They are in a strong negotiating position so they can get good banking deals. They can get good insurance deals, which you can be a part of as a union member. For most people, the deals that are negotiated by the unions, with the banks, with the insurance companies are better than what you can negotiate for yourself.
[17:09 - 17:30] Because when Tekna negotiate or through Academic Arnett, that is 250,000 people negotiating. Of course, we have more bargaining power than you as an individual. So you get access to good banking deals, good insurance deals, and for a lot of people, those deals pay for the membership and more.
[17:31 - 17:37] So if you have a loan on your house, union membership is essentially free.

Vibeke
[17:38 - 18:02] That's a good point. I started out this episode with talking about having a happy life. In Norway, we are quite interested in having a work-life balance. We don't work 12 hours every day unless we have to. How many hours a week do we need to work normally?

Alexander
[18:02 - 18:22] 40 hours according to the Working Environment Act. A lot of people have 37.5 hours because of negotiated agreements. If you have 37.5 hours working week, most likely a union has negotiated shorter working hours for you at some point.

Vibeke
[18:22 - 18:25] So if you need to work more?

Alexander
[18:26 - 18:28] Well, you get overtime payments.

Vibeke
[18:28 - 18:38] Overtime payments, yeah. What do we do with all our spare time? Because people in other countries may tend to work a lot more.

Alexander
[18:38 - 18:46] They do. I don't know what you do with your spare time. I have kids, so that's what I do with my spare time.

Vibeke
[18:46 - 18:48] We go to the cabin maybe, Hytta?

Alexander
[18:48 - 19:12] Go to the cabin, Hytta, in the mountains on Fridays. There is a big queue out of Oslo. We don't go into the mountains. No, but it is a good thing to have more spare time. It leads to a better balance between working and your personal life. You have more time. Maybe you perform better at work because you can relax, rewind after work.
[19:13 - 19:29] And of course, as a Tekna member, you also have access to the professional networks. So you can join up, take some courses, professional courses, not just union courses. Meet people with the same interests as you. Keep updated.

Vibeke
[19:30 - 19:39] And make friends. And make friends, yes. Because that may be quite difficult when you're a grown-up. It's not that easy to make new friends. No.

Alexander
[19:39 - 20:04] Moving to another country. It is hard making friends. The common advice is finding a hobby and joining some sort of organization, which Tekna actually provides because we're not just union. We're also a professional organization. So if you're interested in climate, if you're interested in oil and gas, you can join up with our professional networks, meet people with the same interests as you,
[20:04 - 20:09] and go to our courses, our arrangements.

Vibeke
[20:09 - 20:15] Yeah, our events. Events. What would you talk to your union representative about?

Alexander
[20:16 - 20:36] You can talk to your union representative about everything that regards your workplace, your working life. So be it salary, be it conflict with your colleagues, if you have some issues with your working environment, if there are some issues you want to raise with management,
[20:37 - 20:58] everything that involves your workplace, you can talk to your union representative about. They may not be able to do anything about it because they can't fix everything, but they can do a lot of work for you, and they do in their spare time also. So if you have a local representative, you should appreciate them because they do a lot of work.
[20:59 - 21:07] A lot of it they can't really talk about because it's confidential, but just know that they are there in the background making the workplace better for you.

Vibeke
[21:08 - 21:16] And just to make that clear, the representatives, they are just normal employees, right? And the rest of the employees have elected them?

Alexander
[21:17 - 21:25] Yes, they are just your colleagues. They are democratic elections, and you vote for a local representative.

Vibeke
[21:26 - 21:34] We talked about working hours. It was 40 or 37 and a half hours for most people. But what about holidays?

Alexander
[21:35 - 21:41] How long is it? Yeah, the National Holiday Act gives you four weeks, one day of holiday.

Vibeke
[21:41 - 21:42] One day? What is that one day?

Alexander
[21:43 - 22:07] The one day was introduced in the 90s as an extra holiday. So four weeks, one day. But it is quite normal to have five weeks. The four last days are union negotiated. So these come with the collective agreements, and then a lot of businesses have introduced them because it's the norm.
[22:08 - 22:20] So if you want to attract labor, if you want to be an attractive employer, you have to give them five weeks vacation. So that's pretty normal for Tekna members and also in a lot of other places in Norway.

Vibeke
[22:21 - 22:23] Can you take your holiday whenever you want?

Alexander
[22:23 - 22:47] No. No. You have a right to three weeks continual holiday during what is called the main holiday period, which is summer, essentially. So you have a right to three weeks during summer. But holiday is up to the employer to decide when. So if they say that we are going to close the factory for three weeks in July, then that is when your holiday is.
[22:48 - 23:08] But you can discuss it. You have a right to be heard when asking for a holiday. And a lot of people can actually take the holiday whenever they want because it's possible at their workplace. But it is up to the employer, except that you need to have some holiday during summer.

Vibeke
[23:10 - 23:12] What about sickness? What happens if you become sick?

Alexander
[23:13 - 23:36] If you become sick, you get paid anyway. The first 16 days you get paid by your employer. After that, the government picks up the tab for a part of your salary. There's a ceiling in the national insurance scheme at 6G. It's about 670,000.
[23:36 - 23:59] But a lot of employers offer to cover excess wages so that their employees will not lose money when they get sick over an extended period. And this is the same for parental leave. The same ceiling applies, 6G, but a lot of employers will offer to cover the excess so you don't lose out when you go on parental leave.

Vibeke
[23:59 - 24:06] Do you know what happens if you're not Norwegian and part of the welfare system? No. So you need to do some research if you're not Norwegian.

Alexander
[24:07 - 24:09] Talk to NAV.

Vibeke
[24:09 - 24:23] If you work in Norway for some time, you may hear the expression, the Norwegian model or the Nordic model, some call it. Could you tell us a little bit what is the Norwegian model?

Alexander
[24:24 - 24:46] I can. Well, you said the Norwegian or the Nordic model. There are subtle differences between the Nordic countries, so I'll just keep to Norway for now. But there are three main pillars to the Norwegian model. It's good public welfare. It is good economic management. And it is the organized working life.
[24:46 - 25:22] And I'll explain a bit more what I mean by those three. Now, public welfare is things like free education, subsidized child care, free health care, and those sorts of things. Government sponsored pension schemes, which we have a very wide net of measures to keep everyone at a minimum level of living through the welfare state and give everyone the basics, the education, the health care.
[25:23 - 25:47] Then there's the economic management, which involves statistical models that are agreed upon by all parties before we start negotiating. And also the frontrunner model, which is the way we negotiate salary, the central settlements in Norway, which I will explain what the frontrunner model involves.
[25:48 - 26:09] Now, this is not the thing that someone invented, the frontrunner model. It's something that grew organically through negotiations between unions and employer organizations. But the very basic way of explaining it is that you can divide the economic sector in two.
[26:10 - 26:38] The sector that is exposed to competition from abroad, so manufacturing industry is a good example of that. They compete with businesses abroad and they sell their products in the global market. And then there's the sector that is not exposed to competition from abroad. So if you provide a service that are at the place where people live, then you are not exposed to competition from abroad.
[26:38 - 26:59] A very banal example, a hairdresser, right? You can't go to China to cut your hair. That would be too expensive. So they are not exposed to competition from abroad and they could, in theory, raise their salaries for employees and then raise their prices to cover that, the higher salaries.
[27:00 - 27:32] Now, the businesses that sell their products on the global market, they can't do that because they have to keep their prices competitive. So they cannot raise their salaries indefinitely and then raise their prices. They would go bankrupt because they couldn't compete. Now, the way we do it in Norway is that those who are exposed to competition from abroad, they negotiate first and they find out how much can we raise wages this year and still remain competitive.
[27:33 - 28:00] And that figure that they come up with, it sets a norm for everyone else. It's not a ceiling. It's not absolute. And there are local variations in businesses in that sector as well. But it is a norm that everyone else looks to when they are negotiating their settlement. So when the civil service negotiate, they look to what the front runners decided and they've come up with a result that looks somewhat like the front run model.
[28:00 - 28:24] So that wages are, the wage curves are sort of similar. The distance between the wage curves are sort of similar. And this is good because if the sector not exposed to competition from abroad raised their wages more than the sector that is exposed to competition, they would draw old labor over to that sector.
[28:24 - 28:49] And no one would want to work in the manufacturing industry in the sort of businesses that we would like. We would like some industry in Norway. That would not be possible if all labor were dragged to the sector not exposed to competition from abroad. So in this way, we can ensure that labor is distributed between the two sectors and the sector not exposed to competition from abroad don't take all the employees.

Vibeke
[28:50 - 28:57] And what are the effects for like a normal working life person and employee?

Alexander
[28:57 - 28:59] The effects of the front runner model?

Vibeke
[28:59 - 29:02] Yeah. How do you find the effects on your workplace?

Alexander
[29:04 - 29:28] Well, you can see the effect on your salary. Every year, there are salary adjustments, negotiations, and they are influenced heavily by the front runner results for most people. For some businesses that do very well, they may go way above what the front runner model suggests.
[29:28 - 29:49] But for most of us, this result is very influential on our salary increase. And of course, I'm talking about salary increase on a big scale. So for individual, it's less. You can't expect to get exactly what the front runner model suggests that you should have.
[29:49 - 30:13] There are individual variations, but on a big scale, it is very influential. And it has led to a high degree of income equality in Norway because of the mechanisms in the front runner model, which is a byproduct of the model, but it is considered a net benefit for Norway that we have low income equality.

Vibeke
[30:13 - 30:18] So it makes more of a stable society, you could say, probably.

Alexander
[30:18 - 30:41] Probably, yes. It leads to a big middle class where not many people fall behind. This is, of course, also supported by the welfare system where you have access to free education, free healthcare, so that the people who are left behind salary-wise, they still can go to school, they can still get healthcare.
[30:42 - 30:48] So this is also a result of the Norwegian model. These things support each other.

Vibeke
[30:49 - 30:52] Is there anything else you think we should cover before we close up?

Alexander
[30:53 - 31:19] I think that it is important to know that we have an extensive welfare system in Norway that is not given to us for free. It is not because the government is very nice or anything like that. Someone has fought for all the welfare rights that you have, your pensions, your extra holiday, your sickness payments, and those sort of things.
[31:19 - 31:48] Unions have negotiated those first, and then the government has decided to pay for it after the fact. So just remember that someone has fought for it. And the reason the government is paying for it is not because they are nice people. It is because they are investing in the population. So for instance, subsidized childcare, daycare centers, that's a good investment for the government because it leads to a much larger female labor participation.
[31:49 - 32:12] And having more people at work leads to better productivity, and it's a net benefit. Same with free education. And more taxes. More taxes. But the taxes aren't that high, actually. That's a myth, that Norwegian taxes are super high. Same with free education. If you give everyone access to education, then you utilize the entire talent pool.
[32:13 - 32:36] In countries where education isn't free, the poorer classes can't afford to send their kids to school. They don't get an education, and you lose out. You don't utilize the talent that is in the poorer segment of the population. So this is also an investment for Norway. We try to make sure that we use the entire talent pool, and we have to because we're not that big of a country.
[32:37 - 32:39] So we can't just leave talent by the wayside.

Vibeke
[32:40 - 33:03] Okay, let's wrap it up. Thank you so much for joining me here in the studio, Alexander Rievesen. If you want to learn more about unions and Tekna, and maybe even would consider becoming a member, please visit Tekna.no. You may learn more about vacation rights, how to do a salary review. You can have a look at our salary statistics and more.
[33:03 - 33:08] I hope this episode was useful to you. Thanks for listening, and have a great day at work.

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