Community and flexibility improve job satisfaction

Community with colleagues is important for the individual’s job satisfaction. This is what Finansforbundet’s most recent survey from December 2021 of the working lives of over 4,000 financial employees shows.

Amongst employees who exclusively work at the company’s property, 50 per cent answer that they have very good job satisfaction at the moment. For employees who work from a distance four to five days a week, the figure is 41 per cent. In the latter group, 21 per cent often or always feel stressed, while this is only 16 per cent for financial employees who do not work from a distance.

“You won’t necessarily be happy working from a distance if there is no flexibility involved. Working life can be quite inflexible if you are locked into working from home, for example, two fixed days a week, and not everyone has an office set up at home. Even if the size of the home allows for it, the home is primarily designed to live in. There may also be a mental barrier for some with ‘going to work’ in their own home”, says Vice-President of Finansforbundet Michael Budolfsen.

“Many people are used to the community of the workplace and enjoy being a part of it. When you physically meet at the workplace, you may also more clearly experience being part of your company than when working from a distance”, he explains.

Less stress than before the corona pandemic

The survey from December is the fourth one Finansforbundet has conducted on the members’ working lives since April 2020.

“We want to learn more about how companies and employees can use the experiences from working life during the corona pandemic to develop the workplace and the way of working in the future so that productivity can remain high and employees can thrive”, says Michael Budolfsen, Vice-President of Finansforbundet.

Before the coronavirus took over, financial employees had one of the highest stress levels in the labour market. 27 per cent stated in 2019 that they often or constantly felt stressed. In September 2020, the figure was down to 11 per cent and in the most recent survey of 4,000 members from December 2021, the level rose again somewhat to 17 per cent.

“The surveys we conduct are temperature checks for the time in question. It is gratifying that the percentage of those with high job satisfaction has increased (from 37 per cent in February to 47 per cent in December 2021, ed.), but unfortunately the percentage of those with stress symptoms has also increased during the same period (from 15 to 17 per cent, ed.)”, says Michael Budolfsen.

He points out that job satisfaction and stress are built up over time and that they can change easily. For example, you can experience high job satisfaction by sitting at home and working three to four days a week for a limited time, but if it is over a long period of time, it may turn into a problem.