How is Living in Sweden?
Good to know before moving to Sweden.
Sweden is located in northern Europe with a population of 10.23 million. It has beautiful landscape and inhabitants. The country is known for high tax rate, innovation, gender equality, digital economy. The country is also known to take a different approach to a global pandemic, COVID-19. Despite the high tax rate, society, in general, is happy because it gets back in return from the state. There could be lessons to learn from the Swedish model.
Humans always get inspiration from models, methods and frameworks that have successfully delivered results at any particular time. This while true for individual cases is also applicable to countries and organizations. While growing up in Pakistan, I often heard of 5 years-plans for economic development because it has delivered results in Malaysia and South-Korea. Apart from the learning of economic models, there could also be ways of adopting human capital development models.
In this context, I will briefly describe some aspects of Swedish society which I had been observing during my 10 years of stay in Sweden. There could be a lesson for individuals, organizations and countries, how a country with a small population and challenging weather conditions got the technology-driven economy, innovations, transparent system and democratic society.
High Tax
The country is known for high tax rates which its citizen are happily contributing because of the facilities the state is giving to its citizen. The tax is divided into the local and national tax system. The Local taxes range from ~29.2% to almost 35.2% whereas National income taxes are dependant on the income with the following numbers.
- None on yearly income up to SEK 490,700.
- 20% on 490,700 to 689,300
- 25% on income over 689,300
Detailed information can be found in the [link]
Gender Equality
There are regulations and practical efforts in bridging the gap between genders. Women are encouraged in almost all areas of society. Sweden has come a long way as compared to other countries in this. Women comprise almost 44% in Sweden parliament as compared to 28% in Europe and 22% in North America.
One quick reflection; if you visit Ikea stores in Sweden, you will find the same toilets for both men and women. You can even find women driving heavy vehicles like buses and trucks.
More details can be found in the link
Queue
This while could be an obvious thing in most of the developed world. However, the attitude of being calm and waiting for own turn is differentiating factor than the rest of the world. One good point is everyone in the queue get a chance to be fully listened/entertained. The person handling the queue will have full focus on the customers. Bottom line is everyone knows the importance of work they are doing.
On roads, you will see people patiently waiting for their turn and following rules, with no strange overtaking, one exception, high energy teenaged boys, I will not mention. In conclusion, society has huge mutual respect and trust.
Children Friendly
The children in Sweden enjoys a special status. It looks the country is aware of the fact that these kids make the future society, hence every effort to mould them to good human beings. They get different facilities such as heavily subsidized kindergarten, free schooling free health and subsidized travel facilities. University education is free of cost and a generous loan with the minimum interest rate on the student loan for living and accommodation.
The parents get financial support for the children depending on the number of children. Both parents together get 480 days of parental leave for taking care of a child up to the age of eight or to the time when a child goes to the first year of the schooling system. Out of 480 days, 420 days are paid at a rate of 80% of salary up to a capped limited of 910 SEK a day. If a child is sick, one of the parents can be at home with the child. The condition is that the child is 8 months old up until the day before the child turns 12. One can receive compensation for caring for a sick child for a maximum of 120 days per year.
One important thing, the children unlike other countries cannot be spanked. The schools, neighbours or someone else can report to government authorities/ socialtjänsten if someone is found of doing it. Even kids are taught to contact police or school if they are subject to it.
It is very important if you are visiting from another country or settling from another country. The relationship between children and parents in this context is very different in Sweden. You might end up in discussion with children here and you will see such things occasionally in supermarkets when children arguing with parents on something. There are do direct Nos, rather it would be a discussion with children to come to an agreed solution.
The aforementioned have a huge impact on the overall society as this is happening from a few generations now.
From a school, the kids developed these traits
- Independent think
- Democratic values
- Human rights
- Respect for nature
- Innovation
Everyone knows the importance of children in society. Therefore, no one will raise eyebrows if you go out of the office for dropping your kids to doctor, football club etc. The expectation is you will do your job done. There is even children ombudsman. More formal details can be found in the link.
Early Adopter
Sweden as a country is welcoming to new technologies. The society is well informed and adopts technology is early stages. While travelling to other countries in Europe or North America, its always good to have some cash, however in Sweden it might be opposite. Cash is rarely accepted and almost all of the services are on the reach of the fingertip. The only requirement could be a mobile phone, an app and internet connection. All of the government and banking services can be accessed online and the digital infrastructure is relatively robust as compared to other countries that I have visited. Good online support and user-friendly interfaces are features of these services.
Opening a new company and tax return can take as little as 30 minutes. Paying bills will take as little as 2 minutes. In the given image, people are waiting at the stop of self-driving mini-van in Stockholm.
Freedom to Roam
While being early adaptors and fond of new technologies, swedes are also fond of nature. People are regularly visiting nature and maintain a healthy lifestyle. The visit to nature is protected by law; Freedom to roam. A person is allowed to have access to any land except private residences and cultivated land. Some of the main points of freedom to roam are listed here
- One can set up a tent in open places.
- One can pick up flowers, mushrooms and berries.
- One can swim in lakes without special permission.
- One is allowed to any beach if it is not in the vicinity of a private residence.
- Fishing is allowed in the lakes and along the coastline.
Respect of Time
Being on time except for the academic 15 minutes is almost universal in Sweden. Everyone follows the time schedule irrespective of weather conditions and level of seniority. The meeting starts on time. If you have booked time with friends and family members, you are expected to show up right on time. Excuses are not considered a good habit. If an event is planned, it will happen on time despite rain or snow unless there is a state-level warning alert.
Innovations
Sweden despite being a small country has relatively big stature on the global stage, thanks to the innovations coming from this land. If you are familiar with companies like Ericsson, Scania, Volvo, Spotify, Ikea, Skype, H&M and ABBA, you can understand the true potential of this land.
One reason could be independent thinking cultivated from childhood. A glimpse of it could be seen in a totally different path during global pandemic instead of following the global trends.
The discussion inside organisations is relatively on a flat hierarchy level. Without thinking of ramifications, you can engage in constructive discussion with superiors. This makes the workplace more open to new ideas and inclusivity.
Collective Wisdom
People, in general, are cautious of how they are seen by others and ensure they follow the norms and rules of society. Someone breaking laws could be easily spotted. However, these scenarios are rare. I will motivate this point with a single event, even there exists thousands more. In the following image, you see a line of vehicles behind a snow ploughing vehicle, driving at ~40 km/h and no one overtaking even other lane is empty.
Work-life balance
Most Swedes enjoy relatively a good work-life balance. Working hours are 40 hours per week with an upper limit of 48 hours. The minimum vacations per year are five weeks and then Christmas is also off. Most people leave office by 5 PM to spend time with families. Working overtime is not encouraged and may seem as poor management of time.
Trust
There is a high level of trust in society. People not only trust each other to a greater extent but also the organisations. A perfect example is the trust of people on the Swedish public agency handling the pandemic. To the outside world, the Swedish response to COVID-19 might appear strange as depicted in the interview of state epidemiologist to BBC HARDtalk. However, the majority of people in Sweden have full faith in the agency handling the situation.
At work location and elsewhere, you are expected to perform your duties mostly with self-responsibility.
Flat Hierarchy
The organisations are mostly following a flat hierarchy. Employees on different levels can exchange ideas rather freely without much worrying for ramifications. This often leads to healthy debate and discussion. The meetings can be more often and reaching to the agreement can take longer than normal time. The gist is to make everyone feel involved and comfortable with the decision. Issues and problems are discussed and debated rather than avoided. Some companies project this as an attraction to skilful people from outside.
Laws of Jante
Laws of Jante/Jantelagen is a code of conduct with 10 rules which is consciously or unconsciously followed, in my opinion. It is almost as one should know his place and no thinking of being someone super or special. I will list 5 rules
You’re not to think that you
- are anything special.
- are as good as we are.
- are smarter than we are.
- not to imagine yourself better than we are.
- not to think you know more than we do.
The main message from this code of conduct is to think collectively rather than projecting yourselves. An interesting interview of Swedish born Hollywood actor can tell more about this. Coming from a competitive environment, my personal opinion was different in the beginning but now immerse into it to some extend.
Conclusion:
Human capital and values are more important and define how society function. Invest in humans and we will see a better and sustainable outcome in the form of better societies. The lesson from Sweden could be
- Investing in children to create a foundation for a better society.
- Building trust in society to create well functionality society.
- The right balance between collective and individual thinking to bolster innovations and collective wisdom.
- Transparent systems which come naturally with increased digitalization.
