Whereas Silicon Valley is widely considered to be the economic darling of this era, Scandinavia is often appraised on a more societal level, providing a rich balance of personal comfort, economic strength and overall societal welfare to its inhabitants. This utopia appears to extend into the workplace. The Scandinavian HR model, though substantially different from that in Silicon Valley, is often seen as another successful route towards employee satisfaction, engagement and performance. It also – and perhaps not surprisingly – ticks the boxes for almost all Millennial work-related desires and expectations shared in our Millennials at Work bookzine.
First of all, the Scandinavian HR model is known for taking a holistic, humanistic approach with a multiple-stakeholder focus (e.g., the public and private sectors, trade unions and employee representativeness). This approach expresses a more multi-dimensional attitude towards work in relation to personal and societal well-being, something that appeals strongly to Millennials. Secondly, the Scandinavian model is also a great example of how a collaborative culture and individual empowerment can go hand in hand. Despite a strong social fabric, Scandinavians highly value individual responsibility and Scandinavian companies tend to operate with flat, non-bureaucratic structures with a high degree of shared responsibility and accountability.