Finnish People Fear losing their Jobs

Ever since the credit crunch shattered the banking industry last year, the knock-on effects have been felt in a string of job losses, furloughs, and other cost-cutting measures. Many workers have become weary and emotionally spent.

“This can be seen in a decline of productivity, because employees spend so much energy worrying about their futures,” says Tiina Saarelma-Thiel of the Finnish Institute of Occupational Health. She’s studied the effects of big changes and other crises in the workplace, and says that the worst phase to bear is the silence before the impending announcements.

This is the situation in many Finnish offices right now. Like many workplaces, Finnair survived a slew of furloughs earlier this year, but grim quarterly reports have company heads planning more cuts.

“It’s this uncertaintly, the fact that we don’t know about coming layoffs,” says exasperated Finnair chief shop steward Juha Kuurne. “They’ve mentioned furloughs as long as ten weeks, but nothing will be settled until the negotiations between unions and employers are through. The younger cabin crew members are especially worried about whether there will be enough work.”

Communication is Crucial

Saarelma-Thiel says that in-house communications are crucial during times of this kind of uncertainty. She feels that employees should also take the initiative to ask their supervisors to keep them as informed as possible.

In Finnair’s case, employees have been told that the decisions will be made and communicated in mid-August.

Saarelma-Thiel also warns that heightened anxiety about the future can spark an unhealthy competition between colleagues. People may try to paint their colleagues in a bad light in order to keep thier own head above water.