The marriage between work and know-how

The requirements of working life (in Finnish, työelämä) have changed drastically over the last twenty years. Previously long term engagement with one employee was valued and supported by the employee and employer; nowadays knowhow and continuous development at work are preferred.

This change in the attitude is strongly related to changes in word economy and world market. The technological development has been rapid, and it has created new economic opportunities but also destroyed old ones. The world has transformed from local to global, which has updated the competition at the global level. In this new environment, old skills and old ways to do things need to be re-evaluated.

The change can be seen concentrically in constant layoffs and continuing changes in business plans. For employers, who became accustomed to old ways valuing the long term employee-employer relationship, this new model of running the business have come as a surprise. There are many sad stories of employers getting fired and losing all the meaning in their life. Probably the saddest thing for them is the fact that this trend is here to stay. In the world changing this fast nobody can unfortunately to expect, that one education and one skill will carry through the whole career. The modern employer must study and update his skills all the time.

Unfortunately, many times the employee expects that this development and education is done in employer’s free time and by his own will. Not many employers provide time for their employees to research and development their knowhow. This probably is also due to the fast changes: even the employer has no time to think what it really takes to survive in this changing word.

Many Finnish trade unions have brought up this question and enrolled it to their agenda. Trade unions have long perspective to working life in Finland, and they see the development of employer’s knowhow crucial for the whole Finnish economy. STTK, one of the three trade union confederations in Finland founded in 1946, has mentioned that their new goal is to create the new marriage between work and knowhow, whereas the old marriage was between work and well-being.

The changing world requires new ways to think, for employers, employees and trade unions. The change is never easy, but the only way is to survive.