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.

But where the Scandinavian model perhaps stands out the most, is its strong emphasis on employee well-being. While happiness and well-being have become a focus for businesses in the West, Scandinavia has a long history of putting the emphasis on the importance of these qualities in working life; few are the languages in the world that actually have a word for ‘happiness at work’ (arbejdsglæde in Danish, but variants exist in other Scandinavian languages as well). Scandinavian societies often apply the Lagom principle when it comes to work. Originating from Swedish, Lagom means enough, sufficient, adequate, or just right. The concept aims to establish appropriateness, although not necessarily perfection, and moderation is considered the route to achieve it.

          Lagom (adv.) | Swedish | [ˈlɑ̀ːɡɔm]

          Not too little, not too much. Just right.