Are you getting the Christmas table covered? It is not a matter of course – Dagsavisen

Half of Norway is going to the Christmas party. Some workers have to pay for the ribs, pork chops or lutefisk themselves.

Taste this one:

43 per cent of Norwegian employees have to pay for the Christmas table themselves, and 48 per cent do not receive a Christmas present from their employer.

This is clear from figures in the Co-determination barometer. It is a report from researchers at OsloMet, who have published such a report since 2016.

Around 3,000 employees have answered questions about Christmas parties, Christmas presents and coffee at work, among other things.

Difference between private and public

The researchers say that they expected to find differences between the public and private sector when it comes to workplace benefits.

And that’s what they found:

Less than a third of employees in the public sector (in total) receive a paid Christmas dinner and around a third receive a Christmas present.

There are markedly fewer in the municipal sector who answer that they get free coffee. Also, fewer employees in the state and state enterprises receive free coffee compared to employees in the private sector.

80 percent of Norwegian workers get free coffee at work.

But 4 out of 10 municipal employees have to pay for their own coffee, the latest figures show.

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Christmas table & coffee

• 1 in 2 Norwegians went to a Christmas party last year and seven in ten celebrated with colleagues.
• Norwegians are at the top of the world in coffee drinking.
• We drink 1,370 cups of coffee per inhabitant over the age of 18, or almost four cups per day.

Source: Statistics Norway and Kantar

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The researchers find no differences between managers and ordinary employees that are worth mentioning.

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Difference in gender

It is researcher Inger Marie Hagen who is at the forefront of the new report.

FriFagbevegelse has asked her to dive into the numbers and check this:

Is it the case that the municipality is more frugal with benefits when it comes to female-dominated occupations?

– We only manage to distinguish between genders in the municipalities, not the professions, Hagen replies.

Men first: 38 percent get a free Christmas party, 67 percent get free coffee.

So women: 22 per cent get a free Christmas party, 56 per cent get free coffee.

Read also: Calculate pension? Don’t fall into this trap, warns expert (+)

Does this mean anything then?

But are benefits linked to employee well-being?

No.

The researchers found no connections here.

“It is therefore not the case that a lack of generosity makes employees more dissatisfied with various conditions at work”, they write.

The vast majority of employees in the survey have time to take a lunch break, coffee break, chat with colleagues and discuss professional issues every day or most days.

The ability to take breaks in work is only marginally related to satisfaction.

But well-being is linked to a lack of time for professional updating.

Here, too, there are marked differences:

Employees in the municipal sector have the least amount of time for professional updating.

Read also: Martine Halvorsen against pressure to drink at the Christmas table: – It’s not enough for me to say “no thanks”

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Latest news about working life

• Are Norwegian workers doing well at work?
• The answer is essentially yes.
• The codetermination barometer checking this.
• This year, the report is about management, democracy and job satisfaction.
• This year’s report is financed by the Norwegian Civil Service Association (NTL) and the Norwegian Police Federation (PF).

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