“Re-imagining” Finnish Work
What’s wrong with the job market?
Unemployment is a serious, recognised issue in Finland. With the current rate of unemployment standing at 9.3%, there are more and more educated, unemployed people than there has been previously. According to Statistics Finland there are currently over 57,000 unemployed people with at least a Bachelor degree over the age of 25. While they are certainly not the biggest group — there are 264,000 overall — they do represent a group that costs the government a lot of money. In Finland income-based unemployment is available for the first 500 days of unemployment. We also cannot forget the initial cost of educating these individuals for 3 years or more (as higher education is free in Finland). Therefore, the cost to Finland is proportionally much higher for these individuals to be unemployed than the average unemployed person.
Why not retraining?
The economy is changing and, instead of just being able to wait it out or do a little re-training as has been possible in the past, people are having to figure out where their skills fit or if they do at all. The whole ecosystem that surrounds people when unemployment comes knocking is very different than when these same people entered the workforce years ago. This difference can shatter their ability to see their skills clearly and, more importantly, what they really want to do.
The government knows, and most people realise, that big corporations will not be able to provide jobs for large numbers of people. The future is in entrepreneurship. This is the direction that the government is heading in also. You can see this with various regulation changes and the way the government talks about the future; in June 2015 Prime Minister Juha Sipilä said “At best, governments can only create favourable conditions for work and entrepreneurship.”
So how can service design help?
One way is intended for individuals. There are many emotions surrounding unemployment. Some are universal and some are more context-dependent. But overall most of them are not positive. Unemployment can mess with your mind and make you question your own value, your place in life, or your choices up until that point (“If only I had studied healthcare!”). But how do you get back on track…and by back on track, I mean with your own goals and desires for your work life? Using service design methods and tools to design your dream job not only allows you to focus on regaining some lost confidence, it allows you to explore areas of yourself that may not have seen light for a very long time. It then takes you on a journey to see how you can take these findings and actually apply them to your work life. It can spur ideas that you never knew existed.
Another way is to rethink services on the government side and deals with the process of applying for unemployment benefits. This is a process that can be confusing, embarrassing, and even a little scary. It is fraught with pitfalls and the possibility that you don’t submit the right papers or that you will not be contacted when paperwork is missing is a little daunting. The experience is also dependent on your geographical origin. All EU citizens can apply online whilst everyone else must attend in person to hand in a long form paper application (and their passport and residence permit).
We need to engage in re-imagining Finnish society. A society that is full of small, value-driven enterprises that are run by people who are deeply satisfied rather than over 250,000 people unable to find work in the traditional sectors in the traditional way… simply because the “traditional way and traditional sectors” are disappearing. Many are stuck in the income trap of possible jobs not paying as much as they get on unemployment and being less fulfilling. Our guess is that many people are willing to take a reasonable cut in pay to obtain a truly satisfying job. One they would not be willing to take from a traditional workplace in a traditional sector.
The “Design Your Dream Job” workshop at Hellon will be held as part of Helsinki Design Week (September 9&10). The theme of HDW is “Better” and 25 participants will spend two days with Hellon service designers and business designers to explore their own possibilities for creating their own dream job.
Facebook event: https://www.facebook.com/events/647564295391192/ Applications: https://goo.gl/forms/uWekDbw2qedJiuO72
Workshop in the Helsinki Design Week programme: http://www.helsinkidesignweek.com/programme/human-centric-business-design-workshop/?lang=en
