Families with children would rather take extra holidays than extra money
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Reko Etelävuori, 30, who works at the digitisation department of the Finnish National Archives, enjoys his free-time.
“There’s nothing to complain about my job, but still it is more fun to be on holiday than to sit in the office”, he laughs.
For a couple of summers now Etelävuori has exchanged some his holiday compensation to additional days off.
“It works very well. In fact, all sane people should do the same.”
Etelävuori’s system enables him to spend the entire month of July on holiday, and he will still have some days off in store for the autumn.
“If I use less than 19 official holidays in the summer, the rest will be multiplied by 1.5. This way I do not have to apply for leave if I want to travel abroad in the autumn.”
Trading holiday compensation for extra holidays is not possible in every company, but at the National Archives it happens effortlessly. At times, workers have even been encouraged to do so.
“It is a real blessing”, Etelävuori beams.
He is not even bothered by the fact that by opting for additional days off he will miss out on a fair bit of money.
“I have time to earn money, but my children are small only for a moment”, says the father of Elsi, 8, and Eevi, 5.
Reko Etelävuori belongs to the typical group that values additional holidays over money. He is a young adult, who appreciates spare time spent with the family.
Nikolas Elomaa of the Central Organisation of Finnish Trade Unions says today’s workers are more and more interested in switching their holiday bonus payments for extra holidays. It is particularly popular with families with children, so long as their financial situation allows this.
“Free-time is being appreciated more than before”, Elomaa explains.
Telecommunications company Elisa's Executive Vice President Sami Ylikortes agrees.
According to an Elisa employee questionnaire, the appreciation of free-time is on the up. Around a third of the company workers exchange some of their holiday pay for extra days off.
“The employer will also benefit from a worker charging his batteries properly for the next working season.”
The same trend is gaining ground at bankers Nordea as well, especially among workers with children.
According to special researcher Anu Järvensivu from the University of Tampere, young employees are tougher than their forebears in their attitude towards the employer.
“In this age of e-mail and mobile phones people can be reached even when they are on leave. Young workers are perhaps better at drawing the line between work and play. They take holidays and put the family first”, Järvensivu says.
Still, the appreciation of work has not diminished in Finland.
“Work is still considered very important, even in the set of values of the younger generation”, Järvensivu concludes.
Helsingin Sanomat
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| 13.6.2008 - TODAY |
 Families with children would rather take extra holidays than extra money |
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