Key organisational working conditions
Employers must have knowledge of and the ability to properly assess the enterprise’s organisational working environment in collaboration with the workers.
Below we present a selection of key organisational working conditions that are relevant for many enterprises, but the list is not exhaustive. Other factors could also impact the working environment.
The term organisation of work refers to work design in the broadest sense. Work must be organised to protect workers from harmful mental or physical strain and in such a manner that the enterprise’s activities comply with relevant legislation.
The law also imposes requirements for the working conditions of individual workers. The working conditions must be organised and facilitated based on the worker’s
- capacity for work
- knowledge and skill
- age
- and other qualifications
This means the employer must also perform individual assessments.
It is important to emphasise that the employer has a general duty to design and organise the work. The best measure will normally be to change working conditions for a majority of worker, rather than to implement individual accommodations.
The more robust the general design and organisation of the work is, the less likely it is that a high number of workers will need individual adaptations to their working conditions.
Adaptation is part of the preventative working environment work that aims to prevent or reduce health problems.
The employer’s duty to implement adaptations for the workers has three parts:
- general adaptation duty
- individual adaptation
- special adaptations for workers with a reduced capacity for work
By adapting the work and the workplace for the workers, the employer can reduce the likelihood of work-related illnesses and injuries.
Read more about workplace adaptations and the adaptation duty
Read more about adaptations and follow-up of employees on sick leave
Lone work is a term used when the worker is working alone, and this is a consequence of how the work is organised. Lone work can entail special challenges in terms of the working environment, especially when safety is concerned. Violence and threats and a lack of contact and communication with colleagues are additional factors that pose considerable risks for lone workers.
The employer must assess the risks associated with lone work and implement necessary measures to mitigate these risks.
The approach to management of the work and the workers is an important working condition. Managers have the power to affect their workers’ situations by virtue of their management prerogative. This term describes the right to hire and fire workers and to organise, manage, distribute and control work.
The enterprise’s management can affect the working environment and the health of its workers in both a positive and a negative way.
The workers and their representatives must be kept informed about all systems used in the planning and execution of work within the enterprise. They are entitled to necessary training to familiarise themselves with the systems and must contribute to their design. The design of such systems must be viewed in the context of work designs for individual workers and the design of any technological systems chosen by the enterprise.
There is often more than one technological solution to choose from. The employer must assess the potential consequences of each technological solution on the working environment. The term technology includes the physical, mechanical, methodological and managerial conditions within an enterprise.
Work is often organised based on the technology and the management and planning systems the enterprise has chosen, and this impacts the physical, psychological and social working environment.
Pay systems
Pay systems are an organisational consideration that may impact the working environment. The term pay system refers to the way pay rates are decided and the criteria applied in the calculation of these rates.
The relevant provision in the Working Environment Act only covers pay systems, not pay rates. Performance-based pay is one example of a pay system where the variable part of the pay accounts for such a significant part of the overall remuneration that it affects work speeds and it may also affect the relationship between colleagues. Performance-based pay must not be used when the pay system in itself entails an unacceptable risk that necessary safety considerations are disregarded. Particular emphasis should be placed on the workers’ own assessment of how the pay systems work, among other things because the workers experience the effects of these systems and are best placed to have opinions on them.
In some cases, the employer is entitled to implement certain control measures to protect the enterprise from unwanted or criminal activity and to ensure safe operations. As a result, workers may be subjected to surveillance.
The employer must have a legitimate reason to implement such a control measure, and it must be suited to uncovering or preventing the unwanted or criminal activity. The employer must discuss the control measure with the workers or their representatives and provide information about the purpose of the control measure, its consequences, how it will be implemented and how long the employer expects it to remain in place.
Participation is an important factor in preventing physical and psychological strain. The Working Environment Act greatly emphasises participation in many of its provisions. Workers have both a right and a duty to participate.
Training and information are a prerequisite for workers to be able to perform their work in a safe manner.
This means that both training and information must be provided in a language the worker can understand.
The term work affiliation refers primarily to temporary v. permanent employment, workers hired to or from staffing enterprises, and part-time workers v. full-time workers.
The affiliation of workers can play a role in the kind of information they are willing to provide, and in which forums. Temporarily employed workers, for example, may have a higher threshold for reporting problems in the working environment.
Affiliation may also affect the working environment in other ways, in connection with such factors as participation and worker access to necessary training and professional and personal development.
All workers must have a written employment contract. This applies regardless of whether the employment is permanent or temporary. There are no exceptions from this rule. The law provides minimum requirements for what an employment contract must include. The employer is responsible for making sure the written employment contract is in place.
An employment contract regulates many of the organisational working conditions, such as affiliation, working hours and breaks, job description and pay.
The Working Environment Act regulates how long working hours can be, as well as when they occur. The purpose of these provisions is to protect workers from long and unsocial working hours and to promote a balance between work and rest.
Working hours must be arranged in such a way that the workers are not subjected to detrimental physical or psychological strain, and that worker safety can be ensured.
One of the main purposes of the provisions on working hours is to ensure that the working hour arrangements do not subject the workers and their family to unnecessary health and social strain.
Restructuring or reorganisation processes can have both positive and negative effects on the enterprise itself and on its workers.
Some reorganisation processes entail changes that affect the working condition of workers. In such cases, the employer must provide the workers with information and opportunities to participate and build competence to the extent required to comply with the law’s requirements for a thoroughly sound working environment.
Stress can be a consequence of both organisational and psychosocial working conditions. Stress is not directly regulated by the Working Environment Act, but the law requires that the employer map, assess risks and implement measures to ensure that the working environment is thoroughly sound. This also applies to factors that may cause work-related stress.