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Does Indian survive in the Scandinavian work-life?

16.11.2018 | ICT DIRECT
Suomi työelämä

I interviewed Indian IT talent Uday Jain about his view on the Scandinavian work-life. My last blog post dealt with Uday’s reasons to immigrate from India to North Europe and his views on the people, language and the climate in Finland.

Since last spring Uday works at KONE – a Finland headquartered global leader in the elevator and escalator industry – to where he was headhunted by ICT Direct. The new position at KONE led Uday Jain and his family to set foot in Finland on a more permanent basis.

One coffee vending machine

The work-life in Finland is excellent according to Uday. It also differs from the Indian one.

“There’s a lot of trust between people and not much of monitoring. The work-life balance is healthy as well partially due to a remote work opportunity”, thinks Uday.

“Speaking out is not considered impolite in the office. On the contrary, discussion is open and honest and being opinionated doesn’t effect on how you will be reviewed.”

The Finnish hospitality extends to work-life. Uday was impressed how his new colleagues went for the extra mile to see if they could be of any assistance. Utilizing their networks, they helped Uday’s family to find a place to live.

Scandinavian lack of hierarchy also impresses Uday: “Supervisor and her/his team share the same open office space and queue to the same coffee vending machine. Everybody is part of the team, nobody is better than anyone else and people support one another”.

Equal working opportunities

Integrating into the Finnish society has been rather easy for Uday and his family.

“There’s an Indian community and Embassy in Finland that are quite active. In August, there was an India day party in Helsinki with 10 000 participants. There are also many Indian restaurants and grocery shops where you can buy Indian import supplies. The most important Indian festivals are also celebrated within the community. How much you want to participate, is up to you.”

His wife is also working full-time now as an International Coordinator at Council for Creative Education (CCE) Finland, though it wasn’t easy for her to find a job. “She’s now experiencing the same wonderful aspects of the Finnish work life I have already had an opportunity to enjoy.”

The Finnish work visa protocols came in handy in this respect. In many western countries the spouse is not eligible to work if the husband is on Work Visa. “This is a show stopper for many people and could have been for us as well. This is not the case in Finland and the spouse has an equal opportunity to pursue her career.”

The happiest people in the world

Uday would most definitely recommend moving to Finland. He and his wife feel they appreciate Finland sometimes even more than the Finns do themselves. “The air is one of the cleanest on Earth, the lakes and forests area picturesque. Finland is one of the safest countries in the world. People are modest and friendly. You can even drink the high-quality tap water. Our son will get a Finnish education, known to be one of the best education systems in the world.”

“Finland ranks number 1 among 156 countries on UN Happiness Report this year”, Uday points out and tells his view on how so:

  • the friendly people,
  • the good work-life balance
  • and the high level of education.

Those things reflect as happiness.

Uday states an immigration to Finland is a big but a positive change. The fear of unknown, the different language and the culture, can seem intimidating but life of his family and his Indian friends in Finland has been carefree. Uday Jain wraps up: “Everyone should consider this lovely and beautiful country as a place to live”.

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