Study title

Finnish Working Life Barometer 2012

Dataset ID Number

FSD2945

Persistent identifiers

https://urn.fi/urn:nbn:fi:fsd:T-FSD2945
https://doi.org/10.60686/t-fsd2945

Data Type

Quantitative

Authors

• Statistics Finland. Interview and Survey Services
• Ministry of Employment and the Economy

Abstract

The annual survey studied employee opinion on the quality of working life in Finland. Main themes were psychosocial working environment, job characteristics, pay systems, satisfaction with the job, employment security, training and development, capacity to work, and bullying and discrimination at work. The year 2012 survey contained new questions (K9a_07c, K40, K41a, K41b, K42b - K42e, K43a, K43e, K44a - K44g) about distribution of work, management and leadership, working in teams, support received at work, and working outside the workplace.

First, the respondents were asked how many years they had worked for the employer they were working for at the time, whether they were in a managing position, and how many persons worked at the workplace. Changes in the number of staff, distribution of work, working methods, information systems, workload, and tasks during the past 12 months were charted. Psychosocial working environment was charted with questions about openness and equality in the workplace as well as measures taken to improve health of employees, safety of work environment, and skills of employees. Discrimination at work based on ethnic group, age, gender and type of contract was explored. Further questions investigated whether there had been conflicts at the workplace and between which groups. Incidents of bullying, harassment and violence were surveyed.

Next set of questions investigated the respondents' membership in a trade union or professional association, flexible working time arrangements at the workplace, overtime and its compensation, pay and bonus systems, and satisfaction with pay level. The respondents' participation in job-related training and development was investigated.

Working in teams was surveyed by asking, for instance, whether the team members were able decide the goals of the team and to allocate tasks, and whether the team included members from other organisations. Relating to working outside the workplace, the respondents were inquired about telework in the past 12 months, work done at a client, partner, or another office of the employer, work done while commuting/going from one place to another, work done at home, and work-related calls, emails and messages they had had to attend to outside their official working hours.

One set of questions investigated the employees' capacity to work, perceived workload, estimate of own mental and physical capacity to work, sickness absences, chronic illnesses and disabilities, and hindrance caused by illness/disability at work. Support received at work from coworkers and supervisor/manager was charted as well as opinions on own supervisor/manager (e.g. gives feedback about performance, treats employees in a fair and equal manner). The respondents were asked how likely it was that they would be dismissed or laid off, or that their tasks or working hours would be changed over the next year. Views were probed on the employment situation in Finland, possible changes in working life in general, and the employer's financial situation.

Background variables from the Labour Force Survey 2012 were utilised in the Finnish Working Life Barometer. Background variables included, among others, the respondent's year of birth, age, gender, region, type of municipality, education, economic activity, status in employment, industry of employment, occupational group, employer type, type of contract, and weekly working hours.

Keywords

arrangement of working time; autonomy at work; discrimination; employees; employment contracts; job characteristics; job security; leadership; management; occupational training; personnel management; personnel policy; telework; wages; working conditions; workloads

Topic Classification

• Social sciences (Fields of Science Classification)
• Social behaviour and attitudes (CESSDA Topic Classification)
• Equality, inequality and social exclusion (CESSDA Topic Classification)
• Employment (CESSDA Topic Classification)
• Labour relations/conflict (CESSDA Topic Classification)
• Working conditions (CESSDA Topic Classification)
• Occupational health (CESSDA Topic Classification)

Series

Finnish Working Life Barometers

Distributor

Finnish Social Science Data Archive

Access

The dataset is (B) available for research, teaching and study.

Data Collector

• Statistics Finland

Time Period Covered

2012

Collection Dates

2012-09-10 – 2012-10-11

Nation

Finland

Geographical Coverage

Finland

Analysis/Observation Unit Type

Individual

Universe

Finnish-speaking employees aged 18-64 who regularly worked at least 10 hours a week

Time Method

Longitudinal: Trend/Repeated cross-section

Data Sources

Official Statistics of Finland (OSF): Labour force survey [e-publication]. ISSN=1798-7857. Helsinki: Statistics Finland [referred: 30 October 2014]. Access method: http://tilastokeskus.fi/til/tyti/index_en.html.

Sampling Procedure

Probability: Simple random

Simple random sample. For its Labour Force Survey 2012, Statistics Finland drew a random sample of people aged between 15-74 and living in Finland. From the Labour Force Survey sample, Finnish-speaking employees aged 15-64 who had responded being employed for at least 10 hours a week were selected for the Working Life Barometer.

Collection Mode

Telephone interview: Computer-assisted (CATI)

Research Instrument

Structured questionnaire

Response Rate

77.4

Data File Language

Downloaded data package may contain different language versions of the same files.

The data files of this dataset are available in the following languages: Finnish.

FSD translates quantitative data into English on request, free of charge. More information on ordering data translation.

Data Version

1.1

Weighting

There are no weight variables in the data.

Citation Requirement

The data and its creators shall be cited in all publications and presentations for which the data have been used. The bibliographic citation may be in the form suggested by the archive or in the form required by the publication.

Bibliographical Citation

Statistics Finland & Ministry of Employment and the Economy: Finnish Working Life Barometer 2012 [dataset]. Version 1.1 (2018-02-12). Finnish Social Science Data Archive [distributor]. https://urn.fi/urn:nbn:fi:fsd:T-FSD2945

Deposit Requirement

Notify FSD of all publications where you have used the data by sending the citation information to user-services.fsd@tuni.fi.

Disclaimer

The original data creators and the archive bear no responsibility for any results or interpretations arising from the reuse of the data.

Related Materials

Lyly-Yrjänäinen, Maija (2012). Työolobarometri - Syksy 2012. Helsinki: Työ- ja elinkeinoministeriö. Työ- ja elinkeinoministeriön julkaisuja; Työ ja yrittäjyys 24/2013. Saatavilla: https://www.tem.fi/files/37592/TEMjul_24_2013_web_01102013.pdf [viitattu 1.8.2014].

Related Publications

Lyly-Yrjänäinen, Maija (2012). Työolobarometri - Syksy 2012. Helsinki: Työ- ja elinkeinoministeriö. Työ- ja elinkeinoministeriön julkaisuja; Työ ja yrittäjyys 24/2013. Saatavilla: https://www.tem.fi/files/37592/TEMjul_24_2013_web_01102013.pdf [viitattu 1.8.2014].

Lyly-Yrjänäinen, Maija (2014). Työpaikkojen toimintatapojen uudistuksiin liittyy oppimismahdollisuuksia ja kuormitustekijöitä. Työpoliittinen Aikakauskirja 57(2), 69-76.

Koivula, Aki (2015): Joustava työaika, parempi työ? Työajan ja työn laadullisten tekijöiden tarkastelua vuosina 2009-2013. Teoksessa: Koivula, Aki & Oksanen, Janna & Räsänen, Pekka (eds) Economic and Sociological Studies in Turbulent Times. Working Papers in Economic Sociology (VII). University of Turku: Turku, 1-26.

Haarala, Anni (2020) Henkinen väkivalta ja kiusaaminen työpaikalla. Henkisen väkivallan ja kiusaamisen tutkiminen, siihen liittyvät taustatekijät, sekä ajallinen muutos 2012-2016. Sosiologian pro gradu -tutkielma. Sosiaalitieteiden laitos, Turun Yliopisto.

Keyriläinen, Marianne & Lyly-Yrjänäinen, Maija (2021). Työelämän laadun 15 vuoden trendejä. Mitä kansalliset kyselytutkimukset kertovat? Helsinki: Työ- ja elinkeinoministeriö. Työpoliittinen aikakauskirja 64 (2), 24-37. http://urn.fi/URN:ISBN:978-952-327-860-0