Beskæftigelsesudvalget 2018-19 (2. samling)
BEU Alm.del Bilag 10
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New forms
of work
among young
people:
Implications
for the working
environment
2.1
Gaming: a professional work
1
 BEU, Alm.del - 2018-19 (2. samling) - Bilag 10: Orientering om rapport om unge i atypisk beskæftigelse, fra beskæftigelsesministeren
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New forms of work among young people
Implications for the working environment
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New forms of work among young people
 BEU, Alm.del - 2018-19 (2. samling) - Bilag 10: Orientering om rapport om unge i atypisk beskæftigelse, fra beskæftigelsesministeren
New forms
of work
among young
people:
Implications
for the working
environment
July 2019
Authors:
Mette Lykke Nielsen, Centre for Youth Studies (CeFU), Aalborg University, Denmark.
Louise Yung Nielsen, Communication and Arts, Roskilde University, Denmark.
Kari Anne Holte, NORCE, Norwegian Research Centre, Bergen, Norway.
Åsa Andersson, Department of Cultural Sciences, University of Gothenburg, Sweden.
Gestur Gudmundsson, School of Education, University of Iceland, Iceland.
Thamar Melanie Heijstra, School of Social Sciences, Faculty of Sociology.
Anthropology and Folkloristics, University of Iceland, Iceland.
Johnny Dyreborg, National Research Centre for the Working Environment, Denmark.
 BEU, Alm.del - 2018-19 (2. samling) - Bilag 10: Orientering om rapport om unge i atypisk beskæftigelse, fra beskæftigelsesministeren
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New forms of work among young people
Photo: Arunas Naujokas / Unsplash
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Table of contents
8
10
16
23
24
26
27
28
33
34
35
43
52
54
55
65
74
76
77
84
92
99
100
101
110
117
Preface
Executive summary
Dansk resumé
1. Background
What is atypical employment?
New labour markets and new forms of work
Young people and atypical employment forms
Presentation of the included young people
2. Young people in new and atypical employment forms
2.1 Gaming: a professional work
Eirik:
professional e-sport gamer (starcraft)
Nicolai:
professional e-sport gamer (counter-strike)
Working as an e-sport gamer
2.2 Work via digital platforms (offline and online work)
Stefan:
self-employed and paid per translated word
Stefan ‘the carpenter’:
self-employed carpenter with profiles
on three digital platforms
Working via digital platforms
2.3 Workers with different kinds of flexible work arrangements
Brynja:
temporary employed as a waiter in the tourist industry
Devran:
involuntary part-time employment in a supermarket chain
Anders:
precarious employment at a supermarket
Working in flexible work arrangements
2.4 Unskilled temp agency work
Lars:
unskilled temporary jobs
Julia:
work as a receptionist through a temp agency
Working in temporary jobs
 BEU, Alm.del - 2018-19 (2. samling) - Bilag 10: Orientering om rapport om unge i atypisk beskæftigelse, fra beskæftigelsesministeren
119
120
128
136
145
147
148
156
164
165
167
170
173
187
190
194
197
2.5 Working on social digital platforms
Sara Jin Smidt:
chief editor, blogger and fitness instructor
Paula:
beauty blogger, art agent and influencer
Anette:
influencer and freelance consultant
Working on social media platforms
2.6 Young men in the creative industry (Iceland)
Dagur:
best boy, gaffer, grip and assistant camera operator
Viðar:
composer, dj and contractor as a sound engineer
Working in creative industries
3. Working environment and risks among young people
with atypical work
3.1 Results of interview data (portraits)
3.2 Results of analysis of labour force survey data
4. Discussion and conclusions
5. Recommendations
Reference list
Appendix 1:
Method
Appendix 2:
Nordic Workshop
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Photo: Andrew Buchanan/ Unsplash
2.1
Gaming: a professional work
7
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Preface
Changes in the labour market globally
and in the Nordic countries entail new
forms of work and atypical employment
for young workers. The young people
portrayed in the present report are
between 21 and 30 years old, and they
represent a wide variety of working lives.
They live and work in Iceland, Norway,
Sweden and Denmark. Most of them
are in a period of their lives when they
are establishing themselves in the labour
market; only one of them has a daily life
with children. They are included in this
book because each of them represents
a different type of employment and
working life experience that reflects a
labour market undergoing major change.
Furthermore, the focus on young workers
is also important because young workers
have a higher risk of occupational acci-
dents, and they are more likely to report
skin contact with chemicals, wet work,
and handling of heavy loads at work,
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New forms of work among young people
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 BEU, Alm.del - 2018-19 (2. samling) - Bilag 10: Orientering om rapport om unge i atypisk beskæftigelse, fra beskæftigelsesministeren
compared with older workers. A signifi-
cant proportion of young workers are in
temporary positions, working irregular
working hours, and part-time work is in-
creasing among young workers. In order
to prevent and reduce working-environ-
ment problems among young workers,
it is important to know more about new
employment forms, and these are de-
scribed in this report. Some of these new
employment forms, such as working on
online platforms as gamers, YouTubers
or influencers, move into the border-
land of the meanings we usually ascribe
to the categories ‘work’ and ‘working
environment’. This development also
applies to traditional professions, such
as carpentry or service work, but the
new aspect is that the work is mediated
through online platforms, and this seems
to affect the working environment for
these young workers.
We can see from these cases that the
young workers face many of the same
challenges across the Nordic countries
regarding new and atypical types of
employment. Related dynamics on the
labour market in the Nordic countries
provide a common basis for fruitful dis-
cussions and exchange of knowledge on
this pertinent problem. New and more
effective initiatives might be needed in
order to counter the global changes in
economies and the labour market, and
new ideas are needed in order to reach
young people where they work and to
ensure a sustainable working life for all
young workers in the Nordic countries.
The project group consisted of the
following participants from four Nordic
countries:
Preface
Denmark:
Senior Researcher Johnny Dyreborg, Ph.D.
(project leader), the National Research
Centre for the Working Environment.
Associate Professor Mette Lykke Nielsen,
M.A., Ph.D., Centre for Youth Studies
(CeFU), Aalborg University.
Assistant Professor, Louise Yung Nielsen, Ph.D.,
Communication and Arts, Roskilde University.
Norway:
Senior Researcher, Kari Anne Holte,
Dr.Ing. and Senior Researcher, Merete
Jonvik, PhD, NORCE, Norwegian
Research Centre, Bergen.
Sweden:
Associate Professor, Åsa Andersson,
Ph.D., University of Gothenburg.
Iceland:
Professor Gestur Gudmundsson, M.Sc.,
Ph.D., School of Education and Associ-
ate Professor, Thamar Melanie Heijstra,
PhD, School of Social Sciences, Faculty of
Sociology, Anthropology and Folkloristics,
University of Iceland.
We also thank the young people that we
interviewed, who shared valuable infor-
mation and insights about working in
new and atypical forms of employment.
In addition, we arranged a national work-
shop in Copenhagen in April 2018 with
the participation of researchers, work-
ing-environment authorities, and social
partners from the Nordic countries to
present preliminary results of the project,
and to exchange knowledge about young
workers in atypical work and possible
measures to better reach this group. We
would like to thank the participants for
their engaged contributions.
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 BEU, Alm.del - 2018-19 (2. samling) - Bilag 10: Orientering om rapport om unge i atypisk beskæftigelse, fra beskæftigelsesministeren
Executive summary
This report presents fourteen portraits
of young people working in new and
atypical forms of work in the Nordic
countries. Most of the young people por-
trayed in this report have several jobs or
incomes at the same time or a number
of different jobs/incomes for short peri-
ods. Exactly how many jobs/incomes is
often difficult to ascertain. Some find it
difficult to explain exactly how their work
is actually organised and paid, because
there are many different types of em-
ployment and payroll benefits systems
involved.
For some of the young people included in
the report, these terms are involuntary
and they struggle daily to manage their
situation, while for others this lack of
clarity is a positive option that they enjoy.
While some of the young people have
insecure employment associated with
financial and social insecurity, others
have very privileged and highly paid work
that is not connected with financial
insecurity. Some talk about financially
insecure work that nevertheless consti-
tutes an opportunity to get a foothold in
the labour market. Others express great
pride in their working life as entrepre-
neurs or freelancers, but they are strug-
gling to maintain an income.
Employee or employer?
Several of the young people have at
times worked without pay to build up a
CV, create networks, or just gain some
work experience. None of the young
people in the survey have a single perma-
nent workplace with regular colleagues.
Moreover, it is often unclear who the ac-
10
tual employer (if they have one) really is,
and some of them are both workers and
employers at the same time. This applies,
for example, to the entrepreneur Stefan,
who offers his own labour on a digital
platform, and finds the cheapest labour
for the software development that he
needs for his own business on another
digital platform. The employee/employer
relationship is a grey zone that challeng-
es our usual way of thinking about how
work is organised and who is responsible.
Several of the young people
have at times worked without
pay to build up a CV, create
networks, or just gain some
work experience. None of the
young people included in the
study have a single permanent
workplace with regular
colleagues. Moreover, it is
often unclear who the actual
employer (if they have one)
really is, and some of them are
both workers and employers
at the same time.
This also applies for e-sport gamer
Nicolai and his Counter-Strike team.
They have organised themselves in a
completely new way within the Coun-
ter-Strike community. The players in the
team own a share in the business that
employs the team. Similarly, carpenter
Stefan, who is employed as carpenter
and also owns his own one-man busi-
New forms of work among young people
 BEU, Alm.del - 2018-19 (2. samling) - Bilag 10: Orientering om rapport om unge i atypisk beskæftigelse, fra beskæftigelsesministeren
ness, cannot join a union because he is
his own employer. He does work that
he finds through digital platforms like
‘Handyhand’ and it is increasingly un-
clear who is responsible for the working
environment. Stefan is in no doubt; he
must take responsibility for himself, he
says. Annette, a blogger on social media
has employment relationships that can
be difficult to understand. For Annette,
and for other young people like her, life
at work is complex, both with regard to
who their employer is and how they are
paid.
Young entrepreneurs
A number of the young people described
characterize themselves as freelancers,
self-employed or entrepreneurs. Their
primary source of income is from the
work they do in their own company.
None of these young people have other
permanent employees in their company.
They are what Scheuer (2017) calls 'solo
self-employed'.
For a number of years, promotion of
young entrepreneurship has been high on
the political agenda, both in the Nordic
countries and at EU level. The goal is to
support young entrepreneurs to develop
their ideas into successful businesses
that can help create new job opportuni-
ties (Ceptureanu & Ceptureanu, 2015).
The emergence of new digital labour
markets has given rise to a new type
of contractor; entrepreneurs working
on social media platforms. This type of
entrepreneurship differs from the more
traditional understanding of entrepre-
neurship in that the work carried out
actively exposes the entrepreneurs’
personality through, for example, blog-
Executive summary
ging or streaming gameplay (Johnson
& Woodcock, 2017). The focal point of
these entrepreneurs’ work is to display
the private and the personal sphere
(Senft, 2012).
The young solo self-employed people
included in this report work in a variety
of professional specialties and trades.
Moreover, almost all the young people
have a medium-cycle or long-cycle higher
educational background. Accordingly,
they reflect a general labour market
trend; i.e. that while the proportion of
solo self-employed people overall has
remained relatively stable in the Nordic
countries since 1995, there has been an
increase in the number of solo self-em-
ployed people within the group of spe-
cialized professionals (Scheuer, 2017).
Several of the young 'solo self-employed'
included in this report say that they have
a primary source of income from a single
permanent contractor, and that in many
respects they consider this relationship
to bear a resemblance to an ordinary
employment contract. This is not only a
tendency in our limited number of cases;
it can also be seen as a general trend,
as 39% of all solo self-employed people
in Denmark have only had one major
customer in the last six months (Scheuer,
2017). Scheuer explains this development
as follows:
"In recent decades, changes in the corpo-
rations’ organisational forms, technical
innovations and business practices, such
as subcontracting, privatisation, out-
sourcing, etc. have often given rise to a
somewhat blurred distinction between
employee and the self-employed, which
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may have led to an increase in the num-
ber of people in this ‘grey zone’ (...).
Employers may, in some cases, benefit
from applying this form of association
(...) as it significantly reduces employer
obligations: no notice of termination of
contract, no minimum wage, no normal
working hours, no limitation of overtime,
no salary under sickness, etc." (Translat-
ed by the authors from Scheuer, 2017,
p. 85).
The important point here is that solo
self-employed people often operate
in a ‘grey zone’, where the distinction
between being employed and being
self-employed is blurred. This develop-
ment in employment patterns is repre-
sented in several of the portraits in this
report.
Although several of the young peo-
ple presented here are aware of the
negative consequences, such as those
mentioned by Scheuer (2017, see quote
above), several of them also emphasize
the benefits of not being in a perma-
nent employment relationship. Several
mention that they appreciate the high
degree of autonomy and freedom. The
solo self-employed generally express
great freedom in relation to organising
and controlling their own work, freedom
to perform tasks as they see fit (Manyika
et al., 2016), and their own responsibility
to take on new tasks. Nevertheless, what
is said to be enthusiasm for work is often
also emphasized as stressful (Buch &
Andersen, 2009). For several of the
young solo self-employed in this report,
excitement and hassle are two sides
of the same coin, and the relationship
between individual freedom and indi-
12
vidual insecurity seems to be a challeng-
ing balancing act for many of the solo
self-employed.
Working environment
During the interviews with the young
people, we specifically asked about the
ways in which the young people or their
employers organised their work, their
wages and their employment conditions.
Additionally, we asked them about social
and financial risks and working-environ-
ment problems that they had encoun-
tered, and the latter is the primary focus
of this report.
Insecurity and risk are very apparent
in the portraits of these young people,
but not in all. If we, the authors of this
report, had not asked them about their
working-environment, it is far from cer-
tain that they would have thought about
the problems they have encountered, as
working environment problems. Some of
the young people are professionally and
politically engaged in (and very keen to
improve) their own and others' work-
ing lives, while this is less important for
others.
For example Nicolai, the Counter-Strike
player, became a co-owner of his team
together with his teammates because
they collectively wanted to cope with the
insecurity they had experienced earlier
in their professional gaming career. They
wanted to create an environment around
the team, without the uncertainty about
salary and so on that could affect their
performances in Counter-Strike. Another
example is Icelandic Dagur, who is
engaged in improving the working
conditions in the Icelandic film industry.
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Photo: Kinga Cichewicz/ Unsplash
2.1
Gaming: a professional work
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 BEU, Alm.del - 2018-19 (2. samling) - Bilag 10: Orientering om rapport om unge i atypisk beskæftigelse, fra beskæftigelsesministeren
The theme of financial and social securi-
ty/uncertainty permeates all the por-
traits in this report.
All of the young people say that a safe
and secure working life is vital. Neverthe-
less, the meaning each of them attaches
to this varies greatly. The young people
talk of themes that might be recognised
by the reader as traditional occupational
health issues, like lower-back problems,
occupational injuries, insomnia, stress
and boundaryless work. While other
types of risks, mentioned in the por-
traits will probably be new to the reader.
The young people speak about how, in
different ways, they take care of them-
selves to prevent becoming ‘worn down’.
Many of them do training or swimming
to strengthen their bodies to be able
to keep up with their work. Some use
coaches, sports psychologists, or
breathing exercises to manage or
prevent stress at work. The different
activities that each of them does to keep
up with the demands of their work are
mainly individual steps to deal with risk
and other challenges in their working
environment.
The e-sport gamer, Nicolai, talks about a
working life in which he is almost
always working. Although his working life
in many ways differs from the majority
of Nordic youth, several of the activi-
ties that Nicolai talks about are similar
to those of other young people with
atypical work. For example, a number
of these young people work for so many
hours that it has negative consequenc-
es on their relationships with family
and friends. This applies for Stefan, a
self-employed carpenter, who gets jobs
14
from a number of digital platforms. It
also applies for Sara, who works as an
editor, blogger, and fitness instructor, for
Icelandic Brynja, who works as a waiter,
and for Dagur, who works in the Icelandic
film industry. For them, work and private
life completely merge and they work for
many, many hours every week.
All of the young people say
that a safe and secure working
life is vital. Nevertheless,
the meaning each of them
attaches to this varies
greatly. The young people
talk of themes that might be
recognised by the reader as
traditional occupational
health issues, like lower-back
problems, occupational
injuries, insomnia, stress
and boundaryless work.
While other types of risks,
mentioned in the portraits will
probably be new to the reader.
Many of the young people in the report
often work alone; their private life and
daily activities are part of a personal
brand (Hardt, 1999; Lazzarato, 2009;
Yung Nielsen, 2016). This causes a
number of occupational health issues.
While some problematize or criticise
their conditions, others have a positive
self-representation and they appear
to be successful in most parts of their
life, although they may be trivialising or
downplaying the problems.
New forms of work among young people
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Some of the young people portrayed in
this report work in part-time jobs and
some in temporary employment, or both.
Our analyses of data from the Labour
Force Survey (Statistics Denmark, 2019)
show that young people working in part-
time jobs less than 15 hours per week, or
who work via temporary employment
agencies, have a significantly increased
risk of occupational accidents.
Recommendations
These fourteen cases of atypical work
among young people provide an insight
into a number of both new and well-
known forms of work and working-
environment issues. The young people do
not necessarily understand these issues
as problems related to their working
environment, and they may not be aware
that there are institutions or resources
available to solve these. They mostly try
to solve these issues individually and by
using other approaches than are normal-
ly applied in the working-environment
field.
Based on the results of this project,
we recommend developing strategies
to deal with the working-environment
issues related to atypical work among
young people. These include how to reach
these young people and their employers
or those who provide work through the
platforms. We need to communicate
knowledge about these types of work
and the possible consequences more
broadly to industry, governments and
social partners, and to the young people
working in atypical employment forms.
We recommend both legal and commu-
nicative approaches, so that working-
environment knowledge and resources
are made available for those working
in atypical employments and through
digital platforms.
The young people do not
necessarily understand these
issues as problems related to
their working environment,
and they may not be aware
that there are institutions or
resources available to solve
these.
For those young people working through
digital platforms, it should be possible to
integrate working-environment stand-
ards and guidelines with the algorithms
of the platforms. When a platform user
offers a particular job, e.g., carpentry
work, cleaning or service work on a
platform, relevant guidelines should pop-
up in order to inform the platform user
(those who offer the job), the platform
worker (the one who performs the job)
and the employer (the person responsi-
ble for the platform) about the possible
risks and precautions that should be
taken for a particular job. Furthermore,
it should be easy for the platform to link
to the digital notification system for oc-
cupational injuries, so it is easy to report
such cases to the authorities.
Executive summary
15
 BEU, Alm.del - 2018-19 (2. samling) - Bilag 10: Orientering om rapport om unge i atypisk beskæftigelse, fra beskæftigelsesministeren
Dansk resumé
Denne rapport præsenterer fjorten
portrætter af unge, der arbejder i nye og
atypiske former for arbejde. Hovedpar-
ten af de unge, der er portrætteret i den-
ne rapport, har flere jobs eller indkomster
på samme tid eller mange skiftende jobs
over kortere perioder (præcist hvor man-
ge er vanskeligt at gøre op).
For nogle er dette et ufrivilligt vilkår, som
de dagligt tager livtag med, mens det
for andre er et positivt tilvalg, som de
nyder. Mens nogle af de unge har usikre
prekære arbejdsliv, der er forbundet
med økonomisk og social usikkerhed,
har andre meget privilegerede og højt
betalte jobs, der ikke er forbundet med
økonomisk usikkerhed. Nogle fortæller
om arbejde, der er økonomisk usikkert,
men som på samme tid udgør en mu-
lighed for dem for at få en fod inden for
på et arbejdsmarked, hvor det for nogle
unge kan være vanskeligt at få fodfæste.
Mange fortæller med stor stolthed om
et arbejdsliv, som de selv har skabt som
entreprenører eller freelancere, og som
de kæmper for at opretholde.
Arbejdstager eller arbejdsgiver?
Flere af de unge har i perioder arbejdet
uden at få løn i et forsøg på at opbygge
et cv, skabe netværk eller få erfaring.
Ingen af de unge har en enkelt fast ar-
bejdsplads med faste kollegaer. For nogle
kan det være vanskeligt helt at redegø-
re for, hvordan deres arbejdet egentlig
er organiseret og aflønnet, fordi der er
mange typer af ansættelsesforhold og
former for aflønninger i spil. Hvem der
egentlig er arbejdsgiver (hvis de har en
sådan), fremstår ofte uklart.
16
Det gælder for flere af dem, at de både
er arbejdstagere og arbejdsgivere på
samme tid. Det gælder blandt andet for
iværksætteren Stefan, der både udbyder
sin egen arbejdskraft, som oversætter
gennem en digital arbejdsplatform og
samtidig finder den billigste arbejdskraft
til softwareudvikling, som han skal have
lavet for sin egen virksomhed. En ar-
bejdskraft som han finder på en anden
digital arbejdsplatform. Hvem, der er
arbejdsgiver og arbejdstager, er en grå-
zone, og vores vante måder at tænke i
arbejdets organisering kommer på prøve.
Ingen af de unge har en enkelt
fast arbejdsplads med faste
kollegaer.
For e-sport gameren Nicolai og hans pro-
fessionelle Counter-Strike-hold gælder
det, at de har organiseret sig på en helt
ny måde inden for Counter-Strike-verde-
nen. Spillerne på holdet ejer nemlig selv
aktier i det hold, som de spiller for. På
samme måde kan Stefan, som er tømrer
i sin egen enkeltmandsvirksomhed ikke
melde sig ind i en fagforening, for han er
jo sin egen arbejdsgiver. Og når han også
udfører arbejde, som han finder gennem
digitale arbejdsplatforme som Handy-
hand m.fl., så kan det fremstå meget
uklart, hvem der har ansvar for arbejds-
miljøet. Stefan er dog ikke selv i tvivl; det
må han selv tage ansvar for, siger han.
Også Annette, der er influencer og
arbejder med sociale medier, har ansæt-
telsesforhold, der kan være vanskelige
New forms of work among young people
 BEU, Alm.del - 2018-19 (2. samling) - Bilag 10: Orientering om rapport om unge i atypisk beskæftigelse, fra beskæftigelsesministeren
at gennemskue. Det gælder for hende,
som for flere af disse unge, at rappor-
tens portrætter bliver en udredning af de
komplicerede måder, som deres arbejde
er organiseret på i forhold til, hvem der
er deres arbejdsgivere, og hvordan de er
aflønnet.
Unge entreprenører
Nogle af de unge betegner sig selv free-
lancers, selvstændige, entreprenører eller
iværksættere. Det kendetegner dem, at
deres primære indtægtskilde kommer
fra det arbejde, som de udfører i deres
eget firma. Ingen af disse unge har andre
ansatte i deres firma. De er det, som
Scheuer (2017) kalder for “solo-selvstæn-
dige”.
I en årrække har promovering af un-
ges entreprenørskab stået højt på den
politiske agenda både i de nordiske
lande og på EU-niveau. Målet er, at unge
entreprenører skal hjælpes til at udvikle
deres ideer, så deres ideer kan udvikle
sig til succesfulde forretninger, der kan
være med til at skabe nye jobmuligheder.
Fremkomsten af nye digitale arbejds-
markeder har i den forbindelse givet
anledning til en ny type entreprenør;
nemlig entreprenører, der arbejder med
udgangspunkt i sociale medieplatforme.
Denne type entreprenørskab adskiller sig
fra den mere traditionelle forståelse af
entreprenørskab ved, at det arbejde, der
udføres, dyrker entreprenørens personlig-
hed gennem fx blogging eller streaming
af gameplay. Omdrejningspunktet for
disse entreprenørers arbejde er at sætte
det private og personlige på display.
De unge solo-selvstændige i denne bog
er beskæftigede inden for en række
Dansk resumé
forskellige faglige specialer og håndværk.
Det kendetegner dem samtidig, at de
fleste har en mellemlang- eller en lang
uddannelse bag sig. Dermed afspejler de
en generel arbejdsmarkedstendens. For
mens andelen af solo-selvstændige har
ligget relativt stabilt i Danmark siden
2010, har der været en stigning i antallet
af solo-selvstændige blandt specialisere-
de fagfolk, som denne rapport dækker.
Flere af de unge solo-selvstændige i
denne bog fortæller, at de har en primær
indtægtskilde fra en enkelt fast opdrags-
giver, ligesom flere fortæller om en rela-
tion til denne faste opdragsgiver, som på
mange måder minder om et ansættel-
sesforhold. Dette er ikke blot en tendens
i vores begrænsede datamateriale, men
kan ses som et eksempel på en generel
tendens, idet 39 procent af alle solo-selv-
stændige i Danmark kun havde haft én
større kunde inden for det seneste halve
år (Scheuer, 2017). Scheuer forklarer
denne udvikling således:
”I de seneste årtier har ændringer i
virksomhedernes organisationsformer,
tekniske innovationer og forretningsfor-
mer som ’subcontracting', privatisering,
udlicitering m.m. gjort, at distinktionen
mellem lønmodtager og selvstændig
i nogle tilfælde kan være noget sløret,
hvilket kan have medført en stigning af
antallet af personer i denne gråzone (…).
Arbejdsgiver kan i nogle tilfælde have for-
del af at anvende denne tilknytningsform
(…), da den mindsker arbejdsgiverens
forpligtelser betydeligt: Ingen opsigelses-
varsler, ingen mindsteløn, ingen normal
arbejdstid, ingen begrænsning af overtid,
ingen løn under sygdom osv.” (Scheuer
2017, s. 85).
17
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18
New forms of work among young people
Photo: Amelie Ohlrogge-/ Unsplash
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2062168_0019.png
Den vigtigste pointe her er, at der for
solo-selvstændige ofte kan være tale om
en ’gråzone’, hvor adskillelsen af lønmod-
tager og selvstændig kan være sløret.
Denne udvikling kan genfindes i flere af
portrætterne i denne bog.
Selvom flere af de unge er opmærksom-
me på de negative konsekvenser, som
Scheuer nævner i citatet, fremhæver
flere samtidig, de fordele, de synes, der
er ved netop ikke at være i et fast ansæt-
telsesforhold. Flere nævner oplevelsen
af en høj grad af autonomi og frihed,
som er noget de sætter stor pris på. De
selvstændige fortæller generelt om vide
rammer i forhold til selv at strukturere
deres arbejde, om frihed i forhold til
at løse opgaverne og om selvstændigt
ansvar for at hente fremtidige opgaver
hjem. Den begejstring for arbejdet, som
den unge fortæller frem, er ofte også
det, der fremhæves som det belastende.
Begejstring og belastning bliver to sider
af samme sag, og forholdet mellem
individuel frihed og individuel usikkerhed
synes for mange af de solo-selvstændige
at være en balanceakt.
Arbejdsmiljø
I de interviews, som danner udgangs-
punkt for portrætterne i denne rapport,
har vi spurgt særligt ind til de måder,
hvorpå de unge eller deres arbejdsgivere
har organiseret deres arbejde samt til
deres løn- og ansættelsesvilkår. Vi har
desuden spurgt ind til risici og arbejds-
miljø. Usikkerhed og risiko fylder derfor
en hel del i portrætterne af disse unge,
men ikke hos alle. Hvis ikke vi - forfat-
terne til denne rapport - havde spurgt
til risici og arbejdsmiljø, var det langt
fra sikkert, at de alle sammen ville være
Dansk resumé
kommet ind på emnet selv. Nogle af de
unge er fagligt og politisk engagerede
og meget optagede af at forbedre deres
egne og andres arbejdsliv, mens det for
andre ikke er noget, de er optaget af.
For Nicolai, den professionelle e-sport
gamer, gælder det for eksempel, at han
og holdkammeraterne blev medejere
af holdet, fordi de kollektivt ønskede at
gøre op med den usikkerhed, der tradi-
tionelt har været i professionel e-sport.
Alle de unge siger sam-
stemmende, at sikkerhed i
arbejdslivet har helt afgørende
betydning for dem. Men den
betydning, som de hver især
tillægger sikkerhed, varierer
meget.
De ønskede at skabe et miljø omkring
holdet, hvor der ikke var usikkerhed om,
hvorvidt lønnen kom ind på kontoen eller
andre utrygheder, der kunne påvirke
e-sport gamernes præstationer. I por-
trættet af den islandske Dagur, fortæl-
ler han om arbejdet med kollektivt at
forbedre arbejdsvilkårene i den islandske
filmindustri. Temaet om økonomisk og
social sikkerhed/usikkerhed går igen i alle
portrætterne i denne bog.
Alle de unge siger samstemmende, at
sikkerhed i arbejdslivet har helt afgø-
rende betydning for dem. Men den
betydning, som de hver især tillægger
sikkerhed, varierer meget. Nogle af de
tematikker, som de unge fortæller om, vil
læseren genkende som traditionelle ar-
bejdsmiljøproblematikker, som fx rygpro-
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blemer, stress, søvnløshed og grænseløst
arbejde. Andre risici vil formodentlig være
nye for læseren. I bogen fortæller mange
af de unge således, hvordan de på for-
skellige måder passer på sig selv for ikke
at blive slidt eller komme til skade i deres
arbejde. Flere styrketræner eller svøm-
mer for at styrke deres fysik, så de bedre
kan holde til deres arbejde. Nogen bruger
coaches, sportspsykologer eller udfører
åndedrætsøvelser for at håndtere eller
forebygge et stressende arbejdsliv. De
fleste af de mange forskellige aktiviteter,
som de hver især gør for at kunne holde
til deres arbejde, er individuelle forebyg-
gelsesstrategier, der er rettet mod selv
at håndtere de arbejdsmiljømæssige
risici og udfordringer, som de møder.
For flere af de unge i bogen
gælder det desuden, at en stor
del af deres arbejde er at være
sig selv; et personligt brand.
Dette er et forhold, der med-
fører en række arbejdsmiljø-
relaterede problemstillinger.
med eget firma, og som henter arbejde
på en række digitale platforme; det
gælder for Sara, der er redaktør, blogger,
fitnessinstruktør m.m.; det gælder for
islandske Brynja, der arbejder som tjener,
og det gælder for Dagur, der arbejder i
den islandske filmindustri. For dem flyder
arbejde og privatliv fuldstændigt sam-
men. For flere af de unge i bogen gælder
det desuden, at en stor del af deres
arbejde er at være sig selv; et personligt
brand. Dette er et forhold, der medfører
en række arbejdsmiljørelaterede pro-
blemstillinger. Mens nogle problematise-
rer eller kritiserer sådanne forhold, bliver
det af andre til en del af en positiv selv-
fremstilling, hvor den unge fremstår som
succesfulde i de fleste af livets forhold,
og hvor de problemer, der måtte være,
minimeres eller bagatelliseres.
Nogle at disse unge arbejder i deltidsan-
sættelser og nogle i midlertidig ansæt-
telse, eller begge dele. Vores analyser af
arbejdskraftdata fra Danmark viser, at
unge der arbejder i deltidsansættelser
mindre end 15 timer pr. uge eller har mid-
lertidigt ansættelse via vikarbureauer har
en markant forøget risiko for at komme
ud for arbejdsulykker.
Anbefalinger
De fjorten portrætter af unge i nye og
atypiske former for arbejde i Norden
giver et indblik i en række både nye og
mere velkendte former for arbejdsmiljø-
problemer. Det er karakteristisk, at
de unge ikke nødvendigvis selv forstår
det som arbejdsmiljøproblemer, men
blot problemer relateret til dem selv
og deres arbejde, som de i overvejende
grad forsøger at løse individuelt og med
andre virkemidler, end arbejdsmiljøfeltet
New forms of work among young people
E-sport gameren Nicolai fortæller om et
arbejdsliv, hvor han oplever, at han stort
set altid er på arbejde. Selvom hans livs-
situation og arbejdsliv på mange punkter
adskiller sig fra det arbejdsliv, som majo-
riteten af nordiske unge har, så kan flere
af de forhold, som Nicolai fortæller om,
genfindes i de øvrige portrætter af unge
med atypisk arbejde. For flere af dem er
det for eksempel et vilkår, at de arbejder
så meget, at det har konsekvenser for
deres relationer til familie og venner. Det
gælder både for Stefan, der er tømrer
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Photo: Søren Svendsen
2.1
Gaming: a professional work
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 BEU, Alm.del - 2018-19 (2. samling) - Bilag 10: Orientering om rapport om unge i atypisk beskæftigelse, fra beskæftigelsesministeren
traditionelt har taget i brug.
På baggrund af resultaterne fra dette
projekt anbefaler vi, at der udarbejdes
strategier, der kan rette sig mod arbejds-
miljøproblemer relateret til atypisk arbej-
de blandt unge. Dette omfatter, hvordan
man når disse unge med atypisk arbej-
de, deres arbejdsgivere eller dem, der
udbyder arbejdet gennem platformene.
Vi skal formidle viden om disse typer ar-
bejde, og de mulige konsekvenser det har,
og forsøge at nå ud til relevante aktører,
arbejdsmiljøinstitutioner og arbejds-
markedets parter samt de unge, der
arbejder i atypiske former for arbejde. Vi
anbefaler både tiltag, der præciserer love
og regler for dette arbejde samt sikrer,
at viden og ressourcer i arbejdsmiljøsy-
stemet kan blive bedre tilgængelige for
dem, der arbejder i atypiske ansættelser
og via digitale platforme.
For den del af det atypiske arbejde, der
foregår via digitale platforme, er det op-
lagt at integrere love, regler og vejlednin-
ger med de algoritmer, der anvendes på
disse platforme. Når en platformbruger
tilbyder et bestemt job, f.eks. tømrer-
arbejde, rengøring eller servicearbejde
via en digital platform, skal relevante
retningslinjer ’poppe op’ for at informere
platformsbrugeren (dem, der tilbyder en
opgave), platformsarbejderen (den, der
udfører opgaven) og arbejdsgiveren (den
ansvarlige for platformen) om de mulige
risici og forholdsregler, der skal tages for
et bestemt job. Desuden, skal det være
let via de digitale platforme at forbinde
sig til den digitale rapportering af ar-
bejdsulykker (fx EASY i Danmark), sådan
at rapporteringspligten er klar og tydelig,
og sådan at det er nemt for brugeren at
rapportere tilfælde af arbejdsskader til
myndighederne.
Når en platformbruger
tilbyder et bestemt job, f.eks.
tømrerarbejde, rengøring eller
servicearbejde via en digital
platform, skal relevante
retningslinjer ’poppe op’ for at
informere platformsbrugeren
(dem, der tilbyder en opgave),
platformsarbejderen (den, der
udfører opgaven) og arbejds-
giveren (den ansvarlige for
platformen) om de mulige
risici og forholdsregler, der
skal tages for et bestemt job.
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1.
Background
In this report, we move into the borderland of the meanings
we usually ascribe to the categories of work and working
environment. Through 14 portraits of Nordic youth with an
atypical working life, we explore how working life is being
shaped in a rapidly changing labour market.
With this report, we want to look into the working life of
these young people, and see what we can learn from their
atypical working life in order to provide a picture of the
challenges that the future labour market can bring to the
working environment.
The report gives voice to the young people and their narratives
about the risks and workplace issues that they have sensed
on their own bodies, and that they consider the most relevant.
Many of these types of work are not easy to explore through
usual register data and surveys.
2.1
Gaming: a professional work
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The report includes one of the world's
best professional Counter-Strike teams,
who are based in Denmark. The team
consists of five young professional
e-sport gamers aged between 19 and
24 years. We have included an interview
with one of the team members, Nicolai
Reedtz, in this report. He essentially con-
stitutes the image of a young worker in
a labour market undergoing transforma-
tion. In the interview, Nicolai tells about
the many pleasures and privileges as-
sociated with his work as a professional
e-sportsman. Nevertheless, he also talks
about sustained high pressure to per-
form and the health consequences he is
currently in the process of taking care of
(2017, red.). His aim is to maintain his po-
sition as one of the best Counter-Strikers
24
in the world. Nicolai does not talk about
these stress-related health problems as
working-environment problems, although
perhaps that is exactly what they are.
The report investigates the following
basic question:
•
How do young people with atypical
work experience their working life and
their working environment?
1.1 What is atypical
employment?
This report is about young people be-
tween the ages of 18 and 30 years old
whose primary activity is paid employ-
ment. Thus, we do not include young
New forms of work among young people
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 BEU, Alm.del - 2018-19 (2. samling) - Bilag 10: Orientering om rapport om unge i atypisk beskæftigelse, fra beskæftigelsesministeren
people in education who have a job
besides their study or apprenticeship.
Furthermore, we have only included
young people employed in so-called
'atypical' types of employment.
However, what is in fact 'atypical'
employment? There are various ways to
define the group of ‘young people with
atypical work’. International research
suggests that it can be difficult to cate-
gorize and delimit atypical or new forms
of employment (Aronsson et al., 2002;
Scheuer, 2011; Scheuer, 2014; Quinlan
et al., 2001), because these types of
employment push the boundaries of
what we usually understand and define
as work and employment. In some cases,
the employment form has changed, but
not the work content, as is the case with
some types of manual work, while in oth-
er cases both the employment form and
the work content is new, as is the case
with young people employed as ‘e-sport
gamers’ and ‘bloggers’.
form'. We are particularly interested
in the question of how to ensure the
working environment of young people
employed in these new forms of em-
ployment. We have found inspiration
from Scheuer's (2011) categorization of
'atypical employment' in our selection
of cases and definitions of employment
forms. We have used the following over-
all categories:
•
Temporary employment, where people
are employed for a specified period
(time-limited), or to carry out a specific
task (task-limited)
•
Temp-agency workers, where a temp
agency assigns staff to jobs in a com-
pany or for private people, either time-
limited or task-limited assignments
•
Part-time employment, where
employees have a lower weekly working
time than the usual norm of the labour
market, either voluntarily or because
part-time work is imposed on them
•
Self-employed, i.e. individuals who own
a firm (VAT registered), but with no
employees (solo self-employed)
In addition, we included two additional
groups of employed young people who
are not included in Scheuer's (2011) cat-
egorization:
•
Young people with digital work,
they often belong to the group of
self-employed people
•
Young people with multiple jobs at the
same time have also been included, as
this is particularly applicable for young
workers (Hanvold et al., 2016)
25
The emergence of new forms
of work among young people
can be explained partly by the
digital revolution and partly by
the emergence of new markets
and different forms of
production
The purpose of this report is to gain
knowledge about new organisational
arrangements for working life; organi-
sations that break with well-established
and institutionalized ways of employ-
ment, i.e. 'the atypical employment
Background
 BEU, Alm.del - 2018-19 (2. samling) - Bilag 10: Orientering om rapport om unge i atypisk beskæftigelse, fra beskæftigelsesministeren
1.2 New labour markets
and new forms of work
It is well-known that global labour
market is changing and new forms of
work are often first visible among young
people and then work up through all
age groups (Furlong, 2014; Mills, 2004;
Nielsen et al., 2017). The emergence of
new forms of work among young people
can be explained partly by the digital
revolution and partly by the emergence
of new markets and different forms
of production (Hardt, 1999; Lazzarato,
2009; Pybus & Coté, 2011).
An array of new concepts is used to de-
fine the new forms of work following in
the wake of the digital revolution. These
include 'platform work', 'sms jobs', 'work
on demand', 'gigs', and 'involuntary part-
time work'. All of these can lead to 'pre-
carious employment'. These new forms
of work are the focus for this report and
we use the term 'atypical' when we refer
to these types of work (Scheuer, 2011).
Despite differences between researchers
on how to define these new forms of
work, there is agreement that new
forms and types of work arrangements
are emerging continuously, and this can
challenge extant understandings of what
work really is (Eurostat, 2015; Huws,
2015; Ilsøe, 2017; Jesnes, 2016).
One of the fundamental processes in
the change of employment forms and
work is the technological development.
With the digital revolution, new ways of
working on digital platforms are con-
stantly being created (Huws, 2015; Ilsøe
2017), and these are adopted by young
26
people in particular. A central concept in
this context is the 'platform economy'.
This term refers to "(...) business models
that have emerged since the turn of the
millennium and which have one thing in
common, that digital, often internet-
based platforms, are the intermediary
link between those who want to use a
facility, service or activity, and those who
own it" (Rasmussen & Madsen, 2017, p.
48 (translated by the authors)).
The report provides two examples of
young people performing tasks provided
through diverse internet-based plat-
forms, also known as 'online platform
work'. A current report defines 'online
platform work' as follows:
“(…) all labour provided through, on or
mediated by online platforms, and
features a wide array of working
arrangements/relationships, such as
(versions of) casual work, dependent
self-employment, informal work, piece-
work, home work and crowdwork, in
a wide range of sectors. The actual
work provided can be digital or manual,
in-house or outsourced, high-skilled or
low-skilled, on-site or off-site, large-
or small scale, permanent or temporary,
all depending on the specific situation”.
(Garben, 2017 p. 4).
In addition to these young people with
platform work, there are a number of
other new forms of work included in the
report, e.g. three young female ‘influenc-
ers’. For these three women, the social
digital platforms form a stage on which
they, like other young people, can cre-
ate themselves and position themselves
in relation to the cultural communities
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and consumer communities they orient
themselves towards (Yung Nielsen, 2016).
The social digital platforms have created
a foundation for new types of work, such
as fashion and health bloggers, and Ins-
tagram and YouTube stars, which com-
modify the personal sphere and everyday
life of those employed in such work.
1.3 Young people and
atypical employment
forms
In addition, the report portrays a num-
ber of young people with atypical work
which may be referred to as insecure
or 'precarious' employment forms. This
includes different young people in various
types of temporary, insecure employ-
ments and jobs. The concept of ‘precar-
ious employment’ conceptualizes how
current neo-liberal policies and changed
economic conditions produce new forms
of marginalization on the labour market
(Casas-Cortés, 2014; Furlong, 2014).
The concept addresses the increased
insecurity and instability of modern
working life. ‘Precarious employment’ is
not an easily definable phenomenon; it
includes several kinds of insecurity and
vulnerability for workers, without clear
definitions of exact types of working
conditions (Quinlan et al., 2001;
Rasmussen & Håpnes, 2012; Underhill &
Quinlan, 2011).
There seems, however, to exist a com-
mon understanding of insecure employ-
ment as a growing problem, especially
among young, unskilled workers with
limited education (Duell, 2004; Hamilton
et al., 2014; MacDonald, 2009), but also
among the highly educated (Rasmussen
& Håpnes, 2012). To many young workers,
part-time employment or temporary
positions have traditionally constituted
a stepping-stone to entering the labour
market. It has been argued that some
of these young workers run a high risk of
being stuck with insecure work, if early
atypical work arrangements do not lead
27
The concept of ‘precarious
employment’ conceptualizes
how current neo-liberal
policies and changed economic
conditions produce new forms
of marginalization on the
labour market.
The three influencers portrayed in this
report provide examples of these new
types of work. One consequence of
this development is an ever-increasing
exposure of the personal and the affec-
tive personal narrative. This forms part
of an 'affective economy' (Hardt, 1999;
Lazzarato, 2009) and becomes part of
the product being produced, so that the
personal is transformed into a product,
which can be part of an economy in
which intentions, consumer items and
money are exchanged. In this way, the
mechanisms inherent in social media, the
consumer culture, celebrity culture and
new labour market cultures, all merge
together (Marwick, 2013). This affective
economy is also present in the working
life of professional gamers, as two inter-
viewees describe in this report.
Background
 BEU, Alm.del - 2018-19 (2. samling) - Bilag 10: Orientering om rapport om unge i atypisk beskæftigelse, fra beskæftigelsesministeren
to permanent or more secure positions
(Duell, 2004; Nielsen et al., 2018).
However, atypical work as such should
be distinguished from precariousness, in
the sense of being insecure, vulnerable
or marginalised. For some young people
atypical employment might be success-
ful, whereas for others it can lead to
precarious employment in the long run.
However, who are in fact these young
people and what is their working life like?
To get to a more precise picture of these
atypical and new forms of work and
complex employment patterns, we will
present a number of portraits of young
people in the Nordic countries who are
working in atypical work. What kind of
work are they doing, what are their em-
ployment relationships and what are the
possible consequences for their working
environment?
1.
The first portrait is Eirik from Norway,
who is about 26 years old. He works as
a professional e-sport gamer playing
StarCraft. StarCraft is a real-time
strategy computer game. He considers
himself as independent, but a profes-
sional StarCraft team also employs
him. Before his gaming career took off,
he studied music technology and musi-
cology at a Norwegian university.
2.
The second young person is Nicolai,
who is also a professional e-sport
gamer. Nicolai is from Denmark; he is
21 years old and plays Counter-Strike
professionally. He has a contract with
one of the world’s best Counter-
Strike teams; the Danish team Astra-
lis. Counter-Strike is a team-based
first-person computer-shooting game,
i.e. the player experiences the action
through the eyes of the protago-
nist. Nicolai has a business-oriented
secondary education called ‘Higher
Commercial Examination Programme’
(HHX).
3.
The third portrait is about Stefan, who
is 25 years old and from Denmark. He
is in the process of setting up his own
business, but as it does not yet make a
profit, Stefan needs a supplementary
income. He gets this supplementary
income through translation tasks he
receives through the platform 'free-
lancer.com', where he is paid per trans-
lated word. He has a Bachelor degree
in vocational training in international
trade and marketing from Aarhus
Business Academy.
1.4 Presentation of the
included young people
The young people portrayed in the report
are between 21 and 30 years old, and
they represent a wide variety of young
working lives. They live and work in
Iceland, Norway, Sweden and Denmark.
Most of them are in a period of their lives
where they are establishing themselves
in the labour market, and only one of
them has a daily life with children. They
are included in this report because they
each represent the different types of
employment and working life experiences
that reflect a labour market undergoing
major changes. (cf. appendix 1).
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Photo: Colourbox
2.1
Gaming: a professional work
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4.
Stefan, the carpenter, is 23 years old
and the fourth to be portrayed in the
report. He is also a Dane. He is the
director of his own one-man carpentry
company. He performs most tasks as
a regular subcontractor for another
company. Outside normal working
hours and at weekends he also works
for private customers on jobs he pro-
cures through three different digital
platforms.
5.
Brynja is from Iceland and she is 20
years old. She graduated as a student
from Upper secondary education and
got work as a waitress at a sports club
to save money to travel the world. The
job as a waitress is temporary and
very flexible.
6.
Devran is 30 years old. He is from
Kurdistan, and has been living in
Norway for four years. He is married
and expecting his first child. He has
involuntary part-time employment in a
supermarket chain, primarily working
on the cash register. He has a 60%
part-time position. He takes as many
additional shifts as he can get and
he has a Bachelor degree in financial
management.
7.
Anders is 27 years old and from Swe-
den. He is an unskilled worker in a larg-
er supermarket. Anders has completed
upper-secondary education and taken
some basic courses at the universi-
ty. He is employed on a temporary
contract, under which he is secured
approximately 75% of full-time em-
ployment. The contract is temporary
and runs over periods of about three
months at a time.
30
8.
Lars has worked in a wide range of
unskilled and temporary jobs. He is 27
years old and Danish. After a period as
a machine operator, he has had jobs
such as seasonal vegetable packer,
seasonal gardener, and temporary
work as a garbage man. In addition, he
has been affiliated with a temp agen-
cy. In parallel with these various jobs,
he has regularly performed tasks in
his father's business, where he is paid
for each assignment. Furthermore, he
has sometimes had periods of unem-
ployment and received unemployment
benefit. Over a period of seven years,
Lars has been doing a Higher Prepara-
tory Single-subject Examination (HF
enkeltfag), which he was completing
at the time of the interview. He char-
acterizes his working life as precarious.
9.
Julia is 27 years old and lives in Sweden.
Previously, she lived in London for four
years, where she primarily worked in
the catering industry. In Sweden, she
works as a receptionist for a temp
agency that specializes in office work
and HR. Through the employment
agency, she has worked for seven
different companies for durations from
half a day to a whole week. Julia has
finished upper secondary education.
10.
Sara Jin Smidt is 30 years old and has
a Master’s degree in human nutrition
from the University of Copenhagen.
In addition, she is a qualified fitness
instructor. Sara has a permanent
full-time position as editor-in-chief
at FIT LIVING magazine, and works
as an hourly paid team instructor in
the Danish FitnessDK, where she in-
structs keep-fit groups for six hours a
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week. Sarah is the director of her own
company, which, among other things,
sells dietary guidance to private cus-
tomers. Nevertheless, she is perhaps
best known as the person behind the
blog 'Healthy Skinny Bitch'. Sara is
also the author of several books on
food and healthy recipes.
11.
Paula is 28 years old and a beauty
blogger, art agent and freelancer.
She lives in Sweden and has roots in
Chile. She characterizes herself as an
‘influencer’, a term used about people
on social media platforms who have
established credibility and access to
a large audience and can persuade
them by virtue of this credibility and
their reach. As a freelancer, she or-
ganises events with different cultural
institutions, among other things.
12.
Anette is Norwegian and 26 years old.
She has completed a one-year part-
time education programme in fashion
studies and she works full time with
social media as both as an influencer
and a freelance consultant in Nor-
way. Annette characterizes herself as
independent. She has a temporary
contract with an influencer agency.
The agency acts like an agent, and
they manage the advertisers she
should work for. Through the agen-
cy, she recently entered a one-year
contract with a large telecommuni-
cations company.
13.
Dagur is 23 years old and from Ice-
land. He works in the Icelandic film
industry with different jobs within
filmmaking, such as best boy, gaffer,
grip or assistant camera operator.
Mostly he works as an independent
contractor, but he also runs his own
production company and he employs
workers to work for him. He has a
qualification in film making from
upper secondary school, but he wants
to pursue an advanced degree in film
making in London.
14.
Viðar is 27 years old and from Iceland.
He has a Bachelor degree from the
Iceland Academy of the Arts, where
he also studied recording and audio
mixing. He has been working inde-
pendently with audio mixing since
he graduated half a year ago. His
working life consists of three different
dimensions: as a contractor on sound
engineering gigs, as a DJ, and as a
composer.
Background
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New forms of work among young people
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2.
Young people in new and
atypical employment forms
The following contains 14 portraits of 14 very different Nordic
young people and their working lives. The portraits are edited
versions of interviews made in 2017 with the help of colleagues
in Iceland, Sweden, Norway and Denmark. We made 21
qualitative interviews with young people between 21 and
30 years of age. For this report, we portray young people who
together give the widest possible insight into the new forms of
work for young people (see the method chapter in appendix 1).
The specific purpose of the portraits is to give the reader
a nuanced insight into some of the working-environment
impacts that new forms of work may have for young people.
The portraits represent the personal perspectives of the
14 young people on their working lives in the Nordic countries.
Together, the portraits form a pallet of nuances, insights and
knowledge about the labour market lying ahead for future
generations.
2.1
Gaming: a professional work
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2.1 Gaming: a professional work
The first two portraits are about professional e-sport gamers.
One e-sport gamer is Norwegian, and plays StarCraft, and
the other e-sport gamer is Danish, and plays Counter-Strike.
They have in common that they both have contracts with
professional e-sports teams. The two young gamers both
refer to their work as being physically and psychologically very
stressful, but also as having financial and social privileges.
They are both familiar and successful in a market with
increasing commercial interests.
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Photo: iStock
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Portrait 1:
Eirik – professional e-sport gamer
(StarCraft)
Eirik is 26 years old and lives in Oslo.
In the recent five years, he has been
working as a professional e-gamer. He
plays StarCraft. StarCraft is a real-time
strategy game, where the gamer steers
the troops around at a map, aiming
to outmaneuver the enemy. He char-
acterizes himself as independent, but
a professional StarCraft team in fact
employs him. Eirik is one of the best
in Europe. His title ‘top grand master’
means that he belongs in the top two
percent of StarCraft players. Eirik lives
alone. He travels extensively around the
world playing tournaments. During the
last five years, he has been living abroad
for shorter or longer periods. Before he
started as a professional e-gamer, he
studied Musicology at a Norwegian uni-
versity for five months, because he is in-
terested in music and always has played
music. However, it was more attractive
for him to become a professional gamer:
“The university became too theoreti-
cal, and I was too impatient to continue
studying. For me it was more tangible to
be a professional e-sport gamer. It was
more attractive. I had already reached
a high level, winning a couple of minor
tournaments. So, I had earned like 50
$ and 70 $ and even 100. I travelled
around the country on data gatherings
competing with other gamers. And then I
thought, ‘this is something I can manage’.
I had some savings from earlier jobs. So,
I decided to use the money the first year
that I played, and after a year, I evaluated
it. I don’t regret choosing this.”
2.1
Gaming: a professional work
Both Eirik’s parents have a university
degree, with no specific relation to
gaming. They have always encouraged
him to play music:
“It has been difficult for me to be inter-
ested in e-sport gaming, because my
parents are not very happy about it. I was
not allowed doing it as much as I wanted
to. On the other hand, they were not so
strict as others have been. And it was my
parents that sent me to music school, for
which I am happy, that was nice. I have
been playing piano, so I have got some
mechanical skills. You have to be good at
using the keyboard, and to do things fast.
Everything happens fast in StarCraft
(...).”
Wages and working conditions
All five years that Eirik has played
StarCraft, he has been employed at a
professional team. However, at the same
time, he says he is independent:
“I am mainly independent, but you also
sign a contract with a team. So, in a way
you are employed by the team, which is
often based abroad. So there is a lot of
international stuff involved”.
The contract prohibits Eirik from playing
with other teams in other leagues. The
team has exclusive rights over a player,
so if a player becomes sick it is common
that the teams negotiate amongst each
other for a substitute and the substitute
is hired on a special temporary contract.
Furthermore, the contract stipulates
wages and commercial obligations Eirik
is obligated to take part of as a team
member.
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“In my case, as a StarCraft player, I
become part of the team profile also be-
longing to the team’s sponsor, and then
they can use my image.”
Belonging to a team provides Eirik with
security because the team pays Eirik’s
wages and travel expenses for tour-
naments in which he is not sponsored.
However, for Eirik belonging to a team is
also about belonging to a community:
“And then I become part of the team,
having contact with my teammates.
Most people know each other anyway,
but if you are on a team together, you
have to prioritize, so you help your team-
mates first, of course (…). I do know the
bosses on the team, those owning the
team together. And I do know some of
the people who work on the team.”
Additional to the salary from the team,
Eirik has income from tournaments
and from live- streaming on ‘Twitch’, a
commercial platform where players can
livestream their gameplay. These two
sources constitute the main part of his
income and according to him that is
the reason why he perceives himself as
independent. Through live streaming, his
fans can follow him on his own private
TV-channel on Twitch where they can
watch his gameplay.
“So, they can buy a kind of subscription
on this TV-channel, and they do not
become users, but subscribe, then, they
subscribe your channel”.
Thus, Eirik describes his income as an
entity made up from several different
sources of income:
36
“Throughout my career, the largest part
of my income has been from the tourna-
ments. (…) Then you have the streaming
and your own TV-channel, and then the
wage from the team. But the income
varies a lot from game to game and from
team to team. It is difficult for me as
a professional to know how much other
players earn. But I know that here have
been periods earlier, when my game was
more popular. At that time people earned
about 10,000 dollar a month. But it has
gradually decreased. When the game
has decreased in popularity, the wages
has also decreased.[…] The tournament
that have the highest wage or prizepool
in the game I play, is the year final in
the USA, were about 500,000 dollars is
distributed”.
»
I have a very few ordinary
days, and mostly I can do
whatever I want. Get up
and go to bed at any times,
unless if there are tourna-
ments where I participate.
So it is very free.
Eirik – Professional e-sport gamer
An ordinary workday
Eirik’s work life is quite diverse. He says
that there is almost no ordinary days.
He plays between 4 and 12-13 hours a
day adding that 12-13 hours is somewhat
extreme. The day before the interview,
he streamed gameplay for 10 hours, but
other days he streams less, and choos-
es to look at other players to learn in
order to become a better player himself.
Most days he spends 8 hours or more on
StarCraft.
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“I have a very few ordinary days, and
mostly I can do whatever I want. Get up
and go to bed at any times, unless if there
are tournaments where I participate. So
it is very free, but you always have to do
what is the best to become a better gam-
er, so you may reach your top level in the
next tournament. In practice, you just get
up in the morning, like everybody else, eat
breakfast, and usually, if there is some
paperwork or something that I try to do”.
competitive gaming environment can
supply both friends and enemies:
“You do 99% yourself, and then you try
to learn from others, by looking at other
players. But mainly, you do all yourself.
The process, becoming better [at the
playing StarCraft], it is usually something
you do alone. You get some help along
the way. You get friends in the game
you are playing, some enemies, enemies
and friends. Someone that can teach you
something and someone that don’t want
teach you anything at all.”
Another trait of Eirik’s work life is
travelling, because his team participates
in tournaments around the world. During
the last five years, Eirik has had between
40 and 70 days of travel a year, but in
addition to this, he has been living
abroad for shorter or longer periods.
“Actually, in periods I have been moving
into a team-house, living there for a peri-
od of time, from 2 weeks up to two-three
months. I have also been in South Korea
for a shorter while and in Poland, and in
Sweden. But you become homesick. […]
But it can be positive living together in a
house and train together.”
In addition, Eirik tells, that he has not
travelled for a vacation since he became
a professional gamer:
“I have not had any vacation, traveling
south or something like that since I be-
came a professional. But I have been on
many tournaments traveling all over the
world anyway. So it mixes up in a way.”
»
I have not had any
vacation, traveling south or
something like that since
I became a professional.
But I have been on many
tournaments traveling all
over the world anyway.
So it mixes up in a way.
Eirik – Professional e-sport gamer
In addition to the game itself, Eirik has
other tasks as well. He has tasks of
both commercial and of administrative
nature. Occasionally Eirik is required to
participate in a Skype meeting or shoot a
film related to sponsors and the admin-
istrative dimension of his working life
is mainly “paperwork” as Eirik himself
labels it. That means answering emails,
do accounting, and send expenses to ac-
counting if the team is supposed to pay
for travel expenses, or identifying tour-
naments and qualifying tournaments for
him and the team to enter. Central for
Eirik’s work is that he has never received
any form of training in order to solve his
tasks, rather he has experienced that the
2.1
Gaming: a professional work
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To organize the time: ‘You may
always turn on the streaming’
Eirik tells that he finds it a big challenge
to organize his working time. He is con-
tractually obliged to stream a certain
number of hours of gameplay a week,
and in order to fulfil this demand he
needs opponents on his level, because
in StarCraft players cannot compete
with the computer. Eirik continues to tell
that it is highly unlikely to play against
other players at his level before 10 PM
and the game continues until one in the
morning.
So, you are dependent on the time zones,
so people on your level are there to play
with you. […] For example if I get up at
seven, then it is useless to start stream-
ing, so then it is better to do things like
exercising early in the morning.
However, Eirik can stream gameplay 24
hours a day in single player mode if he
chooses too, but he says it is important
to find a balance between training and
streaming:
Nevertheless, training is not the only
reason for Eirik to stay offline:
“Or if you have a bad day, maybe you do
not wish to be in front of a camera and
do the streaming. So it varies a lot how
much you want to stream. Streaming is
more demanding than training without
anyone watching. Because then you can
take longer breaks. If you get a phone
call, it is not a problem to take the call
and disappear for 15 minutes. But if you
stream, then you are broadcasting, and
it is stupid to end the broadcast if you
want to keep the viewers. So, there are
38
some extra responsibilities when you are
streaming.”
To create your own brand
The game itself is the main part of
Eirik’s working life, i.e., the competition,
the tournaments, and the streaming.
Through the game, he is able to create a
brand for himself as a player. However,
social media skills are also important if
Eirik wants expand his personal brand
and make himself more attractive for
commercial partners.
“If you are good at social media, it is an
advantage to create an image around
yourself. It is a very important skill. For
instance, many professionals have a huge
talent for the game they are playing,
but then they can be really wild, and do
not behave well, and that is not good at
social media platforms. To have good
skills [ed. In social media] is very valua-
ble for the sponsorship. Or the opposite,
if you are not good at competing, you
may compensate by being very good at
presenting personality on social media
or by streaming, or in combination. Most
people choose just to compete to earn
their money in that way, that is the core.
But you also have these set of skills that
sponsors may find attractive: If you are
a professional gamer, and is very athletic
and is exercising, then you are very at-
tractive for those [sponsors] selling food
supplements or proteins and such things.”
Working environment: Stress, insomnia
and neck pain
Eirik tells that his body is challenged by
the fact that his work is sedentary. He is
in front of the computer all the time and
often without breaks. As a result of this
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Eirik tells that he often experiences neck
and back pains. In order to prevent these
injuries, Eirik tries to exercise at least
twice a week in a gym:
”I would say, that to sit down that much
is the biggest challenge. It is easy to get
neck and shoulder pain. (…) I practice a
lot, and when I have tried to practice less,
then my level has stagnated or has even
dropped. So, I have chosen to continue.
The problem is that it can be difficult for
the body, if you are not good at doing
your exercise.”
The pain in neck and shoulders appear
when Eirik skips his exercise.
“It [neck and shoulder pain] also happens,
when there are a lot of tournaments to
play, I just forget to do it. I am not as
disciplined as I should, but I try. You spend
so much time practicing in front of the
screen, and the you play yourself, or you
are streaming these TV-things. You have
a microphone, and comment, and make a
small TV-show. So either I stream, or I do
not. If I do not stream, then I most often
have some specific training towards the
next tournament.”
Eirik also describes how he in one specific
tournament performed so poorly because
of the pain in his neck and shoulder:
“There was a time when I did badly at the
tournaments, because I was not exer-
cising properly. I had so much pain in my
neck that I was not able to concentrate.
But afterwards, I took more breaks and
started to focus on strength exercise. I do
not think that I am able to run for many
minutes, but I have never been seriously
2.1
Gaming: a professional work
ill, or have any complaints. So even if I
perceive some pain, and sometimes have
pain in the arm after playing for consec-
utive 11 hours or something like that, I am
good taking a break, when it goes too
far.”
»
I would say, that to sit down
that much is the biggest
challenge. It is easy to get
neck and shoulder pain. (…)
I practice a lot, and when
I have tried to practice less,
then my level has stagnated
or has even dropped. So,
I have chosen to continue.
The problem is that it can be
difficult for the body, if you
are not good at doing your
exercise.
Eirik – Professional e-sport gamer
The physical challenge of professional
e-sport gaming is one thing, but the
mental side is another. Thus, Eirik de-
scribes how gaming is stressful:
“Yes, stress is a challenge, because the
whole game is very stressful. There are
many elements of stress in the game. In
some periods of the game, it is very cha-
otic and hectic and everything happens
at the same time. But at the same time,
there are also patterns and stuff in the
game that can be controlled, and after
a while you get used to it.(…) I have not
exactly measured the heart rate while
playing. Somebody has, and they have a
very high heart rate when they are play-
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ing. But there have not been that much
research on e-games and stress, and
heart rate, and how it affects the body
physically and mentally in the long run.
Nevertheless, I assume, it is the same in
chess, and in sport that if things go bad it
can be a stressor. The game or the match
in itself can be stressor and losing can
also be stressful.”
The stressful situations are interfering
with Eirik’s sleep:
“It’s also difficult to sleep from time to
time. Because you have to consider the
time zones. In general, you work a lot in
front of the screen, and with these time
zones (…) so if you are not good at it, you
may get a disturbed circadian rhythm.
That happens in my case, it is difficult to
get regular sleep..”
then I had a schedule that was unfortu-
nate, combining two tournaments at the
same day. So I played for consecutive
11 hours. It went so well, that I won all
the rounds that I had to win. In the end,
I gave 100%. And then I had a zom-
bie-head. And in these cases, it can be dif-
ficult to sleep. I lay sleepless for three or
four hours. The job has a very important
mental side to it; to be able to handle
these things in the right way. But I will
say, eh, I have not met that many gamers
that have been influenced in a negative
way, who have been damaged..”
When times are tough, Eirik has his
personal network of friends in Oslo. He
says, that they are also the reason he
wants to be based in Oslo. He needs
them for support. Eirik also make use
of his colleagues on the team, they chat
online or skype every day. In addition to
his friendships, there is also an organiza-
tional structure around the team, which
often provides the players with mental
support:
“Often you have mental coaches on the
team; this is necessarily not the same as
friends or family. Then it becomes more
related to competitions and the practical
things. But mostly, it is 99% me.”
Economic security
Eirik has just bought an apartment, so at
present economic security is very impor-
tant to him:
“I have just bought a flat, so I try to pay
back my loan. I do not like to have this
loan at all. I find it unpleasant. So I try to
save as much as I can, and pay down my
loan, before I do anything else.”
New forms of work among young people
»
It’s also difficult to sleep
from time to time. Because
you have to consider the
time zones. In general, you
work a lot in front of the
screen, and with these time
zones (…) so if you are not
good at it, you may get a
disturbed circadian rhythm.
That happens in my case,
it is difficult to get regular
sleep.
Eirik – Professional e-sport gamer
Eirik describes a particular day on which
he played for 11 hours straight:
“This was competitions, with qualifica-
tion-matches that really mattered. And
40
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Photo: iStock
2.1
Gaming: a professional work
Photo: Sean Do/ Unsplash
Photo: Nikita Kachanovsky/ Unsplash
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 BEU, Alm.del - 2018-19 (2. samling) - Bilag 10: Orientering om rapport om unge i atypisk beskæftigelse, fra beskæftigelsesministeren
The loan for the apartment also influenc-
es his choice to stay in gaming:
“That is also why I am reluctant to quit
as a professional gamer, because it is not
reasonable to end it right now. I had my
best year, last year. […] In that perspec-
tive, I think it would be unpleasant or
unreasonable to quit and start studying,
and to pick up a part time job.
future, he returns to music as a possible
focus for his future:
It is difficult to say, because my life has
changed a lot until now. But I wish I
could be a musician. But I do not have
the time. I do not have the level that
is required to become a professional
musician. So even if I make music and
even publish some of this music on the
internet and such, this is not something I
actively want to promote right now. I feel
that I am not at the level I should really
be at. So, that is the way it is, maybe in
the future. (…) I know, I could continue
to game if I wanted to. But I think that
there will come a time when people may
say ´enough is enough, now I want to
do something else’. To set up a family, all
these aspects with growing up, then you
really choose something else.
In terms of settling down and starting a
family, the working hours are not suitable
notes Eirik, and he predicts that a family
life and a life as a professional gamer is
not compatible.
“I think if you cannot give 100 % of your
time and attention to the game, then it
is not worth it for anyone. Maybe people
have an inner mental limit, for when it
is not worth it anymore. Right now, I am
motivated for StarCraft and e-sport
games. Maybe it opens up for some possi-
bilities, I do not know. Some choose to be-
come commentators; personally, I do not
want to be a commentator or an analytic.
I think musician could be the funniest, and
if that is not possible, something with the
university, coding or something.”
In terms of settling down and
starting a family, the working
hours are not suitable notes
Eirik, and he predicts that a
family life and a life as a
professional gamer is not
compatible.
Eirik realizes that he is in a privileged
position as a gamer with a fixed income
with a Norwegian citizenship meaning
that he will always be able to return to
his studies:
“In other countries many play profession-
ally and live from day to day. I am lucky,
that is not an issue. I have always been
a year in advance [economically], and
additionally, I can go back to get an edu-
cation (.…) That is also one of the reasons
I chose to take this chance, because it is
easy and possible to go back to a univer-
sity in Norway. I think that opportunity
has to be protected.”
The future: ‘If you can’t give 100% of
your time, then maybe it is not worth it
anymore’
Eirik has always played music, and when
asked about how he looks upon his
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Portrait 2:
Nicolai – Professional e-sport gamer
(Counter-Strike)
Nicolai is 21 years old. He is a professional
Counter-Strike player for the team As-
tralis, which is currently the number one
Counter-Strike team in the world.
Counter-Strike is a team-based,
first-person shooter computer game.
Officially, Nicolai still lives with his
parents in the small city of Vejle in the
western part of Denmark. However,
when he is not travelling the world to
participate in tournaments or meeting
with his teammates in Copenhagen, he
spends most of his time in Stockholm,
where his girlfriend lives.
Nicolai has completed a three-year high-
er commercial examination (upper-sec-
ondary programme). He was originally
enrolled at a sports college because he
was very serious about badminton. Then
he injured his knee and could no longer
play badminton, and instead he became
interested in Counter-Strike. It soon
became clear that this was something
he was very keen on, and he transferred
from the badminton programme to an
e-sports programme. When asked about
the game’s sudden rise in popularity and
his own life situation, he says:
“Suddenly it all exploded and the massive
interest meant that we had to travel a
lot. And I was allowed to transfer from
badminton to e-sports. This meant that
I was granted leave from my studies so I
could travel in connection with e-sports
gigs abroad and still manage to complete
my course.”
Nicolai’s parents are both academics.
His mother was a member of the Danish
national team in badminton when she
was younger and his father was very
interested in computers. Nicolai has been
playing both badminton and computer
games from a rather young age. The
thrill of winning is the best feeling in the
world, as he says:
“The most thrilling thing for me is when
we win a tournament. I’ve been pro-
grammed to win since I was a little boy
- nothing beats the thrill of winning.
Winning is 100% for sure what makes me
the happiest in life.”
Salary and employment conditions
Nicolai describes in precise terms the
conditions of his employment and the
players’ employment contract. He says
that the players do not fall under the
terms of the Danish Employers’ and
Salaried Employees Act, but that they
enjoy many of the rights stipulated in
this law, such as paid holiday. He has
obviously thought a lot about this.
»
It’s really important to
know that you’re covered
and to feel secure... That’s
something you learn from
day one...
Nicolai – Professional e-sport gamer
“It’s really important to know that you’re
covered and to feel secure... That’s some-
thing you learn from day one... I signed
my first contract when I was 16 and my
parents helped me. Things weren’t that
professional then. You gradually learn
that the little squiggle you make on a
43
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piece of paper is really important for your
future. We were very aware of this when
we started Astralis and were negotiating.”
The players get a fixed salary, “so in a way,
we’re regular employees,” says Nicolai.
But then he goes on to say that, they are
more like consultants, because the prize
money they win from tournaments varies
from month to month, depending on their
performance.
“When we win a tournament, we might win
DKK 600,000 per person that month. And
if we lose, we might only make DKK 5,000
or DKK 10,000. We’re allowed to talk about
how much we make. We make DKK 85,000
a month.”
tions that we really didn’t think about at
all when we signed the contract.”
But there are some strings attached to
Nicolai’s contract – he can’t just switch
to a competing team.
“If I wanted to stop today, I’d have to talk
to the rest of the team about it... I’d
probably be allowed to leave when I
wanted to. But only if I don’t start playing
for another Counter-Strike team for as
long as my original contract lasts.”
The commercial – and sports aspect
Nicolai describes how working as a
professional Counter-Strike player has
a commercial and sports aspect. The
sports part is when Nicolai plays Coun-
ter-Strike with his team and competes
with other teams from around the world.
At the time of this interview, Astralis was
the best team in the world. About the
sports part, Nicolai says:
“We play practice matches, online
tournaments and tournaments where
we have to travel all over the world. The
online matches against other teams are
divided into leagues and ‘onside’ tourna-
ments are streamed (online (ed.)). And
the practice matches where we com-
pete against other teams are not shown
anywhere.”
However, in order to cash in even more
on the team’s success, the players have
several other commitments. Nicolai
describes these commitments:
»
We play practice matches,
online tournaments and
tournaments where we have
to travel all over the world.
Nicolai – Professional e-sport gamer
Nicolai is happy about his current player
contract for the Astralis team. The players
are actually co-owners of the team,
and all the players own an equal share.
Three members of the team reached this
arrangement based on their years of
experience within e-sports.
“Three of us have been playing together
since 2013. That’s a long time. And we’ve
seen both the good sides and the bad sides
of e-sports. We’ve worked under contracts
that were not in our favour. And we’ve learnt ”The other part of the job is the commercial
aspect. You’re a public figure and your job is
from our mistakes, because in the past we
to sell sponsorships, for example, through
have been tied to some terms and condi-
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our agency. They’re responsible for all of
our commercial contracts. You learn a lot,
for example, how to commercialise your-
self and in a way be an advert..”
we can sell our team to other sponsors in
the future.”
The content that Nicolai describes here
is typically images or videos of, e.g., team
interaction situations. He goes on to talk
about how the team’s fans are very
interested in getting a peek behind the
scenes of the world’s best Counter-Strike
team. This content is typically shared via
YouTube, Twitter, Facebook and Insta-
gram. Nicolai goes on to describe how, in
the afternoon, the team then directs its
focus on the sport aspect of work.
“Later in the day we begin to play, and
then we practice. Today we’ll practice
from 4pm to 7pm, and from 7pm to
9pm we have league matches. League
matches are streamed matches in online
leagues, where you play to qualify for a
tournament.”
Long days and irregular hours, working
14-16 hours a day
Nicolai’s workday varies and depends on
whether he is working from home and
playing online, whether he is travelling,
or whether he is with his team in Copen-
hagen. Nicolai describes that it is not
easy to count how many hours he
actually works a day, because almost
everything he does is in some way re-
lated to his job as a professional Coun-
ter-Striker.
“Everybody expects me to perform all
the time – the team, the fans, and me.
People constantly want something from
me. I have to give interviews, and I have
to keep up with everything that’s going
on. So, it’s easily a 14-16-hour workday.
But it’s difficult to say exactly how many
45
»
Everybody expects me to
perform all the time – the
team, the fans, and me.
People constantly want
something from me.
I have to give interviews,
and I have to keep up with
everything that’s going on.
So, it’s easily a 14-16-hour
workday. But it’s difficult
to say exactly how many
hours I work, because a lot
of what I do in my life is
related to my work.
Nicolai – Professional e-sport gamer
Nicolai describes what a typical day at
work looks like for him. The team meets
at the Astralis office at 10 in the morn-
ing. Astralis has an office and training
facilities in Copenhagen. They’ll typically
work for four to five hours on the busi-
ness, for example, planning how to man-
age the team’s commercial potential.
“So we work for four or five hours dealing
with the business side of things - which
direction should we move in, and writing
content for the organisation. Like today,
a potential sponsor came to the office
and we talked about headsets. Then
we’ll make some videos and a few media
people will come and film our ideas. And
then we’ll work on some content for the
commercial part of our activities so that
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hours I work, because a lot of what I do in
my life is related to my work.”
It is difficult for Nicolai to state precisely
how many hours he works a day, because
there is no clear line between work and
pleasure.
“For example, when I go to the gym or go
for a run, that’s also good for my career.
When I play computer games outside of
our practice sessions, that’s also good for
my career. When I’m working on commer-
cial stuff, or using social media, which is
really just something you do in your spare
time, that’s also good for my career and
my work life. Almost everything I do, ex-
cept maybe eating and sleeping, in some
way or other has an effect on my work
life. So I work 14-16 hours a day quite a
lot.”
When Nicolai is asked, when he does not
work, he answers:
“Not working for me is when I’m with my
friends or with my girlfriend. When I’m
doing something, where I’m not thinking
about work or gaming. And of course my
family. These are the three main things
that help me stress down and allow me to
not think about work.”
Network and support
It is not just when Nicolai wants to think
of other things than work that he turns
to his family and network. He also talks
about how his parents have been there
for him throughout, but that it is the way
the team works together and their joint
journey that he stresses as being most
important.
“There are three of us on the team, and
we’ve been playing together since 2013.
That’s a long time. And we’ve seen both
the good sides and the bad sides of
e-sports. We’ve worked under contracts
that were not in our favour. And we’ve
learnt from our mistakes, because in the
past we have been tied to some terms
and conditions that we really didn’t think
about at all when we signed the contract.
We learned that we needed to pay much
more attention to the details and to in-
clude some people, including ”The Danish
Athletes Association”. They help us with
the negotiations and walk us through all
the details. You know, are the basics of
this contract okay?”
»
Because we travel together
180 days a year, we spend
quite a few hours together
where we’re not working,
and we share a room when
staying at a hotel. So
it’s important that we’re
friends and can be open
about everything. Yes,
that’s really important.
Nicolai – Professional e-sport gamer
Interviewer:
“So you know your fellow
team members very well. How important
is that to you?”
Nicolai:
“Well, there are two aspects
here. We’re colleagues and we’re friends.
Because we travel together 180 days a
year, we spend quite a few hours together
where we’re not working, and we share
New forms of work among young people
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Photo: Tim Marshall/ Unsplash
2.1
Gaming: a professional work
Photo: Andre Hunter/ Unsplash
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Photo: Anthony Brolin/ Unsplash
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a room when staying at a hotel. So it’s
important that we’re friends and can be
open about everything. Yes, that’s really
important. Because then you don’t feel
like you’re working away from home 180
days a year. It feels more like you’re trav-
elling with your mates when you’re out on
a job where you have to perform. That we
achieve all the goals we’ve set together.
That means a lot.”
This means that tournaments or league
matches are played at a time of day
when the audience has time to watch.
Consequently, Nicolai often has a match
when most other people are off work.
Nicolai:
“Yes, I can work from home when
we’re just playing and practicing online.
Or from the office (in Copenhagen (ed.))
when we’re not travelling for tournaments.
But most of the time when we’re working
from home, we work for seven hours and
we play for all those seven hours. Then
we meet up (online (ed.)) from, e.g. noon
to 7pm. Or if we’ve planned to play in the
evening, we might play from 4pm to 11pm,
with just a 30-minute break to get some-
thing to eat. That’s what it’s like when
we’re all at home.”
Interviewer:
“It sounds like you play at
times when the rest of us usually watch
TV or meet up with friends. What’s that
like?”
“It’s the same with football – the match-
es are in the evening so that people can
watch them. It’s just part of the job. Well,
I’ll be honest, it has been hard. Because
your social life is so limited in that regard.
But I don’t think it means that you lose
your social skills. But it definitely means
that you don’t have a lot of time, and you
have to plan how you spend your time an
awful lot. But I’ve always enjoyed what I’ve
been doing so much that I haven’t really
thought about the consequences in the ac-
tual moment. I enjoy playing with the guys.
They’re my colleagues and my friends. And
I do enjoy travelling. I’m very competitive
by nature and I want to be the best. So, I
really think it’s been good for me to be able
to specialise in something.”
New forms of work among young people
»
It’s the same with football
– the matches are in the
evening so that people can
watch them. It’s just part of
the job. Well, I’ll be honest,
it has been hard. Because
your social life is so limited
in that regard. But I don’t
think it means that you
lose your social skills. But
it definitely means that you
don’t have a lot of time,
and you have to plan how
you spend your time an
awful lot.
Nicolai – Professional e-sport gamer
Whereas Nicolai relies on his family and
his fellow team members for mental
and social support, he and the team
turned to ”The Danish Athletes Associa-
tion” when they signed a contract with
Astralis.
“We play our matches when everyone else
has time to watch us play”
E-sports are very popular and there are
many commercial interests at stake.
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The team does have, however, some say
with regard to how many tournaments
they participate in. Nicolai explains that
their tournament schedule is planned six
months in advance. They used to play in
several tournaments every month, but
recently they have decided to slow down
a little.
“We could choose to do three tourna-
ments a month. But we’ve decided to
do one tournament a month and in-
stead focus on winning every single one.
This lets us focus on giving a champion
performance every time. We’re exposed
to an extreme level of stress when we’re
traveling. This makes it difficult to be and
do your best all the time, especially if you
have to push yourself more and more.”
Health and safety: The level of stress has
been constant for two years
Nicolai’s work has not left his body un-
marked. He talks about how he suffers
from a condition called lower oesopha-
geal sphincter dysfunction.
“I have felt the consequences of the
stress I’ve been under before. I’ve de-
veloped a fairly serious condition where
the lower oesophageal sphincter, which
is the muscle between the oesophagus
and the stomach, no longer works 100%.
It doesn’t close properly and this has led
to some complications. It’s the result of
stress. My doctors say it’s because my
body’s been under constant stress for the
past two years. So now, I have to be very
careful about what I eat and drink and
how much caffeine and so on I get. That’s
one of the negative sides of it. That my
body is under all this pressure, and it’s the
same for everyone on the team.”
2.1
Gaming: a professional work
The interviewer comments that you
cannot tell by looking at Nicolai that he is
under stress; rather he seems very calm
and composed in those stressful situa-
tions.
»
I have felt the consequences
of the stress I’ve been
under before. I’ve developed
a fairly serious condition
where the lower
oesophageal sphincter,
which is the muscle between
the oesophagus and the
stomach, no longer works
100%. It doesn’t close
properly and this has led to
some complications. It’s the
result of stress. My doctors
say it’s because my body’s
been under constant stress
for the past two years.
Nicolai – Professional e-sport gamer
“I think you learn to hide the stress, and
you learn to deal with it on your own. I
can feel that now. Whenever we lose, I
push myself even more to get better. And
this can be both a good and a bad thing.
If you push your body too hard, you get
stressed. I would never blame my team
for us losing. I always take responsibility
– maybe not for everything but for a lot –
at least I do in my head [...] I put a lot of
pressure on myself, so I can perform my
best every single time. And that’s just not
healthy. This is also something I talk to my
sports psychologist about: how can I learn
to accept that I can’t win every time.”
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In addition to the help he gets from his
sports psychologist, Nicolai also men-
tions something else that has helped
him. He recently got a girlfriend, and
being with her helps him relax.
“Now I have someone I can share things
with. And I can really feel how much
stress I’m actually under when I have time
to reflect. When I’m with her, I can let go
in a way I couldn’t before.”
“You learn to build a wall around
yourself”
E-sport gaming is a sport that has
grown exponentially over the past few
years. The best players become celebri-
ties and receive a lot of attention from
both the media and fans. Nicolai says
that the team has hired someone to deal
with the media for them, and they also
have their own sports psychologist who
helps them deal with the pressure they’re
under, and the attention they get from
their fans. Nicolai describes what it is like
to have fans:
“There are good days when meeting a
fan can make you happy and energise
you. And then there are bad days when
you’ve played poorly and lost or where
you ‘meet’ your opponent’s fans. There’s
a very destructive side to the world of
e-sports. Especially because so many
fans are hidden behind a screen. And the
things they write online usually don’t have
any consequences for them. This means
that some people are really nasty. You
learn to build a wall around yourself.”
Nicolai reports that he is not the only one
targeted in the malicious online com-
ments; sometimes his family, his girlfriend
or his friends are targeted.
50
“That can be really hard to deal with. If I
share a picture of someone on social me-
dia, sometimes people make really mean
comments. I’m not sure whether they re-
alise how hurtful this can be. But it’s dif-
ficult because I have built a wall around
myself and can take it. But if I can see
that someone that I care about is hurt,
then it’s really difficult to do anything. I’m
the reason that they’re in the line of fire
because I’m a public person. I’m still not
quite sure how to deal with this.”
»
There are good days when
meeting a fan can make you
happy and energise you.
And then there are bad days
when you’ve played poorly
and lost or where you ‘meet’
your opponent’s fans.
There’s a very destructive
side to the world of
e-sports. Especially because
so many fans are hidden
behind a screen. And the
things they write online
usually don’t have any
consequences for them. This
means that some people
are really nasty. You learn to
build a wall around yourself.
Nicolai – Professional e-sport gamer
Involved in building his future career
Despite having a hectic work schedule,
especially after his team won the world
championship, Nicolai sees the increased
attention as a way to shape his future
work life.
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“The media coverage has been intense,
and so many people wanted to hear
about it. And of course, we also want to
tell the world about what we do. So it’s
become pretty intense. But this is also
an advantage, because it’s good for our
work prospects in the future that more
and more people are interested in what
we do.”
E-sports is still a relatively new phenom-
enon, and Nicolai is very aware of this.
This is why it’s important for him to be
involved in shaping the future of the
sport and in ensuring that it evolves in a
way that is positive for players.
“Well yes, in a way I think that it’s fair
to say that I’m involved in building my
future career. No matter what you work
with, it’s extremely important that you
network and that you’re out there – that
your voice is heard. We’re also laying the
groundwork for what this profession will
look like in the distant future. So we owe
a favour to the people who’ll be work-
ing in this area in the future. We need
to make sure there’s good conditions
for the players of the future and find a
balance between the commercial side of
things and the sports side of things. This
is something that we really focus on as a
team. So of course, it’s important to me
to fight for players’ rights in the future.
This is our primary focus. This is where we
want players to have more influence.”
In line with these ambitions, Nicolai also
reports that the team works very well
together with their agent.
“Well, I would say that we’re mostly
on the same side of the table in our
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Gaming: a professional work
approach to things. Of course, there can
be some situations where you have to
discuss things a bit and see them from
different angles before you can reach a
fair solution. But none of us is interested
in having a bad relationship with one
another. So it’s about getting the other
party to see your side of things.”
Astralis is a unique team in this regard.
As co-owners of the team, the players
can get involved in the team and the
sport in a completely different way than
if they were merely employees.
“I think that if you look at the ten best
teams in the world, we’re the only one
where we, the players, actually own part
of the organisation. Because we are
co-owners, we all have decision-making
rights, and all players own the same
percentage of the company. We’re in this
for the long run – not just for a quick win
today.”
The future
As with all other elite sports, being a
professional within e-sports entails some
uncertainty. Nicolai says himself that
he might get unlucky one day, fall, and
break his hand, and then he would never
be able to play again. That is why he
sometimes toys with the idea of going
back to school and studying law.
“I wouldn’t say it’s something that I think
about every day. But sometimes I find
myself thinking about the fact that at
some point someone’s going to come
along who’s better than me. Someone
probably will at some point, hopefully.
At least I hope so. So you never know
how long you’ve got. And you never know
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when you’ll be too old to play. Right now,
some of the world’s best players are 31,
and I’m only 21, so that means I’ve got 10
years left at least, if I want to.”
Nicolai has not considered stopping
yet, but he knows that when he does
not think it is fun anymore, when it has
become “real work”, he would like to go
back to school. He also sometimes thinks
about the future and starting a family.
complicated to outsiders. Although
several parts of Nicolai’s employment
conditions resemble a traditional con-
tractual relationship, the employment
relationships are blurred. Nicolai refers
to himself as a ‘regular employee’ with
a contract and a fixed income. However,
a large part of his income is not fixed,
and therefore he also refers to himself
as a ‘consultant‘. Nicolai is an example
of what Scheuer (2017) characterizes as
a ‘grey-zone’ between employment and
self-employment.
Both of the gamers have many types
of incomes, and neither of them has
a traditional employer or a tradition-
al workplace. Nonetheless, in addition
to working time spent on playing their
games, they both also have contracts or
agreements saying how much time and
content they have to produce for their
many followers on different social media.
They live-stream and write on Facebook
and on other social media. Some argue
that working as a professional gamer
can be regarded as a precarious employ-
ment (Brock, 2017). Professional gamers,
like other professional athletes, cannot
count on continuing their professional
career much longer than the age of 40
years. At the same time, many gamers
have insecure incomes because a big
part of their income depends on winning
prizes in competitions or from different
kinds of fees, therefore the income of
many gamers lacks continuity (Brock,
2017). The gamers in this report have
different financial situations, but they
are both successful.
In addition to the sports part of their
work, they regard crucial to gain com-
New forms of work among young people
»
Since I was 19, this aspect
[of financial security] has
been extremely important
to me.... that I’m in fact
securing a future for my
family. You build a future
for yourself...
Nicolai – Professional e-sport gamer
“I have this idea that I’ll be ready to start
a family when I’m 27, 28, 29, and who
knows whether I’ll want to want to keep
traveling this much if I have a small child.”
Being financially secure in the future is
very important to Nicolai.
“Since I was 19, this aspect [of financial
security] has been extremely important to
me.... that I’m in fact securing a future for
my family. You build a future for yourself...
I think it’s pretty cool to be able to do
that at such a young age.”
Working as an e-sport gamer
Characteristic for both of the e-sport
gamers is that their contract, salary and
employment conditions seem rather
52
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mercial success as gamers. They are both
very performance-oriented and they
both say that their work is about ‘giving
yourself 100%’. Neither of them thinks
that the way they are currently working
will last. They think of their current work-
ing situation as a period in their lives that
cannot be reconciled with the adult life
that they imagine.
Their working environment is character-
ized by irregular and very long working
hours (usually 12-16 hours a day), where
they need to adjust to time zones to
compete in tournaments and to commu-
nicate when their subscribers on differ-
ent continents are active. There are no
clear borders between work and private
life, and they report having challenges to
manage, prioritize and plan their work
activities. Typically, they report neck and
shoulder problems related to their mainly
sedentary work, which is demanding
both physically and psychologically.
Their working environment
is characterized by irregular
and very long working hours
(usually 12-16 hours a day),
where they need to adjust to
time zones to compete in
tournaments and to commu-
nicate when their subscribers
on different continents are
active. There are no clear
borders between work and
private life, and they report
having challenges to manage,
prioritize and plan their work
activities. Typically, they
report neck and shoulder
problems related to their
mainly sedentary work, which
is demanding both physically
and psychologically.
2.1
Gaming: a professional work
53
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2062168_0054.png
2.2 Work via digital platforms (offline and online work)
Even though the following two young people are not employed
with e-sport activities, their work still resembles that of the
gamers, as both the gamers and the online platform workers
both depend on online technology.
54
New forms of work among young people
Photo: Colourbox
 BEU, Alm.del - 2018-19 (2. samling) - Bilag 10: Orientering om rapport om unge i atypisk beskæftigelse, fra beskæftigelsesministeren
Portrait 3:
Stefan: Self-employed and paid per
translated word
Stefan Kjeldsen is 25 years old. He holds
a BA in International Trade and Market-
ing form Aarhus Academies of Profes-
sional Higher Education, graduating in
January 2016. He lives in the small town
of Ikast in rural Jutland with his girl-
friend. Stefan is in the process of getting
a small business up and running, “One
Student”. Stefan describes One Student
as a Trustpilot for schools and courses of
education. It comprises an online plat-
form, which gives students and pupils
the opportunity to review their courses
of education.
“Qualitative assessment has finally
arrived in the educational sector. The ed-
ucational sector is old and set in its ways,
and is in need of a shake-up,” says Stefan.
Up to now, Stefan has primarily worked
from home in his flat in Ikast. However,
just a week before we spoke to him he
secured a workspace at a startup-hub,
Wildskab. Since his business does not
currently provide him with revenue,
Stefan needs to find another source of
income. To support himself Stefan takes
on translation projects via the online
platform freelancer.com.
Working via the online platform
freelancer.com
Since graduating, Stefan has spent 3-4
hours a day translating English texts
to Danish. He bids on these translation
assignments on the online platform
freelancer.com, for which he is paid DKK
0.15-0.35/word [0.02 - 0.05 Euro]. He
2.2
Work via digital platforms (offline and online work)
says that his hourly salary is typically
around DKK 300-500/hour [40, 29- 67, 15
Euro]. He has translated texts for among
others Ford, Just-Eat and My Trendy
Phone.
»
I’m paid per translated
word.
Stefan – Self-employed
Freelancer.com is a website, which
facilitates contact between workers
and employers. The website is American
and advertises paid assignments that
can be completed irrespective of one’s
geographic location. The translation
assignments, which Stefan takes on,
are frequently texts intended for use in
search engine optimization, alongside
other internet-based texts.
Freelancer effectively functions as an on-
line auction site, with employers inviting
bids on assignments via the platform.
Freelancers can then bid on the assign-
ment online. A good rating and a low
price are factors that influence which
freelancer is awarded a given assign-
ment.
“I’m paid per translated word. As such the
way they (the customers (ed.)) differen-
tiate between the various freelancers is
entirely based on the per word price they
offer. I would like to be paid DKK 0.30/
word [0.02 Euro], because then I know I’ll
be paid an hourly wage of DKK 300-500
[40.29- 67.15 Euro]. All the same, I some-
times bid on assignments simply because
I don’t have any work at the minute. In
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that case I’ll settle for DKK 0.20/word
[0.03 Euro].”
It is free to sign up to ‘freelancer.com’,
but the site charges a commission
amounting to 10% of fees paid via the
site. For this reason Stefan and his
more regular customers avoid arrang-
ing assignments via freelancer.com, but
instead agree terms and settle invoices
outside of the site. Stefan has this to
say about his initial experiences on
freelancer.com:
“To begin with you really hawk yourself,
and earn hardly any money for the assign-
ments you take. And then little by little
you build up a good reputation. It’s easier
to get assignments if you have 25 reviews
saying you are fantastic. If you’ve been
given five stars and people are giving
reasonably positive feedback. Things like:
’He got the job done on time.”
Stefan also explains how freelancers
from across the world are competing
with one another on freelancer.com,
but that he has a particular advantage
because of being Danish.
“You gain an awful lot of credibility from
having a little Danish flag next to your
name, rather than an Indian one. Right
now, I’m the highest-rated Danish trans-
lator on freelancer.com. So far, there are
not a whole lot of Danes on freelancer. I
think that there are only about 50 of us
registered on the site.”
The work of being a translator: Freedom
and uncertainty
The most recent assignments Stefan
has completed were for an English client,
56
which has four webshops selling medi-
cine for the treatment of a wide range of
medical conditions.
Stefan says that when he works he has
both his tablet and his computer open. He
uses the tablet to search for information
on the medical condition in question, e.g.
hair loss or impotence. Stefan then uses
his computer to translate the English text,
which he has displayed on the tablet.
After Stefan has sent the text to his
contact in England, it is published on the
Danish language versions of the four
webshops. The text Stefan has translated
is used for the purpose of search engine
optimization. When someone from
Denmark googles ‘hair loss’ or ‘impotence’
(in Danish) the idea is that he or she will
be directed to the client’s webshop.
The English client has always been a
good client, says Stefan. The project has
made it possible for Stefan to work an
average of two hours a day over the past
14 months and to earn a monthly salary
of DKK 14-15,000 [1,880- 2,014 Euro].
This has allowed him the time and free-
dom to focus on getting his own business
up and running.
“I didn’t translate any articles yesterday.
But that doesn’t make the slightest bit
of difference to them (the client (ed.)). If I
could be bothered to spend the whole of
today and tomorrow slaving my way
through this pile of work, it wouldn’t make
a lot of difference to them. So I just write
to them and send them an invoice and the
articles, and the day after tomorrow they’ll
send me some more. There aren’t any dead-
lines, and that is just marvellous! I’m truly
my own boss when it comes to this stuff.”
New forms of work among young people
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However, such freedom also brings with
it uncertainty. Because even though Ste-
fan’s client, over the past 14 months, has
provided him a large volume of transla-
tion work, Stefan says that, the work he
receives from this client will soon dry up.
»
To be honest, l’m pretty
okay about it. I actually
think it’s going to be quite
exciting to see the effect
it’s going to have on me
mentally if I end up high and
dry. If the work completely
dries up, I won’t have any
source of income. I will get
by; I have no doubt about
that. But how is something
I will have to figure out
along the way.
Stefan – Self-employed
citing to see the effect it’s going to have
on me mentally if I end up high and dry.
If the work completely dries up, I won’t
have any source of income. I will get by;
I have no doubt about that. But how is
something I will have to figure out along
the way. If things really go wrong, well
there’s always freelancer.com where I
can earn DKK 5,000 [671 Euro] a week
can make ends meet. Right now the only
assignments available on their pay (are)
between 41 and 36 dollars [33-29 Euro].
That isn’t going to pay the bills...”
“We’re ready whenever they are”
Nevertheless, Stefan says there might be
a relatively large assignment in the pipe-
line for a client who has contacted him.
“Right now there is an assignment about
cruise liners on the horizon, so hopefully
something will materialise before too
long. The ball is in their court, and there
are at least 15 freelancers ready and
waiting to take on the job. But it’s not like
we (the freelancers (ed.)) are just sitting
around twiddling our thumbs. We keep
ourselves busy in the meantime. But we’re
ready to get started whenever they are,
and that’s precisely the problem some-
times.”
Stefan still does not have the certainty
of a guarantee of work. He is “ready
whenever they are”, and as such, he has
to be flexible regarding when he can
work, in case he is given the assignment.
However, Stefan does not see this uncer-
tainty as a problem, because by now his
network is so large that he is not worried
about the work drying up. He has loose
links to a number of companies who
distribute and broker translation assign-
57
“There is approx. another DKK 6,000’s
[805,7 Euro] worth of work for me, and
after that I won’t actually have any more
assignments. The reason for this is that
my contact person is moving on to a
new job. This means there won’t be any
more assignments until they have hired a
new country manager. A fortnight from
now there won’t be any more work, and
at that point I basically won’t have an
income.”
Despite the uncertainty surrounding his
immediate future, Stefan chooses to see
his current situation as a challenge.
“To be honest, l’m pretty okay about it.
I actually think it’s going to be quite ex-
2.2
Work via digital platforms (offline and online work)
 BEU, Alm.del - 2018-19 (2. samling) - Bilag 10: Orientering om rapport om unge i atypisk beskæftigelse, fra beskæftigelsesministeren
ments. As such, he is not an employee
but instead operates in the capacity of
freelancer with his own business.
“They (the company (ed.)) broker the work
(translation assignments (ed.)) to us free-
lancers. I have been the Danish branch
of this network of freelancers. They have
been a kind of middleman between Goog-
le and us Danish freelancers. They asked
people whether anyone was interested in
participating in this cruise liner project,
and I submitted a bid. It sounded exciting.
It’s just a matter of being pushy lots of
places, and the work will come.”
As far as Stefan is concerned, the key
thing is that his hourly wage is high
enough to allow him to spend the major-
ity of his time running his own company,
One Student, and Stefan has found
that if he makes the effort to cultivate
the right kind of contacts, new offers
of work will continue to present them-
selves. It was also via his network, that
a medical company, for whom Stefan
had translated, once offered Stefan a
full-time job at their company. He said
no, however, because he thought it did
not pay well enough. Moreover, the idea
of regular employment did not appeal to
him.
“They offered me a job in London, and
offered me a contract. But I would have
had to move to London and work an 8
a.m. to 4 p.m. day for a given salary. And
that wasn’t really something that fit with
my mindset. Ideally, I want to work on a
freelance basis. In general, I don’t like it
when the work becomes too structured,
and the hourly wage wasn’t particularly
good. They told me what to do. So all of
58
a sudden I would have become nothing
more than a drone following orders.”
Bad ratings: “You just have to move on”
Another element of uncertainty, which
looms large in the working life of a
freelancer in a platform economy, is the
public ratings, which Stefan receives on
the platform when he has completed
an assignment. For these have a major
bearing on Stefan’s chances of being
awarded further assignments in the
future. Freelancer.com features a ratings
system whereby suppliers can rate the
freelancers on a scale from one to five
stars.
»
It’s just a matter of being
pushy lots of places, and the
work will come.
Stefan – Self-employed
“The platform doesn’t tell you a great
deal, because all the client can see is how
many assignments you have completed
and what your rating is. Fortunately, all
of my clients have been satisfied with
my work. You have to be 100% sure
that when you submit the assignment
it’s of a five-star standard from start to
finish. Otherwise, your overall rating will
be completely ruined, which means you
will no longer be able to compete with
the other translators. Even if you get a
4.9 it means someone was unhappy with
something.”
Stefan thinks that by and large it is in his
hands whether or not he receives good
ratings, by ensuring that he delivers work
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2062168_0059.png
2.2
Work via digital platforms (offline and online work)
Photo: Ulrik Jantzen
Photo: Png Design/ Unsplash
Photo: Edho Pratama/ Unsplash
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that is, as he puts it, “up to scratch”. It is
also important for him to establish the
terms and specific criteria for a given
assignment before he says yes to it.
However, there are other aspects of
working in the digital realm that Stefan
finds is beyond his control. Because
frequently the text he has produced is
looked at by another freelancer who
proofreads it before it can be published.
“I take pride in the work I deliver, because
if it isn’t good enough I risk being given
a bad rating. But a client in Bangladesh
once wrote to me: ‘Hey, my proof-reader
told me the text you delivered was a pile
of rubbish... What are you going to do to
remedy that?’ Well, I won’t be doing any-
thing, because I’m certain that the work I
submitted was of a high quality.”
Interviewer:
“And this is something that
has happened to you?”
Stefan:
“Yes, customers criticize my work
when they don’t want to pay full price
for it. But instead pay me half (of the fee
(ed.)) because some proof-reader some-
where has said... What proof is there that
the client has even had the text proof-
read? Nobody can say that for sure. [...]
regardless of how major or minor it ends
up being. If for instance they (the client
(ed.) have given you, a rating of 4 out
of 5 stars and the translator complains
about this because it ruins his or her
opportunities and chances of receiving
assignments in the future. In that case,
you can raise a dispute. But often as not,
you just have to put it down to experi-
ence and move on. And you can block the
client on Skype and tell yourself ‘that’s
just how it goes’ and move on.”
Certainty and uncertainty
There are also other potential uncertain-
ties attendant on offering one’s services
on a platform such as freelancer.com.
For instance, Stefan was once offered
an assignment, which could potentially
have landed him in a sticky situation.
“I was offered a job. It involved doing
something very, very dodgy. We had to
puts flats up for sale on Den Blå Avis (a
Danish classified ads site (ed.)) and log in
using our NemID (a secure personal code
(ed.)). The idea was that people interest-
ed in buying a flat in Copenhagen would
see this flat that was far too cheap con-
sidering how nice it was. Then they had
to pay a deposit up front or something
like that. And then they (the person who
contacted Stefan (ed.)) would disappear,
no doubt forever with the money. The guy
who contacted me wanted me to put up
these ads for flats. So I contacted Den
Blå Avis and told them: ‘Are you aware
that this kind of fraud is going on?’ They
weren’t as it turned out. They had never
heard the like.”
Interviewer:
“They needed to use your
identity?”
New forms of work among young people
»
I take pride in the work
I deliver, because if it isn’t
good enough I risk being
given a bad rating.
Stefan – Self-employed
You can of course raise a ‘dispute’, as
it’s called on the platform. A conflict,
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Stefan:
“Yes, exactly. Risky business. If I
had done it, I would no doubt have got
into a lot of trouble. Maybe I would have
got a criminal conviction for being gullible
or naive. Who knows how badly it could’ve
ended.”
The challenges of working as an
entrepreneur
Stefan describes translation work as a
necessity in order to put food on the ta-
ble and enable him to pursue what truly
interests him. First and foremost, Stefan
is interested in pursuing his own project,
One Student, which he has spent a year
trying to kick-start. Stefan has this to
say about One Student:
“After the first three sales I made with
One Student I was over the moon. It was
fantastic to find out that people actually
believed in my brainchild, my project.”
Euro] just for starters. So I have always
looked to the East if I wanted any work
done. Be it graphic design or software
development, they are really good at that
stuff over there.”
Stefan currently finds himself in the
situation that the company needs to
connect with a good deal more paying
customers who Stefan himself will need
to meet and pitch the concept to. Three
continuation schools have each agreed
to pay DKK 6,000 [806 Euro] a year for
membership of One Student. However,
there is still a long way to go.
“Half of the work of being an entrepre-
neur is overcoming one’s own mental
blocks. Now I have been out of the whole
canvassing game for three months (‘can-
vassing’ meaning unsolicited telesales
(ed.)). The last time I rang up a prospec-
tive client was in November. So now I
have to get myself back into the right
frame of mind again.”
“The most difficult part of being
an entrepreneur is the solitude”
Stefan is very much aware of the chal-
lenges he faces. For this reason, he has
hired a coach. The coach works in the US
and costs DKK 1,000 [134 Euro] a month.
In return for the fee Stefan gets a
weekly consultation over Skype in which,
through dialogue, Stefan and his coach
identify a set of tasks he needs to
complete before the following consul-
tation. They discuss what challenges
Stefan is facing and how best he can go
about tackling them. The service also
includes a digital platform, which pro-
vides Stefan with goal and time man-
agement tools.
61
»
They needed to use
your identity?
»
Yes, exactly. Risky
business.
Interviewer
Stefan – Self-employed
To date One Student has only cost
Stefan money, and not earned him any.
His aim is to be able to make a living
from One Student, but there is still some
way to go before it breaks even. Among
other things, he has paid a freelance
software developer in India to develop
his website because “They’re cheap”.
“If it was a Danish company they would
have wanted at least DKK 10,000 [1,343
2.2
Work via digital platforms (offline and online work)
 BEU, Alm.del - 2018-19 (2. samling) - Bilag 10: Orientering om rapport om unge i atypisk beskæftigelse, fra beskæftigelsesministeren
“The most difficult part of being an
entrepreneur is the solitude. There aren’t
many people to talk to. My coach has
provided me with some tools to help me
overcome these mental blocks. It’s too
easy to procrastinate and thereby avoid
coming to terms with the difficult task
ahead of you. What I’m lacking is a thing
called accountability. I need to be respon-
sible for someone else than myself.”
underestimated up to now. It makes a big
difference to one’s mental state to sit and
work alongside one’s peers.”
Stefan often finds himself very busy over
the course of a working day, but none-
theless he does not consider himself as
having suffered from stress.
“Stress is not an either/or thing, but more
of a feeling of being overwhelmed; that
there is too much going on. I think every-
body has that feeling from time to time,
but I’m not sure if you can really call that
stress as such. Because, you know, I’ve
had periods when I was working so much
that I dozed off at eight in the evening
and woke up at eight o’clock the next
morning. But that is just something you
deal with, by easing off the throttle. And
telling yourself, ‘Now I’m going to get this
done in a fortnight and not a week. So in
that way I’ll take things a bit easier.”
He thinks that the feeling of being under
pressure comes about as a combination
of having a heavy workload and simul-
taneously knowing that one ought to be
working harder. “It comes down to feel-
ing that you ought to be doing more even
though you are already doing plenty.” The
feeling of pressure manifests itself in sit-
uations where Stefan finds that working
hard does not pay off. For instances if he
is turned down by a potential client.
These reflections on the psychological
challenges presented by his work loom
larger for Stefan than his physical
working environment.
»
The most difficult part of
being an entrepreneur is the
solitude. There aren’t many
people to talk to.
Stefan – Self-employed
“This social aspect is something which I
think I have rather underestimated”
Stefan has joined a shared office space,
Innovatorium, which is part of a start-
up-hub based in Herning. Innovatorium
is home to over 40 entrepreneurs who
provide each other with sparring and a
network, and Stefan says that this office
collective gives him a sense of communi-
ty and of having colleagues, something
that is of great importance for him.
“Up until recently I worked from home.
There was nothing to stop me spending
too much time sitting down or sitting
with a bad posture, or not eating regular,
healthy meals. It has become very clear
to me that that is precisely what I was
doing. But after joining this shared office
space, I feel energised; a daily routine,
something as simple as drinking coffee,
eating meals, and meeting colleagues
in the kitchen. This whole social aspect
is something, which I think I have rather
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New forms of work among young people
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Interviewer:
“What would happen if you
suffered an injury which meant that you
weren’t fit to work?”
Stefan:
“That’s a very good question.
Well, all my insurance policies still go
through my father. So I don’t have a clear
idea of how I’m insured against work
injuries. But I have accident insurance,
which would probably cover most of it. I
don’t have work injury insurance... but I’m
a member of a union, so that will help if I
get into financial difficulties.”
ambition is to get the company to a place
where I can live off it. And then go out
and teach and get a proper job where I
get to work with human beings. A job like
the one you have (addressing the inter-
viewer (ed.)), where I can lecture and
meet people and teach.”
Stefan’s goal is that his own compa-
ny will be able to provide him with the
financial security, which will enable him
to go out and find ‘a proper job’. He can-
not see himself achieving this security
through salaried work. However, salaried
work does have its advantages.
“When you have a regular paid job with a
pay packet you are forced to continually
improve your skill set and get to grips
with new challenges. This is something
I do in my work, too. But I don’t feel I’m
developing as much as my friends are. I
don’t have the experience of the job mar-
ket that they have. But I hope that the
experience... If One Student doesn’t work
out... Then I hope that the stuff I have
been up to this past year actually counts
for something in the eyes of employers.
And that I can go out and find a job in
sales and marketing.”
Besides this, Stefan also plans to start a
family.
“We want to have two children, and I
want to drive an Audi [...] It’s the classic
nuclear family, isn’t it? Mother, father,
two children and a nice house. No fences
or anything like that. A house where the
door is always open and you know your
neighbours and people say hello to one
another.”
»
This whole social aspect is
something, which I think I
have rather underestimated
up to now. It makes a big
difference to one’s mental
state to sit and work
alongside one’s peers.
Stefan – Self-employed
The future: Finances are everything
Stefan’s plans are closely tied up with his
company hopefully becoming successful.
He hopes and expects that he will be able
to make a living from the website, ideally
within the space of five years.
“Five years from now I want to be earning
a living from One Student. I have not
even set a specific financial target. I just
want to be financially independent so
that I don’t need to worry about putting
myself into debt for the rest of my life if
me and my girlfriend were to buy a house
together. I just want to have enough of
a financial buffer to be able to relax. My
2.2
Work via digital platforms (offline and online work)
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2062168_0064.png
64
New forms of work among young people
Photo: Miguelangel Miquelena/ Unsplash
 BEU, Alm.del - 2018-19 (2. samling) - Bilag 10: Orientering om rapport om unge i atypisk beskæftigelse, fra beskæftigelsesministeren
Portrait 4:
Stefan:
’The
carpenter’: Self-employed
carpenter with profiles on three digital
platforms.
Stefan is a 23-year-old professional
carpenter. He qualified in 2011. He lives
alone in a flat he owns in Copenhagen.
Over the past two and a half years, he
has run his own company. He previously
employed one other person, but nowa-
days the company is strictly a one-man
operation, which functions as a per-
manent subcontractor for a company,
which installs bathrooms. Stefan enjoys
working and says that he usually works
70 hours a week.
“A lot of people say that I must be a
workaholic, and they’re probably right.
But that is just the way I like it.”
Stefan’s father is also a carpenter and
at one point invited Stefan to become
co-owner of his father’s business.
However, that was not something that
interested Stefan.
“That wasn’t something I was interested
in doing. Because I had very different
ideas to my dad about how he ran the
business, not to mention his standards.
That wasn’t something I wanted to have
to live up to. Because, you see, I want to
sell a different kind of product.”
On an average day, Stefan works from
7 a.m. to 3 p.m. as a carpenter for the
bathroom company, while from 4 p.m. to
8 p.m. he works for clients, who come to
him via three digital platforms: ‘Handy-
hand’, the website Care.com and the app
‘WorkApp’. He has profiles on all three
2.2
Work via digital platforms (offline and online work)
platforms. Via these platforms, he typi-
cally receives projects for private clients
who need everything from gardening,
to regular carpentry, to odd jobs such
as hanging a picture. Stefan often also
works weekends.
His own one-man business
Up until half a year ago, Stefan had
one employee at his company. However,
having an employee meant that Stefan
had to work one hour extra every day
taking care of administration etc.
“That was too much, because I also had
to make sure that he always had work to
do. I had to make the effort to find clients
for him; I had to show him the ropes.”
On an average day, Stefan
works from 7 a.m. to 3 p.m. as
a carpenter for the bathroom
company, while from 4 p.m.
to 8 p.m. he works for clients,
who come to him via three
digital platforms: ‘Handyhand’,
the website Care.com and the
app ‘WorkApp’. He has profiles
on all three platforms.
Consequently, Stefan no longer employs
anyone at his company, and the carpen-
try work he does is mainly for a company,
which installs bathrooms. Stefan knows
the owner of the company, and over the
past 4-5 months, they have regularly
worked in partnership with each oth-
er. Stefan’s company is a permanent
subcontractor in this partnership. In real
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terms, the partnership means that, once
a week, the contracting company passes
on jobs to Stefan, and each month Ste-
fan sends the company an invoice for the
work he has carried out.
“They know that I’m available for work
from 7 to 3 Monday to Friday. They can
book work for me inside those hours. That
is the arrangement we have. I have often
worked overtime for them, too. But in
those cases, we have agreed in advance
that, if they needed me, I would be avail-
able.”
As such, Stefan is not employed at the
company, but he is rather a subcontrac-
tor. For instance, he has previously made
use of his own car, invoicing the company
for this service.
“So it’s almost like being employed there.
The only difference is that it’s me who
takes all the decisions. And then I invoice
them for the jobs I do for them.”
Because of the partnership with the
bathroom company Stefan has had a full
work schedule from 7 a.m. to 3 p.m. If at
some point, there is no work for him the
company will let him know on Monday
morning. In the event that the bathroom
company is unable to offer him a full day
of work, he can then simply tell his own
clients that he is also available for work
in the daytime.
Platform work: “I needed something to
be getting on with”
When Stefan qualified as a carpenter, he
did not have any work and was eager to
get started. He came across the Danish
platform Handyhand, set up a profile on
66
the site and soon began to receive jobs.
When Stefan’s company runs smoothly
with jobs in the capacity of subcontrac-
tor he usually clocks off at 3 p.m. He
then uses Handyhand and two other
platforms, Care.com and WorkApp, to fill
up the remainder of his day with work.
As Stefan puts it, he cannot be both-
ered “just sitting around twiddling my
thumbs.”
»
The summer months are the
time of year when there is
most work to be had. In the
winter months, by contrast,
there are slim pickings,
I might get a couple of jobs
each week. In the summer,
I can get ten jobs a week if
I want to.
Stefan – Carpenter
“There’s a customer who contacts me
about some work he has for me and...
yeah, then I do the work. Perhaps one in
twenty of the clients will go in and rate
(his work on the website (ed.)), or not
even that many. There really aren’t that
many clients who can actually be both-
ered to go online and leave a rating once
I’ve completed the work for them. And so
once, I’ve finished the job we settle up in
one way or another, and then, yeah... then
on I go to the next job. I’ve got this app on
my telephone where I can keep track of
the jobs I do. That way I can get an over-
view of what work I’ve got lined up each
day. I can open the app and see, ‘Okay,
Thursday next week I’m up there on a job.’
New forms of work among young people
 BEU, Alm.del - 2018-19 (2. samling) - Bilag 10: Orientering om rapport om unge i atypisk beskæftigelse, fra beskæftigelsesministeren
So I know more or less what time I’ll be
home that day. This in turn means that
I can make arrangements with my other
clients via the various platforms. I can see
that ‘well, that job is going to take me
probably 4 hours.’ And that means I have
time for the other job on Wednesday be-
cause I’ll be home early. That’s how I run
things, you know.
The summer months are the time of year
when there is most work to be had. In
the winter months, by contrast, there are
slim pickings, I might get a couple of jobs
each week. In the summer, I can get ten
jobs a week if I want to. In the summer-
time I can work full-time if I feel like it.”
Working via three different digital
platforms
The various platforms essentially have
the same basic structure; Stefan has a
digital profile, which his potential clients
have access to. However, they also differ
from one another inasmuch as his possi-
bilities for actively approaching potential
clients vary from platform to platform.
On Care.com and Handyhand Stefan
pays a monthly subscription fee of DKK
250 and DKK 85 [34-11.4 Euro], respec-
tively.
On Handyhand, clients set up jobs, which
Stefan and the other contractors on the
platform then bid on. However, clients
also have the possibility of contacting
Stefan via his profile. Regarding his
gold subscription to Handyhand Stefan
remarks:
“By paying the DKK 85 [11.4 Euro] monthly
subscription fee I appear higher up the
search results. And as soon as there are
2.2
Work via digital platforms (offline and online work)
more than two people bidding on a job,
which usually happens within the space of
five minutes, you can no longer bid on it.
Whereas if I pay (for the gold subscription
(ed.)), well then you can bid on a job right
up until the client closes it, or says ‘Now
someone has been given the job.’ And I
can search as widely as I want, and as
many types of job as I want; removals
and home help, or whatever I feel like
doing.”
In this way, gold membership enables
Stefan to offer his services under sev-
eral categories of job. There are fewer
limitations as regards geographic search
criteria and more scope for actively
seeking work. It is a way of buying better
access to jobs.
In this way, gold membership
enables Stefan to offer his
services under several
categories of job. There are
fewer limitations as regards
geographic search criteria
and more scope for actively
seeking work. It is a way of
buying better access to jobs.
The platform Care.com functions differ-
ently. At Care.com, the team that runs
the platform does the work of finding
jobs on Stefan’s behalf. He pays DKK 250
[34 Euro] a month for this service. Stefan
has provided Care.com with a short text
about himself, a CV and a list of the jobs
he would prefer to receive.
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“They represent me via the platform, for
instance by sending a message to the
client on my behalf. And then the client
sees the message and says: ‘Okay, he’s
sent me a message.’ I can see all of the
messages that they (Care.com (ed.)) send
me, and who has sent the message. So
if something comes up I can have a look
at it and say: ‘He or she has written this
or that, and that isn’t good enough.’ But
I don’t have any direct contact with any
of my clients via the platform. But they
clearly take their work seriously, because
they do this prep work for me.”
closest to offering the kind of work I want
done?’ And then they can view my profile,
and then they write to me. On this app
it’s always the client who contacts me
first.”
Administration, time management,
coordination and communication
A major part of Stefan’s working day is
spent corresponding with his many
current clients, potential clients, and
business partners. As such, there is a lot
of planning which needs to be done
before Stefan can actually start work.
First up there are the jobs he receives
each week from the bathroom company.
After that, he schedules the jobs he gets
from his other clients.
“It’s rare that I end up losing work. That
only happens if a job takes longer than
expected. Then I have to call a client and
tell them: ‘I’m busy with this other job
right now, so I’ll have to finish up here
first. I can’t just leave, that wouldn’t do.’
I don’t know if you could call it a kind of
OCD, but I hate leaving a job which is
half-finished.”
»
When I write to the client:
‘I would like to bid on your
project.’ Then you can write
a short message to the
clients. So I write a short
message, and most of them
usually get back to me. I end
up getting maybe 8 out of
10 of the projects I bid on.
Stefan – Carpenter
The third platform, which Stefan has
registered with, is WorkApp. Stefan is
new to the platform. It is easy to use be-
cause Stefan can use it via his telephone
meaning he does not need to be at his
computer in order to communicate with
a potential client. Stefan has this to say
about WorkApp:
“I don’t look for work via this WorkApp
thing. The way it works is that people go
on the platform and search for instance:
‘Who is closest to me?’, or ‘who comes
68
»
It all works very well as far
as I’m concerned. You get to
choose from a big selection
of jobs. I get a lot of work
out of it, so that’s great.
Stefan – Carpenter
Corresponding with clients and poten-
tial clients is typically managed via the
platform itself, text message or verbally
either over the telephone or face-to-face.
New forms of work among young people
 BEU, Alm.del - 2018-19 (2. samling) - Bilag 10: Orientering om rapport om unge i atypisk beskæftigelse, fra beskæftigelsesministeren
2062168_0069.png
2.2
Work via digital platforms (offline and online work)
Photo: Luther Bottrill/ Unsplash
Photo: Colourbox
Photo: Bruno Ramos-lara/ Unsplash
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The written correspondence Stefan
exchanges with his clients serves as a
kind of documentation of the contracts,
which Stefan agrees with his clients.
Stefan himself says that the most im-
portant aspect of his work is to “commu-
nicate with my clients, reach an under-
standing, and stick to the contract.” He
ascribes the success he has had with
platform work to his talent for commu-
nication and inspiring confidence.
“When I write to the client: ‘I would like to
bid on your project.’ Then you can write a
short message to the clients. So I write a
short message, and most of them usually
get back to me. I end up getting maybe 8
out of 10 of the projects I bid on. I don’t
actually think there are that many clients
who read the reviews. All they see is ‘okay
he’s got 4 stars – that looks great.’
I’ve been doing this for quite a few years
now, and I know the clients. Or maybe I
just know human nature. I know what to
write and what not to write in order to
inspire confidence.”
Professional pride and taking pleasure in
one’s work
According to Stefan, his high profession-
al standards led him to set up his own
one-man enterprise. In Stefan’s words:
“The vast majority of the companies I
worked for couldn’t accept that I spent
the time and energy necessary to achieve
those standards. If I applied for a job at
a company that cared about that stuff,
they didn’t take me seriously. Perhaps be-
cause I was as young as I was, or perhaps
I just couldn’t find a company that valued
those things who wanted to employ me.
70
»
To begin with I was on the
verge of getting very
stressed, because I was
simply saying yes to too
much work. Some weeks
I was working over 100
hours. I’m telling you, it was
absolutely mental. I almost
never got any sleep. I came
home at eleven in the
evening and got up again
at six in the morning. Seven
days a week. That was how
I worked for the first six
months. I didn’t have a life
outside of work because
I just wanted to be
constantly working.
I wanted to earn money.
I wanted to make a life for
myself. I wanted to own
my own flat. I wanted a car
and stuff like that. And that
stuff costs money, so how
do I earn that money? I earn
it by working. So I put the
hours in and I grafted.
I slept badly; I constantly
had a stomachache and a
headache. I was always
under the weather, run
down. Always ill with a
runny nose because I never,
ever relaxed.
Stefan – Carpenter
New forms of work among young people
 BEU, Alm.del - 2018-19 (2. samling) - Bilag 10: Orientering om rapport om unge i atypisk beskæftigelse, fra beskæftigelsesministeren
And that’s why I ended up starting a
company of my own.
“I just love using my hands and getting on
with things, and doing a good job which
looks good. So yeah, it’s probably a pleas-
ure in my work and customer satisfaction,
which inspired me to do this. That, and
the fact I love working so much. Because
I’d rather spend an extra half hour on
a job, and leave only once everything is
finished and as it should be, down to the
small details. Instead of rushing, the job
and saying ‘Well never mind, the painter
will fix that later,’ or something like that.
I would rather do the job right the first
time around.”
Uncertainty and stress
Stefan likes the platforms, which he
finds give him access to a large volume
of work.
“It all works very well as far as I’m con-
cerned. You get to choose from a big
selection of jobs. I get a lot of work out of
it, so that’s great.”
Before Stefan agreed a permanent
contract with the bathroom company,
he spent a lot of energy on finding work.
For instance he used the Google tool Ad-
Words to buy his company better search
engine ranking when potential clients
googled e.g. “Carpenter Østerbro”.
“But when I get a job and a client calls me,
I have to go and look at it and give a quote
for the work and wait for the client to get
back to me. That involved a lot of work,
which you aren’t actually paid for. So the
thought that I might not have any work the
following week was very stressful indeed.”
2.2
Work via digital platforms (offline and online work)
On the other hand, for a period, the
digital platforms provided Stefan with
access to an almost endless supply of
work. To begin with, he says, that was
difficult to cope with.
“To begin with I was on the verge of get-
ting very stressed, because I was simply
saying yes to too much work. Some weeks
I was working over 100 hours. I’m telling
you, it was absolutely mental. I almost
never got any sleep. I came home at elev-
en in the evening and got up again at six
in the morning. Seven days a week. That
was how I worked for the first six months.
I didn’t have a life outside of work because
I just wanted to be constantly working. I
wanted to earn money. I wanted to make
a life for myself. I wanted to own my own
flat. I wanted a car and stuff like that.
And that stuff costs money, so how do
I earn that money? I earn it by working.
So I put the hours in and I grafted. I slept
badly; I constantly had a stomachache
and a headache. I was always under the
weather, run down. Always ill with a runny
nose because I never, ever relaxed.”
In the end, Stefan’s mother intervened
because she could feel that her son was
not well and was working too much. Sev-
eral of Stefan’s friends also said that he
had ‘vanished’, and that they never got to
spend time with him anymore.
“It’s about finding a happy medium.
That’s what I’ve managed to find now,
which I hadn’t quite managed to find be-
fore because I wasn’t able to stay on top
of how much work I took.”
He says that it is easy to end up over-
booking himself. For instance, on the
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same day he was interviewed, Stefan re-
ceived 13 enquiries from potential clients
via the platform Handyhand alone.
Negative consequences of platform
work: Clients contact you at all hours of
the day
Stefan’s experience of working via the
digital platforms has been almost
entirely positive. But he has also found
that clients do not respect the bound-
aries, which he wishes to have in his
professional life.
I don’t have time to pick up the phone
right at this instant. Or that I don’t have
time to help THEM out right this minute.
Because I have a lot of things to be get-
ting on with the whole time and because
I’m booked up weeks ahead.”
Stefan’s perspective on the behaviour of
these customers is this: “I think people
go around thinking that you’re a bit less
commercial than the competition (on
digital platforms (ed.)). And so they let
themselves get away with more than if
they were speaking to a company.” Ste-
fan has tried to address this by getting
two telephones: a business line and a
private number.
No security when it comes to being paid
When Stefan advertises his services on
the digital platforms there is no guaran-
tee that he will be paid for the jobs he
carries out. Because, as Stefan explains,
many of the jobs are very small.
“It’s stuff where we just come to a verbal
agreement about the work. So in theory
most of my clients could just say to me:
‘Yeah well you can stuff it’ (and not pay
Stefan for the work (ed.))”
Interviewer:
“Has that happened to you?”
Stefan:
“Yes! Plenty of times. But, you
know, in most cases... I’m insured and
that, so... when my accountant sends the
client an audit, which serves as a kind of
debt collection service for me. And they
(the accountants (ed.)) say to the client,
‘Well the case is going to escalate unless
you pay.’ And then, well, people pay up.
As long as my Central Business Register
number is on there and a figure, and a
New forms of work among young people
»
I can’t remember the last
time I took a day off sick.
Even when I’ve got a cold, a
sore throat, pneumonia, it
doesn’t matter what it is. I
usually say to people that
if I’ve got a vomiting bug
or diarrhoea then I won’t
be able to come and do the
work that day. Or if I need
to be taken to hospital in an
ambulance. But apart from
that I’m always out at work.
Stefan – Carpenter
“I have to say, the only negative aspect
I’ve found is that some clients don’t
accept that when I’m not at work, I’m not
available. There have been times when
I have answered the phone at 6 a.m. So
then they think, ‘in that case it’s also okay
to ring at 9 a.m., 10 a.m., 11 a.m. or what-
ever. So they call me at all hours of the
day. And then they don’t understand that
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general description of what work I carried
out, well, then I’ve got a clear conscience.
I’m a member of [the Danish] unemploy-
ment insurance fund. Which means that
if I suddenly don’t have any work I’ll get
some financial support just like every-
one else who is signed up to it. But I’m
not a member of a union. Because trade
unions exist to represent workers and not
employers.”
Working environment: I never completely
clock off
“I can’t remember the last time I took a
day off sick. Even when I’ve got a cold, a
sore throat, pneumonia, it doesn’t matter
what it is. I usually say to people that
if I’ve got a vomiting bug or diarrhoea
then I won’t be able to come and do the
work that day. Or if I need to be taken
to hospital in an ambulance. But apart
from that I’m always out at work. The
times I’ve got a cold, I just work a bit less
than usual. Because if I took the day off
I would have to relax more than I’m used
to. So I never really completely clock off. I
take annual leave, but not because I’m ill,
you understand.”
On one occasion, Stefan injured his foot
while lifting a heavy table for a private
client.
“I wasn’t wearing safety boots because I
was indoors and the client was very par-
ticular about her floor. And then we were
just going to move this oak table, and it
weighed over 100 kilos, you know? And
there were only two of us. So we rested
it on a pile of newspapers because we
were going to put some sticky pads under
the table legs. And just as I put the table
2.2
Work via digital platforms (offline and online work)
down it slid down onto my big toe. And it
took the nail right off. [...] She (the client
(ed.)) was almost more worried about
her floor than she was about me. But she
gave me a tea towel to wrap around my
foot because it was bleeding like hell. And
then I drove to A&E, or actually my friend
drove me.”
»
One thing that would make
me stop working the way
I do now is of course if I
found myself a girlfriend. If
that happened, I wouldn’t
be able to work 70 hours a
week because then I would
rather be spending more
time on her. And if at some
point in the more distant
future I become a father
then I wouldn’t want to be
working more than 37 hours
a week, so then I’d have a
regular working day just like
most people have.”
Stefan – Carpenter
At A&E Stefan was given a dressing on
his toe and the next day he was back at
work. “It throbbed a bit, but not enough
to keep me housebound.”
Stefan says that he is “insured up to
his eyeballs.” He has policies with the
Employees' Guarantee Fund (Løn-
modtagernes Garantifond), which is
commercial insurance, as well as health
insurance and his own personal policy.
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“If I cut one of my fingers off I will get
a huge insurance payout which I will be
able to live off until I get back on my feet
again,” he says. But in the specific case in
which Stefan would have been entitled
to indemnity from the insurance compa-
ny, he says:
“I can’t be bothered to spend time on it.
It’s really time-consuming and I would
rather spend my time working than
sitting filling out loads of forms, sending
letters and talking to people and all of
that. I’d rather just get on with things.”
At the same time, Stefan knows he
needs to be careful not to wear himself
out.
“I have learned from my father’s mis-
takes. He hasn’t taken enough precau-
tions when it comes to noisy machinery.
And his way of going about lifting things:
He just grabs ahold and lifts heavy
objects. That’s not something I do. I think
carefully about what I’m about to do. I
mean, I use ear defenders, and I don’t
lift anything that is too heavy. I’ll use
equipment to help me lift it, or else I get
someone to help me. Otherwise, I would
end up making a complete wreck of my
body. If I’m going to stay fit to work the
next 40 years of my life, I’m going to have
to look after myself. So if I have to lift
something really heavy, I’ll say: ‘Hey, could
you give me a hand?’ Assuming that’s
an option. If there’s no one there to help
me then of course I’ll lift it myself. It’s not
like I’m going to say ‘Nah, I can’t do it if
there’s nobody here to help me.’ But most
of the time, if possible, I’ll go about it as
carefully as I can.”
The future: 37 hours a week, if I find
myself a girlfriend and become a father
“At some point I would like to have a
workshop and a house. But those are
probably the only ambitions I have for
the future. A place where I’ve got some
machines and where I can go and busy
myself with this and that.”
Stefan’s plans for the future include a
more stable place to live; a house with
a workshop. But Stefan’s thoughts also
turn to what the future holds for his ca-
reer and what he imagines this will leave
space for.
“One thing that would make me stop
working the way I do now is of course
if I found myself a girlfriend. If that
happened, I wouldn’t be able to work 70
hours a week because then I would rather
be spending more time on her. And if at
some point in the more distant future I
become a father then I wouldn’t want to
be working more than 37 hours a week, so
then I’d have a regular working day just
like most people have.”
Working via digital platforms
Flexibility is a common theme in many of
the working lives portrayed in this report.
The two young people presented in the
previous portraits stressed the flexibility
they experienced as self-employed as
a positive element in their working life.
For them, flexibility was about how they
individually organise their working time
in the best possible manner, how they
solve their tasks in ways that they decide
themselves and how they find tasks via
the digital platforms. In the two por-
traits, flexibility is attributed meaning as
individual freedom and independence.
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The two online platform workers both
receive a large part of their work through
digital platforms that offer different
types of work. While one platform work-
er performs translation tasks where he
never meets the customer, the other per-
forms tasks in customers’ homes. In rela-
tion to this, it is crucial for their working
environment whether the work is carried
out in the customer's home and includes
customer contact, or whether it is per-
formed online without customer contact.
There is a particular risk associated with
performing work in strangers’ homes,
under precarious working conditions and
without the necessary safety equipment.
Both of the two young platform workers
have their own one-man businesses, into
which they put a lot of energy to keep
running. Both of them consider the jobs
they download through the online plat-
forms as complementary to the work in
their own businesses, which they regard
as their primary work. They work for long
hours and at a high pace, and their work
takes up such a large part of their life
that work and private life are difficult to
separate. If work is organised through
online digital platforms, there are no
limits on how much and when the worker
can work. Work becomes borderless. This
means that workers have to be able to
manage, prioritize and plan their working
hours themselves so that work does not
become a burden.
In relation to the working environment,
this seems to be an important issue
for both the two young people working
through online platforms. They work
many more hours than a normal working
week, and in this context their working
environment resembles that of the gam-
ers. Additionally, private customers do
not always understand and respect that
workers have other tasks than theirs’ to
do, and cannot be available 24 hours a
day, even though the digital platforms
are open for 24 hours a day. If they fail to
respond, workers may be subject to bad
ratings and have difficulties getting a
new assignment. This means that digital
contact with private customers in some
cases contributes to an intense working
life. Both platform workers also say they
miss colleagues and lack training and
support.
2.2
Work via digital platforms (offline and online work)
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2.3 Workers with different kinds of flexible
work arrangements
Flexibility plays a central role in the following portraits.
One of the three young people has even won a prize for being
the most flexible employee of the year at the supermarket
where he has an involuntary part-time position. However, if
there had been a prize for the most flexible employee both
Brynja and Anders, the other two workers portrayed, would
probably have won it. Nevertheless, neither Brynja, who works
as a seasonal employee in the Icelandic tourism industry, nor
Anders and Devran emphasize flexibility as a benefit.
76
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2062168_0077.png
Portrait 5:
Brynja: Temporary employed as a waiter
in the tourist industry.
Brynja has just turned 20. She graduated
as a student from college during spring
2017. She is working as a waitress at a
sportsclub and is saving money to travel
the world. The job as a waitress in Ice-
land’s growing tourist industry is there-
fore only temporary. She is planning to
start at the university when she has been
traveling and is considering studying
biology. Brynja still lives at home with
her mom, stepdad and little brother and
has a boyfriend. Her mother is working
at the same place as Brynja holding the
same type of position as Brynja. Brynja
explains that she does the shift sched-
ules and other things. Her father works
as a driver.
Working as a waitress and selling shoes,
– sport – and preparing food
Brynja explains that the restaurant in
the sportsclub is newly established. It
offers both fine dining options as well as
a more casual menu of burgers and so
on. When the members have played their
sport they come to eat in the restaurant
and it is Brynja’s job to wait on them. But
there is a lot more to her job than that:
“So it is a bit like a waitress, but I am also
working at the register. We have a small
shop where we sell sports equipment,
and I might help a costumer choosing
the right shoes. I work with food, clothes
and shoes, so it is quite a diverse job. If
someone needs to pay the annual mem-
bers fee I also handle that. There is also a
bar where we sell alcohol and a lot of the
members buy beer there. And sometimes
I help the in the kitchen and prepare
dishes and the like.”
Brynja describes how her tasks are not
distinctively divided, but rather all has to
be solved at the same time:
“I do everything at once, really. The bar is
at the same place by the reception. Well,
everything is in the same area. People end
up there. It is the bar, the shop, and you
also pay the annual fee there.”
Wages and working conditions: 13 days
straight
Excluding her boss and her mother, Brynja
is the only full-time staff member work-
ing at the Sports Club. The rest of the
employees are all under 18 and work part
time while they are also going to school.
»
So it is a bit like a waitress,
but I am also working at the
register. We have a small
shop where we sell sports
equipment, and I might
help a costumer choosing
the right shoes. I work with
food, clothes and shoes, so
it is quite a diverse job. If
someone needs to pay the
annual members fee I also
handle that.
Brynja – Temporary employed as a waiter
Brynja explains that she is working all
days of the week and very long shifts.
During the summer the sports club is
open from 7am until 11pm and less in the
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off-season. During the summer Brynja
worked six days straight on three differ-
ent shifts The first two days she worked
from 7am-2pm, the next two were 2pm-
11pm, and the next two 4pm-11pm and
the she had two days off. That cycle was
repeated during the whole summer, but
when school started again, the sports
club was short of available staff:
“But in August when school started again,
they needed people on the day shifts, and
I was signed on every day shift, working
from 8am to 6pm for two weeks straight.
Although, the weekends were a bit differ-
ent. I sometimes work in the evenings in
the weekends. They want me to work in
the evenings now, so I have been working
from 2pm to 10pm every day except on
Mondays. On Mondays, I work from 9am
to 5pm. currently, it is not strictly written
down that I always have a day or two off,
like I had this summer. Now it is more like,
I will randomly get a day off. I have just
been working for 13 days straight before
getting a day off. So, it is a bit.....”.
Brynja does not have a contract con-
firming her employment. But it does not
worry her too much. Her plan is to work
there six months, and her manager gives
her lots of working hours.
“She (Brynja’s manager, red.) said I would
need to sign some kind of contract, but I
never did. No one else has signed any-
thing either. I am not sure about my mum
or those who are higher in rank, but the
kids (the employees under 18, red.) and I
have not signed anything.”
When Brynja is asked if she is entitled to
be paid during sickness, she answers:
78
“Yes, I think so. But I have not really been
sick once after I started working here.
I am not sure, but I think you’re always
entitled to two days of fully paid work
during sick leaves.”
Long working days and lack of planning:
‘Can you stay any longer?’
Brynja’s schedule is very uncertain, and
can be adjusted by her manager from
day to day. This means that Brynja has
to be very flexible and she is only able to
plan her time one week ahead.
“My manager plans my shifts. I have a
day off coming up, but I have not gotten
the whole plan for October or the rest of
September yet (The interview was done in
September, red.). They usually schedule a
week or so at a time. Thus, I do not know
far in advance when I will be working.”
The sports club is short of staff when
school starts and the part time staff
under 18 returns to school. The conse-
quence is that the remaining staffs are
not able to cover all the shifts. Brynja
describes her working conditions during
that time:
»
They usually schedule a
week or so at a time. Thus,
I do not know far in advance
when I will be working.
Brynja – Temporary employed as a waiter
“Around the beginning of August it
started to get chaotic. I was usually on
the morning shift. There are two people
supposed to work in the evening, because
New forms of work among young people
 BEU, Alm.del - 2018-19 (2. samling) - Bilag 10: Orientering om rapport om unge i atypisk beskæftigelse, fra beskæftigelsesministeren
it is quite hard to be alone and close up
the place. In that period I was sometimes,
working the morning shift from 8am to
5pm, and only one other person was as-
signed to the evening shift. Then my man-
ager would say to me: ‘I need to go home.
Can you stay any longer? Is it okay? And
I just had to say ‘yes’, you know? I could
have said no, but I stayed and closed up
with the other girl. I ended up staying the
whole day from 8am to closing time at
8 or 10pm. This happened a lot: Opening
and closing the place on
the same day. When it was October 1st,
I had clocked 270 hours for the whole
month. We have a clock-in machine.
A normal month is 170 hours.”
Brynja describes how she is fed up with
her work:
“I have already had enough. I am really
tired every day because of all the work I
have done. But there is only a month left
so I am trying to endure it. I am really only
doing this because I am going abroad. I
need the money; otherwise I would not
do it.”
A normal working day this summer:
No breaks
The position Brynja holds at the sports
club requires her to solve many different
tasks throughout the day:
“If I show up at 7am, like this summer,
the first thing we need to do is to scrub
the floors. It is a large place. I am not
sure how many square meters it is but
it is fairly big and takes us an hour or so
to scrub the whole hall. We start at 7am
and finish around 8am, and that is when
the customers start coming in. By that
time, we start making sandwiches; these
are popular here at the sports club. So we
make the sandwiches, and if people come
in to buy food or beverages, I am also at
the register. I also clean the tables, and
do the dishes if I am in the kitchen. I take
orders to the kitchen too”.
»
Then my manager would say
to me: ‘I need to go home.
Can you stay any longer?
Is it okay? And I just had to
say ‘yes’, you know? I could
have said no, but I stayed
and closed up with the other
girl. I ended up staying the
whole day from 8am to
closing time at 8 or 10pm.
This happened a lot:
Opening and closing the
place on the same day.
Brynja – Temporary employed as a waiter
During the summer, the sports club’s
most busy time a year, costumers ap-
peared in a steady stream, thus making
it difficult for Brynja to take breaks:
“Because I was usually alone from 7am to
2pm. There are two people working in the
evenings and just one in the morning. I
could not just go and have lunch, because
I did not have anyone to replace me while
on break. So, whenever it was possible, I
just had to grab something quickly while
no one was in. We do not get a set time
for a lunch break. They just go; “we are
very busy at the moment, you need to
find some time to eat whenever we’re not
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as busy”. I think that there should always
be a set period of time for a lunch break,
not just “some time” if you are able to do
it. I did not manage to eat very often.”
»
So, whenever it was
possible, I just had to grab
something quickly while no
one was in. We do not get
a set time for a lunch break.
They just go; “we are very
busy at the moment, you
need to find some time
to eat whenever we’re not
as busy.
Brynja – Temporary employed as a waiter
“I did [feel a lot of tension]. Or when I was
not in a good mood or feeling tired. It was
busy and all the time I was here, a bit in
my own little world. I did not really feel like
talking to anyone. That is when it turned
very stressful, and tiresome because
I didn’t really manage to sleep or rest
enough to counteract that […] It is not a
dangerous job, really. But I do get less to
eat than normal, despite it is a restau-
rant. And it is not good for the body. You
need rest and relaxation.”
Learning to do the job: Lack of
introduction and communication
Despite the wide array of different tasks
in Brynja’s job, she never received any
formal training for any of the tasks.
Working environment: Stress and
overworking the staff
Because of the shortage of staff, Brynja
tells that she felt overworked during the
summer. The sports club was not even
advertising for more staff, something
Brynja explains like this:
“They were not advertising for more staff
because they did not know the opening
hours through the winter. They did not
know the influx of people during the
winter, thus, they did not want to risk
advertising for it in case they would not
need all that staff.”
Brynja describes the working environ-
ment as safe, but the lack of breaks,
eating breaks and the generally intense
work, Brynja describes that she often felt
stressed and tired:
»
I have never worked in a
clothes shop before. So I
just learnt as I did it, really.
There was no one around
who taught me how to do
this or that.
Brynja – Temporary employed as a waiter
“I have never worked in a clothes shop
before. So I just learnt as I did it, really.
There was no one around who taught me
how to do this or that. But I have worked
with the chef in another restaurant, there
I learnt how he did things. I know how he
[the chef] is in the kitchen and that is why
he finds it most comfortable if I am there
to help him. If we get a large group, he
wants me to help with the dishes. I know
how he likes to plate his dishes, and I have
often made salads for him. There is no
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2.3
Workers with different kinds of flexible work arrangements
Photo: Brooke Cagle / Unsplash
Photo: Shawn Fields / Unsplash
Photo: Nathan Dumlao / Unsplash
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 BEU, Alm.del - 2018-19 (2. samling) - Bilag 10: Orientering om rapport om unge i atypisk beskæftigelse, fra beskæftigelsesministeren
one else who can do that there. I have
just learnt how to do it watching him do
it so many times.”
Brynja continues by describing how her
work is not described in any formal rou-
tine or programme:
“There are not any rules, really, or well,
they do not tell you anything.”
However, Brynja tells that despite this,
she is not stressed if she is told how to
solve the different tasks, but however
if she is not given the right information
about a new procedure, she feels uncom-
fortable and exposed:
“This August we started to have a new
offer about an annual membership card.
It was something that I had not handled
before and no one showed me how to do
it. Suddenly it just needed to be done and
no one told me about it. There is this lack
of communication, you know? I am not
told about such things. I found it really
uncomfortable when a customer came
up to me and asked me about it, and I did
not know what to do. I would just start
to ask about things myself, things like ‘If
someone brings this, what should I do?’
or “This is new, how should it be done?” I
did that many times this summer during
my shifts. Only then, they tell me about
things. They do not do it on their own
accord.”
The best part of the work, and the worst:
Fun and uncertainty
Despite the stress and work overload,
Brynja also sees some positive sides to
her work. She is especially happy about
younger colleagues and the chef. When
82
asked about the best part of her job she
answers:
“I would say the people, well, the kids that
I have been working with. They are much
fun and we will go like: ‘we are working
together tonight? Yay!’. We have fun and
we always have some inside jokes too. I
also have fun with the chef.”
When asked about the biggest disadvan-
tage of the job, Brynja is quick to answer.
She is quite displeased with a lot of
things, mainly the fact that the work
place is disorganised and requires her to
be flexible to an extreme extend.
»
But I am not complaining
because I want the money.
Brynja – Temporary employed as a waiter
“It is what I have been saying about
communication and how everything is
so unorganised. If I were to be sick, what
would happen? There would not be any-
one to take over, and they have not been
planning for that. They did not take into
account when school was starting and
that they needed more staff members.
School started, my manger went on a hol-
iday abroad and I was placed on all shifts.
That is how they handled it. They do not
put any thought into it in advance or try
to organise it, she had not even made a
shift schedule. In the end, we are the ones
who suffered. I did not know how I was
working the day after, whether it be in
the morning or evening. I did not know if
I had the day off. I did not know anything
New forms of work among young people
 BEU, Alm.del - 2018-19 (2. samling) - Bilag 10: Orientering om rapport om unge i atypisk beskæftigelse, fra beskæftigelsesministeren
and I was constantly asking when I would
be working.”
Brynja also tells that she has phoned
her labour union several times and she is
aware, that she is not allowed to work on
15 hour shifts and that she needs 11 hours
of rest between shifts or paid leave.
Anything other than that “is against the
law”, Brynja says. However, on the other
hand she hesitates turning the shifts
down, because she is interested in saving
up money for her trip:
“But I am not complaining because I
want the money. According to my labour
union, I need 11 hours rest between shifts
otherwise I need a paid leave of work or
something, but I have not got that. And
I have not complained about it because
I want to work. But I would like them to
take better care of us. They should make
sure that we are able to eat and so on.
Not just that we need to be working, and
that we need to do this and that. I would
rather they think of the staff as people,
you know?”
The future
Brynja is not planning to stay at the
sports club’ restaurant, or to come back,
when she has been travelling, but she has
plans to start an education:
“I do not think I could last there very
long. Maybe if I only worked day shifts or
something like that. However, there is so
much to do in the summer and not much
to do in the winter. You cannot really con-
sider it a 100% or a full-time job all the
time. I am aiming to start university next
autumn, in 2018. I still have not decided
what I am going to study then. But I
really like biology and related subjects, so
I could end up doing something related to
biology.”
She also adds that she would not last
very long, because of the demands of
flexibility of her behalf:
“I would like a job that is more organized.”
2.3
Workers with different kinds of flexible work arrangements
83
 BEU, Alm.del - 2018-19 (2. samling) - Bilag 10: Orientering om rapport om unge i atypisk beskæftigelse, fra beskæftigelsesministeren
Portrait 6:
Devran: Involuntary part-time
employment in a supermarket chain
Devran is 30 years old. He lives in one of
the largest cities in Norway with his wife.
She is working at the hospital. They are
expecting their first child. Devran is from
Kurdistan, and has been living in Norway
for 4 years. He has a bachelor in
‘economy management’, however his
education is not formally recognized in
Norway. To get his education recognized,
he needs to take a test, however, at the
moment it is difficult for him to find time
for the test. Instead, he hopes for a
permanent full-time job, so he can
provide for his family.
Working conditions in the grocery store
Devran got his first job in Norway in a
grocery store at a large mall while he
was doing language education. He still
currently holds this employment. The
first employment was a 5 % job, 8 hours
per month. However, Devran tells, that
he within short time got more hours
because of his eagerness:
“Every day, I went to the information desk
to ask if there were any vacancies. They
became somewhat chocked because I
was so eager. So I received many shifts
that month. I showed a lot of interest in
working. So they called me almost every
day, or by need. And yes, I got many
shifts and they were very satisfied with
me; that I could turn up at any time. So
when they saw my interest, I gradually
got more hours”.
Thereafter he got a 30% position and
started to work at other departments
84
in the grocery store. In some periods,
Devran therefore has had three different
superiors at the same time. Now, he has
a 60% part-time position, which includes
his scheduled shifts. The shifts are dis-
tributed between two departments in
the grocery store and taking care of the
trolleys at the mall. In the largest depart-
ment, there are 20 employees, where 2-4
employees have a permanent full-time
position. However, Devran works more
than 60%, because he takes as many
shifts as he can get. He does dayshifts,
evening shifts and works weekends, Sun-
days and on Holidays. He has recently
applied for a permanent full position in
the grocery store, but he did not get it.
»
Every day, I went to the
information desk to ask if
there were any vacancies.
They became somewhat
chocked because I was so
eager. So I received many
shifts that month. I showed
a lot of interest in working.
So they called me almost
every day, or by need. And
yes, I got many shifts and
they were very satisfied
with me; that I could turn up
at any time. So when they
saw my interest, I gradually
got more hours.
Devran – Involuntary part-time
employment
”Monday to Monday, I do not even work
35 hours. Even if I work every day, it is just
New forms of work among young people
 BEU, Alm.del - 2018-19 (2. samling) - Bilag 10: Orientering om rapport om unge i atypisk beskæftigelse, fra beskæftigelsesministeren
4 hours, 5 hours, 6 hours, 4 hours, 4 hours,
and 4 hours, so it is no stress for me; it is
not enough. When I am finished at work,
I feel, I have not been at work at all. I am
not even tired. I still have energy to work.
[…] I have been very active since I was a
child. I worked every summer. For me it is
important to work. The worst year in Nor-
way was when I was unemployed, even
though I was at school. After school, I was
alone. That was boring for me, so I had to
find a job as soon as I could”.
Despite not getting enough hours in the
grocery store, Devran appreciates his job:
“There is a lot to do. But it is fun, I like
that. I enjoy a job where I can learn. Learn
something new all the time. Because I
am quite new in Norway, so everything is
new, in a way”.
Daily life in the grocery store
Devran’s working routines depends on
the department he works in, and it de-
pends on at what time of day he starts
working. He tells that at Thursdays, he
usually works in the afternoon from 12 or
in the evening from 17 until 22, and dur-
ing that time, he is mainly seated in the
check out and handles customers, and
in between customers, he puts groceries
on the shelfs. In the evenings, there is not
much to do.
“When I am in the check-out I get bored.
You just say: ‘Hi, do you want a grocery
bag?’ How much they are going to pay and:
‘Have a nice day’. Nothing else. It is the old
ones that usually work permanently in the
check-out, those around 45-50+. It is nice
for them to sit in the check out. But I am
young, I want to walk around.”
When Devran is asked about what is re-
quired from him in his work, he answers:
“My job is to give good service to the
customers. Be nice to the customers, be
patient, especially to the old ones. They
yell all the time and you have to handle
that (laughing). So that is the challenge
when working at the mall. All the time
they (managers in the store, red.) talk
about good service, also in the check out.
They want the store to be the best. […]”.
»
When I am in the check-out
I get bored. You just say: ‘Hi,
do you want a grocery bag?’
How much they are going to
pay and: ‘Have a nice day’.
Nothing else. It is the old
ones that usually work
permanently in the
check-out, those around
45-50+. It is nice for them
to sit in the check out. But
I am young, I want to walk
around.
Devran – Involuntary part-time
employment
Devran tells that there is a sheet of
paper every day, where the work tasks
that need to be solved are described. But
when he starts his shift at 4 pm, almost
all tasks are done:
“Sometimes I get restless, I want to do
something. When there is not much to
do, I just walk around in the store, and
see if there is something, I can do. I am
quite creative. So I find something myself,
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New forms of work among young people
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Photo: Søren Svendsen / Unsplash
Photo: Viktor Paris/ Unsplash
 BEU, Alm.del - 2018-19 (2. samling) - Bilag 10: Orientering om rapport om unge i atypisk beskæftigelse, fra beskæftigelsesministeren
either checking date stamping or filling in
on the shelfs.”
The supermarket is most busy in the
morning, because at that time, new
goods arrive and have to be put on the
shelves.
“In the morning, you are supposed to
work fast, so everything is ready before 9
o’clock, because the store opens at 9, you
know. Then we have to be accessible for
the customers in the checkout and in the
grocery store.”
The superiors, (head of department)
work mostly during day, so the days
where Devran work late afternoon or
evening shifts, he has limited possibilities
to talk to his nearest superior.
“I would like to work with my closest
superior. To learn new things, to do the
tasks she does, then her work becomes
easier as well. Like when she is on holiday,
or you never know, she can get on sick
leave. Then others can do her tasks. It
would be good for me, to learn something
new, get more experience. Then I would
have something to write on applications
and on my CV.”
Limited possibilities for learning
As stressed earlier, it is very important
to Devran to learn and acquire new skills
thus becoming better in his job. However,
this is not always possible in Devran’s po-
sition. Earlier Devran felt that he learned
something new every day, but he does
not experience the feeling of a steep
learning curve any more:
“But now I feel, that has ended. I make
the same things every day, all the way
through.”
Devran thinks that his superior knows
how he feels about his job and his pos-
sibilities for learning, but he also thinks
that there is not much to be done to
solve this:
Devran is very much
aware that his afternoon
and evening shifts are limiting
in regards to access to
new skills
“I think she [his superior] knows, but I do
not have any possibility to ask. Because
when I work those shifts I do, she does
not have the possibility to use me in a
way, where I can learn more. There are
two or four that work full-time, and then
they mostly work at daytime. If some of
them is supposed to have a day of, then
I can have a day shifts, if not I only have
my usual shifts.”
Devran is very much aware that his
afternoon and evening shifts are limiting
in regards to access to new skills. His
colleagues working the morning shift are
much more prone to solve different tasks
such as ordering goods, handle contact
with the people who deliver the goods as
well as handle contact with suppliers and
so on.
Interviewer:
Did you get any training
when you started?
“I was in training for 3 days. I learned
fast, they were really impressed by me. It
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was about 1-1.5 years after I came
to Norway, and they were impressed
because I learned Norwegian so fast, and
get myself a job. Without having any
problems with the customers. Almost
every day I get positive feedback from the
customers, who tell me that I give good
service. That is really nice. It is motivating,
yes….”
Planning and distribution of shifts: The
flexibility price of the year
Additional to his ordinary and planned
shift schedule Devran work as many
shifts he can get. This means that he
works during most public holidays. Dur-
ing Easter, he will work five days, during
Christmas he also works as many shifts
as he can get and the same around New
Year and Independence Day. Devran de-
scribes how the available shifts are being
announced on social media platforms:
“At Facebook there is a site, publishing
those shifts, where they [the manag-
ers] write: ‘Write a message if you are
interested’ [in a shift]. So if you are not
fast or if you do not bring your cell phone,
you will lose those shifts. We are about
22 employees [in the grocery store] most
of them students, and they want to work
as well. So then, you have to be fast and
reply at once.“
Further Devran tells that he receives a
message on his phone every time some-
thing is published at the Facebook group
and that he knows that he will have to
reply as fast as possible if he wants to
work. Devran does not know if he thinks
that this is a fair way to distribute the
shifts:
“I do not know if there are any other ways.
But I get a lot of messages. And if she
[his immediate superior] suddenly lacks
someone, like today when I have a day off.
And if someone that should have been
at work calls in sick, she calls me imme-
diately. Because she knows, I am always
available. I have told her many times ‘just
call me any time, don’t think about me
not having time, If I sleep or something,
just call me’. Then I just say yes or no. I
cannot remember any time, saying no, not
a shingle shift”.
As too further complicate matters,
Devran also have to answer to several
superiors due to his employment at two
sometimes three different sections at
the grocery store. Devran describes how
during the holidays he had to inform all
three superiors about the every shift he
took on in order for him to organise his
shift schedule. His flexibility is so appreci-
ated that he even won a prize:
“In 2015 I got the flexibility prize of the
year, even with some money (the mall,
ed). That was nice. But it was also
deserved. Because I worked in the cafe,
that is also in the mall. I worked with the
trolleys and in the check out. Actually, I
worked at five different departments at
different times of the day, and at differ-
ent days. So, yes…”
Work-life balance: You never see your
family
Devran’s wife works at the hospital
from 8 am to 3.30 pm so quite often
when she gets home from work, Devran
has to leave for the grocery store. The
couple rarely has a chance to spend time
together. Devran’s wife is pregnant and
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this leaves Devran longing even more
for more conventional working hours. He
predicts:
“You know, in Norway, the system is; kids
go to bed at 7 o’clock, and then I cannot
see him.”
applicant had been a better worker than
me, I would not have been disappointed.
But I became very disappointed, because
she was not better than me. But they
said, she was more experienced consid-
ering food and such. 20% of the position
was working with the salad bar”.
However, it is not only the time with his
family that suffers, because of his work-
ing hours. Devran has from time to time
had houseguests and he had to prior-
itize his job over spending time with his
guests because of an extra shift, he was
not able to refuse.
Insecure employment:’ If you are not
loyal your boss will not give you extra
shifts’
Devran and his wife have just bought a
house, so economic security is important
for Devran. His parents in law had to
guarantee for the loan, because the bank
needed security because of Devran’s
lack of a permanent position. Overall,
this makes Devran feel unsecure both
jobwise but also economically.
“I bought a house for 4 mill (NOK). That
is a lot to pay back. So you might feel
somewhat unsecured. Even if you work
almost 100% and can manage. But you
may become sick and then I do not get
the extra shift, and I do not get the extra
shifts payed. It is what you get. It is not
enough. If you have 100%, then you are
safe, and you do not have to take extra
shifts all the time.“
Devran describes how the logic of ensur-
ing more shifts works:
“Because I got this extra shift and then I
89
»
In 2015 I got the flexibility
prize of the year, even with
some money (the mall, ed).
That was nice. But it was
also deserved. Because I
worked in the cafe, that is
also in the mall. I worked
with the trolleys and in the
check out. Actually, I worked
at five different depart-
ments at different times
of the day, and at different
days. So, yes…”
Devran – Involuntary part-time
employment
Devran tells that recently there was a
vacant position in the fruit department
due to a maternity leave. The position
was full-time and would be perfect for
Devran’s needs.
“Three weeks ago, there was a vacant po-
sition in the fruit department, due to ma-
ternity leave. It was a full-time position
and I applied for the position. It would
have been perfect for me. You learn
something new when being in another de-
partment of the store. And all the shifts
were in the morning. It would have been
perfect, since I have a family and soon
a baby. And I did not get it. If the other
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Workers with different kinds of flexible work arrangements
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cannot say, I want to change it, because
it’s not my shift. If you say: ’can I skip
this shift, once, twice, three times, then
you are not loyal. Then your boss will not
give you any more extra shifts. If I change
these extra shifts I got, twice-three times,
then it becomes unstable.”
That means in order to ensure a steady
stream of extra shifts to supply his 60%
position; he can never turn down a shift.
The conditions are manageable for
Devran under the current circumstanc-
es, but with a baby arriving soon, other
priorities will have to be made:
“It would have been ok, if it has been just
me and my wife. But when comes a child;
I think it would be more difficult. Because
she need to be together with me and my
son we need to be together.”
colleagues. However, it is not easy to
complain about this to his superiors, be-
cause he does not want to let them get
the impression of him as a complaining
employee. He states:
“With a colleague, yes. If I do this often
[complain, ed], then they say: ”You are
complaining all the time”, which is not nice
to hear from your boss. Because I have
heard several times; ‘you are lucky, you
are lucky you that have a job’. You have
these bad schedules, and when you talk
about it then you are told that you can-
not complain that you are lucky you have
a job. I have heard that sentence so many
times. So (laughing), I know it is true. You
do not need to tell me any more times.”
Devran explains that these comments
make him feel like he is supposed just
to accept everything. Because he is in a
position, where his education is not rec-
ognized and even though his Norwegian
has improved, it is not his first language:
“Firstly I do not have any education here
in Norway, and yes, my language has
improved. But earlier, my language was
bad, I was unsure if I got another job if I
dismissed this job. I have to accept
something, even if some of my tasks
are really… like the trolleys, it is not even
my job, but I have to do it. I do not learn
anything; I just move them around and
gather them together. Nothing to learn
from. But I like it, I am obliged to work. If
I dismiss those shifts, then I am back on
40% position. That is not much.”
»
Because I got this extra
shift and then I cannot say, I
want to change it, because it’s
not my shift. If you say: ’can
I skip this shift, once, twice,
three times, then you are not
loyal. Then your boss will not
give you any more extra shifts.
Devran – Involuntary part-time
employment
When Devran is asked if he has someone
to talk to about these issues at work,
his answer is that he can complain to
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Photo: Alexandru Tugui / Unsplash
2.1
Gaming: a professional work
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Portrait 7:
Anders: Precarious employment
at a supermarket
Anders is 27 years old and lives in a small
municipality outside Gothenburg in Swe-
den. He has worked as unskilled staff
for a large supermarket for three years.
Anders completed his studies as a social
sciences student in 2010. Since then, he
has taken on some university foundation
courses in legal studies, a social-sciences
subject in democracy, and a course in his-
tory. On the date of the interview, he had
no plans to take any further education.
He still lives with his parents.
Anders describes his employment at the
supermarket as a temporary position
that has never become permanent. He
has a temporary contract that secures
him about 75% of a full-time posi-
tion. The contract runs for about three
months at a time and always has to be
renewed. In addition to his fixed, sched-
uled working hours, Anders can also
‘green light’ additional hours he would
like to work. He says that he had no fixed
hours at all at the start of his employ-
ment, but only a zero hours contract
under which he had to ‘green light’ all
the hours he was available for work. The
hours he got under this arrangement
were at short notice. However, over the
years Anders has been given more and
more scheduled hours. A typical work-
ing day starts at 2:30 pm and ends at
10:30 pm. He usually has 16 fixed shifts
a month and weekend shifts every other
weekend.
Work at the supermarket
Anders says that he applied for a job
92
at the supermarket in a period when
he was at home and did not have much
to do.
When Anders started at the
supermarket, he was given the
same general introduction to
the supermarket as everyone
else was given, and it had very
little to do with the work he
actually had to perform.
“So I thought I’d better get a job. So I
applied at the supermarket and I was
invited to an interview very soon after.
Actually, it was the first place I applied
sometime last April. So I started there.”
When Anders started at the supermar-
ket, he was given the same general intro-
duction to the supermarket as everyone
else was given, and it had very little to do
with the work he actually had to per-
form.
“It didn’t have much to do with work in
the grocery department and, you know,
what you have to do there. But you got
a booklet, and when I arrived, they said:
'You’re in groceries today'. So you just
had to get to know what to do yourself
but there was no real introduction to the
job. To start with you go around with a
manager or the person who’s stopping.
So you get two days where you sort of
go around with her, and the same at the
checkout. That’s also a sort of introduc-
tion. I sort of learned it all myself to start
with. But apart from the general intro-
duction and that bit about the checkout,
New forms of work among young people
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there was no introduction to the work in
the groceries department itself.”
Anders’ work primarily involves receiv-
ing deliveries and putting goods on the
shelves in the supermarket. Occasion-
ally, he also works in the checkout, but
only rarely. He describes his work as
physically demanding.
"When you arrive at work, it’s often, not
exactly chaotic, but there’s a lot to do.
We put stuff on the shelves most of the
day, and sometimes the others don’t
get finished. Perhaps ‘heavy chemicals’
(cleaning products etc. (ed.)) haven’t
been sorted out, or the baby food hasn’t
been put away. Perhaps there’s a load
of trolleys to empty. So it can be a little
chaotic, because you want to put it
all away before the next deliveries in
the late afternoon. This goes on until
4:30-5:00 pm. And those first couple of
hours is when people come and do their
shopping, so even if you’re not on the
checkout there can be a lot of questions.
There are usually two of us at work.
So you either have to take deliveries or
carry on working on the floor (fill shelves
(ed.). There’s a lot to do and we have to
do it fast. Therefore, we try to have a
break at around 5:30.
After our break, we check that the freez-
er looks OK. And we have to put the new
afternoon deliveries on the shelves. At
around 7:30-8:00 the others from char-
cuterie (department (ed.)), dairy and
fruit go home and then you’re hopefully
finished. But it’s a bit stressful because
you have to continue sorting things out
and answering questions if they call
from the other departments. So you’ve
got two hours when you’re responsible for
the whole shop. Then, at around 9:30, you
have to close up. There’s things you have
to do like clear up, take out the rubbish,
close down the hot shelf and the salad
bar and so on.
»
When you arrive at work,
it’s often, not exactly
chaotic, but there’s a lot
to do. We put stuff on the
shelves most of the day,
and sometimes the others
don’t get finished. Perhaps
‘heavy chemicals’ (cleaning
products etc. (ed.)) haven’t
been sorted out, or the baby
food hasn’t been put away.
Perhaps there’s a load of
trolleys to empty. So it can
be a little chaotic, because
you want to put it all away
before the next deliveries in
the late afternoon.
Anders – Precarious employment
At 10:00, you have a walk round the shop,
sort out the last stuff and then close up.
Yes, that’s about it. In the evening there’s
checkout staff too, but sometimes it gets
a bit lonely.”
When Anders is asked about the most
important skill at work, he has difficulty
answering. He says that he had worked
in a sports shop previously and that ex-
perience from the sports shop was useful
for work at the supermarket.
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Interviewer:
“Are any competencies or
personal skills especially important?”
Anders:
“Naah. It’s not difficult, but it can
be hectic. At one time, we had someone
who just couldn’t cope. I mean it’s slow
at first. But it’s best if you can work fast.
Yes, that’s about it. But I haven’t used
anything I learned at university, it’s more
what I learned in a previous job.”
Heavy boxes you have to lift yourself
Work at the supermarket is heavy. You
have to lift a lot of heavy boxes, says
Anders.
“Especially on Thursdays-Fridays when
more than 100 packages arrive. Even
though we drive them in with a truck,
they’re still heavy. There’s a lot of heavy
boxes you have to lift yourself. Some-
times I get aches in my neck and back
when I take deliveries. If it went on, I think
I’d think more about it. But then you do
something else in the shop the next day,
and then perhaps you’re off on Saturday
and Sunday. I get it most after I’ve put a
lot of stuff on the shelves. It seems hard
then and you think the pay isn’t worth
wearing yourself out for.”
Planning and allocation of work
As stated above, Anders is not employed
full-time, but has a 75% employment
position. He ‘green light’ himself for more
work. The system works such that he
receives a text message when he has
allocated a shift.
“[When] you green light some hours, you
could work from 5:00 in the morning to
10:15 at night. Let’s say it’s the 3rd of the
month and you get booked for the 7th.
94
Then you get a text message that you’ve
been booked on the 7th from some time
to some time.”
When Anders started his employment,
he wasn’t guaranteed any hours at all, he
green lighted himself most of the time to
make himself available for the supermar-
ket and have the best possible chance
of getting a shift. He can see that this
pattern repeats itself.
“I know when you talk to the people star-
ting now that they’re green lighting an
awful lot to get hours. So I guess that’s
like it is. I did much more two to three
years ago when I started than I do now.”
»
The worst thing is that it’s
hard to plan the next few
months. The next work
schedule. It’s mostly that.
I’ve got this temporary job
now (in April (ed.))
Anders – Precarious employment
Although Anders now has a 75% posi-
tion, his job is not future-proof. Flexibility
and uncertainty do not only affect
Anders' work from month to month.
After the summer, Anders does not know
how his work situation will look.
“The worst thing is that it’s hard to plan
the next few months. The next work
schedule. It’s mostly that. I’ve got this
temporary job now (in April (ed.)) and
that’s probably up to June. And then I
know I’m going on holiday. That’s because
we have to ask for holiday leave early,
at the end of January so that they can
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Photo: Ulrik Jantzen
2.3
Workers with different kinds of flexible work arrangements
Photo: Fabio Bracht / Unsplash
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plan the holiday period. And I’ve decided
to take a month’s holiday. It’s paid for
because I’ve received my holiday supple-
ment. So I know that I’ve got the time off.
But after that I don’t know when I’ll be
working. Probably the end of July or be-
ginning of August. But I don’t know how
I’m working in June. So it’s a bit difficult....
but that’s how it is.”
Anders says that he does not want to
work full time because he needs the
extra time off that part-time work gives
him. His reason is that he already has a
lot of evening shifts and any more would
be too hard. So he would rather have
the time off than more evening shifts.
Anders also says that a full-time job is
not always the goal for supermarket
employees.
“A lot of young people work here. People
go out travelling and then come back
again. I think a lot of them think it’s an
advantage not to be employed perma-
nently. You know more or less what hours
the others work, but you don’t know
whether they’re employed full-time. It’s
not really something we talk about.”
“Suddenly she wasn’t getting more
shifts”
During his employment, Anders has gone
from a zero hours contract to a 75%
position. In other words, gradually he has
been guaranteed, more and more hours.
However, as Anders says, it is not the
same for everyone.
“The nightmare example was for some-
one who’d been working here for a long
time. She isn’t here anymore. But she’d
been here for a long time and she thought
96
she’d get a permanent job. But then she
stopped getting shifts. I don’t know the
full story, but what I heard was a bit
weird. I mean, it was like she was on the
way to being full-time and then she didn’t
get any shifts....then it’s also a bit....then
it’s easier to just carry on working, I think.”
However, it is not a story, which makes
Anders feel financially insecure. He lives
at home with his parents and he is not
under any financial pressure.
»
Five of us worked right up
to 3 o’ clock. People often
go slightly earlier, but we
didn’t on that day. But it
was very motivating and
the boss sent a text that
evening saying ‘really good
job today’. That was
motivating.
Anders – Precarious employment
“When you talk about financial security, I
feel pretty secure. Or I don’t know, what
can I say? I’ve worked a lot now, so I’ve
saved a little. So if they come to me to-
morrow and tell me there’s no more work
in the next shift plan, they’re welcome. But
I don’t think they will. But if they do, I’d get
by for quite some time without a job. So
I suppose financial security is important,
but I think that I’m financially secure. But
perhaps there’s a difference if you’ve got a
family and children to support.”
Health and safety: Stress and
understaffing
When Anders is asked what he thinks
is best about his job, he says that he is
New forms of work among young people
 BEU, Alm.del - 2018-19 (2. samling) - Bilag 10: Orientering om rapport om unge i atypisk beskæftigelse, fra beskæftigelsesministeren
generally happy at work. He has good
colleagues and they get on well together.
That is despite the fact that the work
can be heavy and sometimes stressful.
He also says:
“And then I think that you can get away
from the work, when you like...... or you
can’t always. But you get away from
work when you’re off. If you can get a
Friday off, then you’re off for four days.
So the good thing about the job is the
days you get off."
Anders was asked whether there are any
specific situations at work when he feels
motivated or he thinks it is fun to work.
Initially, Anders finds it hard to answer to
the question, but he comes up with the
following:
“Hmm, what can I say? I don’t know
(silence)...... Oh yes. There are the times
when it all sort of runs smoothly, and
when there’s a good team spirit between
colleagues. There was this day when
we were really busy. But we were well
staffed and we were all like experienced,
so everything went really well. It was
last Saturday and we had a lot to do in
the morning and then we worked well
all day. Five of us worked right up to 3 o’
clock. People often go slightly earlier, but
we didn’t on that day. But it was very
motivating and the boss sent a text that
evening saying ‘really good job today’.
That was motivating.”
In contrast, when Anders is asked about
problems in working the way he does, he
replies more quickly:
"The main problem is when you’re alone.
There’s often not enough people at work.
It’s most stressful when you start in the
afternoon, and everything the day shift
didn’t get done is still left to do. That’s
stressful all day, but especially when you
work in the evening and you’re on your
own. Yeah, the problems are stress and
understaffing, I’d say.
I can give you an example. It’s half seven,
a new delivery has just arrived and it’s
being unloaded. And the people from the
departments go home; ‘sorry we can’t
stay and help’. Then you’re left alone and
you have to deal with it all yourself. And
then they call from the checkout because
they need something’ or there’s a cus-
tomer who.... And yes, you just can’t do it
all. Everything then just feels like one big
disaster. It doesn’t feel nice at all and you
just want to give up and go home.”
»
The main problem is when
you’re alone. There’s often
not enough people at work.
It’s most stressful when you
start in the afternoon, and
everything the day shift
didn’t get done is still left
to do. That’s stressful all
day, but especially when
you work in the evening and
you’re on your own. Yeah,
the problems are stress and
understaffing, I’d say.
Anders – Precarious employment
Interviewer:
“Do you think that your pay
reflects the work you do?”
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Anders:
“No, not always. But then again
yesterday I was on the checkout and it
was very slow. On the other hand there’re
days when you’re under a lot of stress and
completely..... Yes, you can well think you
should be earning more. Especially when
you’ve got evening shifts on the floor,
and when you’ve got a bit more respon-
sibility. In principle, you’ve got the whole
store until 10:00 in the evening and this is
rarely reflected in your paycheck. But on
some days you think; ‘well, today I haven’t
worked my fingers to the bone and I’ve
earned just as much as I did the other
day’. Yes, the pay doesn’t always reflect
the work".
Anders says that he has considered quit-
ting his job.
“...after such days with a lot of stress. But
it's not like that always and then you carry
on. And actually you don’t just quit a job
without having anything to fall back on."
Interviewer:
“However, if there is some-
thing difficult at work, who would you go
to?”
Anders:
“Err, I don’t know..... You mean
about the work? No, I don’t know. I’ve
sometimes said something to my manag-
ers, but that’s not quite the same as say-
ing I’d always go to them. So I don’t know.
I probably don’t go to anyone directly.”
Anders says that he is not a member of
a trade union, and when the interviewer
asks whether he talks to his colleagues
about work, he says:
“We talk about how things are going.
Most people you talk to think there’s a lot
98
to do and that sometimes you can’t really
keep up. So we talk about that there’s a
lot to do. But we don’t talk about more
difficult stuff."
The future: “I’ll continue over the
summer, and then we’ll see."
Anders describes his job at the super-
market as a temporary position, and he
has taken some legal subjects at univer-
sity, but he has no immediate plans for
further education.
When Anders is asked whether he has
any plans for the future, he says:
»
Well, I don’t....I mean since
I started here I’ve been
taking one year at a time,
or not a year. I’ve thought
that I’ll just take this period
(as long as his contract runs
(ed.)). So no, I haven’t got
any actual plans.
Anders – Precarious employment
“Well, I don’t....I mean since I started here
I’ve been taking one year at a time, or not
a year. I’ve thought that I’ll just take this
period (as long as his contract runs (ed.)).
So no, I haven’t got any actual plans.
Interviewer:
“But you want to continue
working?”
Anders:
“I do the way things are now.
But every autumn, when courses start, I
think about whether I should stop work.
So I can’t say that I have any.... But right
now the plan is that I’ll work for the
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next month, and then I’m on holiday for
a month. But I can't say whether I’ll be
working there in six months. It’s pretty
well planned for the autumn, but there’s
not really any more plans. When I started,
it should have been for just one year, so I
could find out what I wanted to do later
..... and then I just has continued. But I’ll
continue over the summer, then we’ll see.”
Anders is very ambivalent in his approach
to his work. He does not really enjoy his
job, but on the other hand, he does not
say that he has any specific plans to find
another job or to go into further educa-
tion. However, Anders does express some
uncertainty with respect to his future; he
would like to have a permanent job if he
decides to stay at the supermarket.
Interviewer:
“Do you have any dreams for
the future?”
Anders:
“Noo, I don’t know (silence) it’s
difficult, I....”
Interviewer:
“Is there anything you don’t
do because of your work situation?”
Anders:
“Yes, I suppose there is. It’s
probably more difficult to find a place to
live when you haven’t got a permanent
job, ...If I decide to go on (with education
(ed.)).....then I can sort of accept these
temporary hours. But if I decide to stay
where I am now (instead of continuing
education (ed.)), I’d probably like to have
a permanent position.”
Working in flexible work arrangements
The most problematic issue for these
young workers is the worry of not being
able to plan and control their own future.
»
Do you have any dreams
for the future?
»
Noo, I don’t know
Interviewer
(silence) it’s difficult, I....”
Anders – Precarious employment
They do not find that flexibility is a value
that provides better conditions or op-
portunities, rather the contrary. They all
have to be very flexible in order to keep
their jobs, and they have all experienced
that this has had negative consequences
in their life, as they have not been able to
plan ahead. This can be very challenging
to the work/life balance, especially for
young workers who are trying to estab-
lish a family. These young workers say
that they often work alone without any
support. They do not consider their man-
agers as someone who can help them,
and they often feel left to themselves at
their workplaces. They all say that they
lack training and support, and that they
have many physically hard work tasks.
2.3
Workers with different kinds of flexible work arrangements
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2.4 Unskilled temp agency work
In this next section, we leave the retail and tourism industry,
but remain with unskilled work. In the following portrait, we
will meet Lars, who has worked in a number of unskilled jobs
and in insecure employment forms that he himself describes
as precarious. The second young person in the chapter, Julia,
works through a temp agency as a receptionist. For both of
them, their working life is to a high degree characterized by
temporary and short-term employment, as was the case for
the three previous young workers.
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Portrait 8:
Lars: Unskilled temporary jobs
Lars is 27 years old. He lives in a small
provincial town in Denmark together
with his girlfriend and her children. Lars
comes from a family of carpenters: His
father, grandfather, great-grandfather
and three cousins are all carpenters.
Lars, too, is good with his hands, and
this has often helped him get unskilled
jobs and short or long-term temporary
jobs. After a year at a boarding school
at upper secondary level (10th grade),
Lars embarked on a Higher Technical
Examination Programme (HTX), a 3-year
vocationally oriented upper secondary
programme. However, this was too
“nerdy” for him, and he says himself that
he spent too much time partying and
having fun. After this, the best option
seemed to him to start on a carpentry
apprenticeship programme. However, as
it turned out that he could not find an
apprenticeship, and thought the aca-
demic part of the programme was bor-
ing, he decided to drop out. Since then,
over a seven-year period, Lars has taken
higher preparatory single subjects cours-
es (“HF-enkeltfag”), and at the time of
the interview, he was about to complete
these. Therefore, his primary income
is state education grants (SU). He is
planning to apply to enter an engineering
programme. Lars started working on his
stepfather’s farm when he was only 11.
“It could be anything from weeding the
fields to mowing the lawn or whitewash-
ing the farm buildings. And I also worked
as a cafeteria boy, and at a restaurant. I
was a waiter at 16.”
After his many after-school jobs, his first
permanent job was as machine operator.
After this job followed seasonal jobs as
a vegetable packer and seasonal gar-
dener, as well as a temporary job as a
waste collector. In addition, he has had
a contract with a temporary agency
through which he has had several periods
of employment, lasting from one day to
one month. In parallel with these jobs,
Lars has regularly performed freelance
tasks in his father’s business. Further-
more, he has had occasional periods of
unemployment during which he received
unemployment benefits.
Lars started working on his
stepfather’s farm when he
was only 11.
»
It could be anything from
weeding the fields to
mowing the lawn or white-
washing the farm buildings.
And I also worked as a
cafeteria boy, and at a
restaurant. I was a waiter
at 16.”
Lars – Unskilled temporary jobs
After three years of employment as a
machine operator, Lars became involved
with the youth organisation of the Unit-
ed Federation of Danish Workers. He is
no longer involved in this work, but he
still takes a keen interest in trade union
matters. Lars talks about his work life as
precarious because of his many tempo-
rary and insecure employments.
2.4
Unskilled temp agency work
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Machine operator: Would lift heavy
material himself if things had to go fast
From the age of 18 to 21 years, Lars had
a permanent job as a machine opera-
tor at a company producing cables. The
majority of the work was computer-con-
trolled, and Lars says that the work was
mostly easy. However, when the machine
he was operating broke down, he sud-
denly had to perform heavy work that
took a lot of physical effort.
“It's hard to say how much the materials
weighed. Perhaps 30 kg or so. But then
we’d typically use trucks (for unloading,
(ed.)) when removing the cable. You know,
so you wouldn’t ruin your back or some-
thing. But sometimes things just had
to go faster, even if the employer was
against it. But that’s what we did. Back
then, I didn’t know any better.”
After three years, Lars was laid off. It
happened during the economic crisis in
2008, and even though formally he was
fired on the grounds of excessive sickness
absence, Lars thinks that the dismissal
was really about something else.
“The crisis hit, and then it was really a
matter of who was most efficient. And
even though they didn’t say so, we felt
that we were under a lot of pressure.
‘Cause we’d already had two rounds of
job cuts where a lot of people had been
laid off. I ‘d been involved in a car acci-
dent and had two periods off because I
was sick, and they (the employers (ed.))
were very strict. I think it was more of
an excuse because some people had to
go (...). This was the when I found out
what a union is all about, and then I got
involved in union work. I started to take
102
some courses, and later on I became head
of the region (for the United Federation
of Danish Workers (3F) (ed.)) But to start
with, I didn’t really know what it was all
about.”
»
Our job was to put vege-
tables into boxes. So we
were standing there, doing
the same thing for eight
hours a day. We must have
had one and a half kilos in
each hand, or something
like that. I don’t think that
was very good for you. But
the foreman, he didn’t seem
to care very much. He just
wanted me to make these
twisting movements when
I was working. In my head,
this seems very old-
fashioned. You know, like a
workplace in 1930, where
people generally thought
that workers weren’t really
worth much; they could just
be replaced.
Lars – Unskilled temporary jobs
Seasonal work as a vegetable packer
After being laid off, Lars was hired to
carry out seasonal work as a vegetable
packer. Lars explains that working as a
vegetable packer is hard on your body.
Both for work outside and inside the
production hall.
“Our job was to put vegetables into
boxes. So we were standing there, doing
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the same thing for eight hours a day. We
must have had one and a half kilos in
each hand, or something like that. I don’t
think that was very good for you. But
the foreman, he didn’t seem to care very
much. He just wanted me to make these
twisting movements when I was working.
In my head, this seems very old-fashioned.
You know, like a workplace in 1930, where
people generally thought that workers
weren’t really worth much; they could just
be replaced.”
Following an incident during working
hours that was so serious that Lars con-
sidered reporting it to the police, Lars de-
cided to quit himself due to controversies
with his boss. He then faced three weeks
of quarantine before he was eligible for
unemployment benefits, because he
quit his job himself, as opposed to being
laid off.
Substitute waste collector
After a period of unemployment, Lars
found employment as a substitute
waste collector. Lars worked for a waste
collection company as the second substi-
tute on a bin lorry, in a scheme where the
shop steward had a list of people working
on each of the bin lorries, and a list of
substitutes for the bin lorries to choose
from when needed. The list included
first, second and third substitutes. Lars
says that the waste collection company
did not intervene very much in how the
employees organised their work, but that
the company was simply interested in the
waste being collected within a certain
time span. Therefore, the waste collectors
themselves were responsible for finding
substitutes. Despite the work being physi-
cally demanding, Lars liked the job.
2.4
Unskilled temp agency work
"It was very well-paid. We only had to
work for a few hours, and it was really
hard work. But [it was] a really great
job! I liked it because I could feel that
I’d worked hard. And I got off early, so I
could go home and relax a little bit.”
The work as a waste collector was
organised so that the waste collectors
got off when they had completed their
route. Consequently, everyone was
interested in finishing the work as quickly
as possible. In addition, the permanently
employed waste collectors put a lot of
pressure on the substitutes to perform.
Moreover, the waste collectors received
no training, but just had to “get going”.
Lars describes a dispute he had with the
men working on one of the Lorries:
»
They sure made high
demands of their
substitutes. If I’d given in
to the pressure, I think
that I could have done some
stupid things. But it came
at a price, because the men
on the lorry refused to use
me as a substitute.
Lars – Unskilled temporary jobs
“I had a huge blister, because I was not
used to wearing safety shoes for so long.
You know, it was not unusual that we’d
have to walk 20 kilometres a day, if not
more. And when you’re not used to that,
it’s tough. Some of them [the permanent
employees] had difficulties accepting
that. So I fell out with the men on one of
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the lorries, because they thought that I
was too slow. I felt that I ‘d shown them
that I was willing to work. They sure
made high demands of their substitutes.
If I’d given in to the pressure, I think that I
could have done some stupid things. But
it came at a price, because the men on
the lorry refused to use me as a substi-
tute.”
When two of the permanently employed
waste collectors retired, Lars was sup-
posed to be permanently employed by
the company. Then the company lost a
municipal contract during a tendering
round, and when another company won
the tender, only the permanently em-
ployed staff was transferred to this new
company. Lars:
“Since they were all new jobs, they [the
company] just didn’t hire the substitutes.”
Seasonal work as a municipal gardener
During the last two summers, Lars was
employed for two months with fixed
wages as a seasonal employee in a mu-
nicipality. His task was to mow the grass
in municipal areas. He likes the job, and
he hopes he will be hired again.
“It was actually a great job... a little bit
like the waste collection job. No one was
watching me and saying: ´Now do this
and now do that.´ So there was a lot of
freedom. And if there was some problem
with the lawnmower, we couldn’t always
be bothered to take it to the workshop,
because it was simply easier to just fix it
at home."
When Lars started working for the mu-
nicipality, the lawnmower he was to use
104
was missing a shock absorber. He could
not just fix it himself. Mowing a lawn
with many bumps using a lawnmower
without suspension was not something
Lars was willing to do.
»
I’d almost never argue with
my bosses. I ‘d leave that
up to my partner. And he
didn’t mind [...] But if you’re
a temporary employee, you
want to be hired again. Then
I can imagine that it’s not
a good idea to piss off the
bosses too much.
Lars – Unskilled temporary jobs
“I could feel it in my back all the time. And
it didn’t take more than a day before I
told my partner that I wouldn’t put up
with this unless it was fixed. Well, if I’d
been 18 years old, I probably would have
just said: ´Well, ok´ until it began to hurt.
I mean I’d only bring it up if I started
feeling pain. But I think my partner kind of
liked me, because I spoke out.”
However, even though Lars takes pride in
speaking his mind, he is conscious about
whom he argues with and whom he does
not argue with.
“I’d almost never argue with my bosses.
I ‘d leave that up to my partner. And he
didn’t mind [...] But if you’re a temporary
employee, you want to be hired again.
Then I can imagine that it’s not a good
idea to piss off the bosses too much."
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Still, Lars remembers an incident when
spoke his mind very clearly to his boss.
Unlike his boss, Lars was of the opinion
that, even though he was a temporary
worker, he needed a phone.
“They’d not given me a phone, and my
partner was on vacation. And so I went
out to mow grass like I was supposed to.
Then I had a flat tyre, and I was standing
there, in the middle of nowhere, without
a phone, and miles away from everything,
thinking ‘What the hell I’m I gonna do?’
Then I told them: ‘Well, if I have to work
alone, then I need a phone’. But they said
‘No, you can’t have one, because you’re a
seasonal worker’. And then I said: ‘Well,
then you’re going to have to pay me
when I’m stuck and waiting with a flat
tyre.’ Well, it happens, you know.”
Freelance work for father’s business
Within the last year, in between other
jobs, Lars has worked in the father’s
business, which specialises in testing the
tightness of buildings. The father has
bought advanced measuring equipment,
and Lars has learned how to operate this
equipment. Unfortunately, there are not
enough buildings to be tested to war-
rant full-time employment. Therefore,
the income is not fixed, but depends on
the number of assignments the father is
able to land.
“It’s good extra money, but it’s not
enough for a living, because I can’t get
20 tests a month.”
Lars explains that he likes the combi-
nation of going out and performing
tests, and then going back and writing
the report. Moreover, according to Lars,
2.4
Unskilled temp agency work
he can make good money, and that is
important. Lars is considering obtaining
state certification because it might give
him access to more assignments.
Contract with temporary agency
In between the periods of seasonal work
as a gardener for the municipality, Lars
signed up with a temporary agency.
When he was unemployed, Lars was
obligated to have a job profile on the
municipality job portal, and much to
his surprise, a temporary agency came
across his profile. They called him up and
asked if he wanted to work for them
when there was work available. Lars
signed an employment contract with the
temporary agency in which his minimum
wage was agreed for each individual
employment.
“Well, they have some funny rules. ‘Cause
when they sent me out as a temp, I was
entitled to the same wage as the other
employees, so that’s what they paid me.
In the municipality I got DKK 145 [19.5
Euro] per hour, like I was supposed to. But
it also meant that if I had to go and work
at a DIY centre, for example, I wouldn’t
even get DKK 130 [17.5 Euro] per hour. I
said I wouldn’t accept that. So there were
probably some jobs they didn’t send me
to, I guess. But I don’t know, I never talked
to them about it.”
Lars explains that the temporary agency
typically called him one day in advance,
if they had work for him. If they knew
well advance that they had a job for
him, they would call Lars straight away.
Sometimes it could be one and a half
months in advance. Employment periods
varied from a single day to a month at
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the same workplace. One of the jobs was
at a warehouse.
“My job was to put goods on the shelves
where they should go. And when I’d fin-
ished that, they told me that they wanted
me to vacuum with this big industrial
vacuum cleaner – and then clean it after-
wards. Kind of boring work, but…”
Interviewer:
“Have you ever been sent
out on a job or an assignment that you
were unable to do?”
Lars:
“Yes, building a fence. But then I
had a partner who helped me. When I’ve
been given assignments that I don’t know
how to do, there’s usually been someone
I could ask. And sometimes, I just did it,
without really thinking about it. But we’ve
always been good with our hands in my
family, so I’ve always been good at a lot
of practical stuff."
Health and safety
Lars says that all compulsory safety
measures have always been complied
with at the many workplaces where he
has been employed. He has been provid-
ed with safety glasses, gloves and safety
shoes. Furthermore, in virtually all the
jobs he has held, he has received on-the-
job training from colleagues.
"And that’s also a good way for com-
panies to train new employees. Because
you learn some tricks that the managers
don’t even know about, because they
don’t think about it."
However, Lars also explains that on-the-
job training may result in miscommuni-
cation, because he is not made aware of
2.4
Unskilled temp agency work
the specific sets of rules in force at the
workplace.
“Someone once asked me if I could use a
chain saw, and I said yes. Later on, I found
out that what they meant was whether I
had a certificate. Back then, I didn’t know
that you were supposed to have one. But
you are; you need to have a certificate. So
when I figured out that they were actually
talking about the certificate, well, then I
had to say no, because I didn’t have one.”
Communication may easily
go wrong if things that are
implicitly understood by the
employees are not explained
or communicated explicitly to
newcomers, and they rarely
are, precisely because they
are implicitly understood.
Often, the employees at a workplace
implicitly understand many things, and
they can be difficult for a newcomer to
understand. The incident with the chain-
saw is an example, says Lars. Communi-
cation may easily go wrong if things that
are implicitly understood by the employ-
ees are not explained or communicated
explicitly to newcomers, and they rarely
are, precisely because they are implicitly
understood.
“Sometimes they tell me to do something,
and I actually think I know what they
mean. But things may be understood
by the employees, because they’ve been
doing the same work for many... for a
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long time. Then maybe I’ll make a fool of
myself."
Temporary employments: “Not good in
the long run”
Lars is not troubled by his many tempo-
rary employments, but he is aware of
the mental burden of constantly having
to adapt to new workplaces and new
colleagues.
Although Lars has been pleased with the
temporary agency work, the nature of
his work life also has some very tangi-
ble disadvantages that interfere with
Lars’ private life. For example, Lars and
his girlfriend are talking about buying
a house, but he is aware that getting a
bank loan is unrealistic when he works
for a temporary agency.
“I actually liked the temp agency work.
The only problem was just that my girl-
friend and I had started talking about
buying a house. And I knew that if I went
to my bank and said: ´I work for a tem-
porary agency’, then they’d probably say:
‘Well, we can’t be sure about your em-
ployment then’. If I was 19 and still living
at home, then I wouldn’t have thought it
was much of a problem. But now, it’s just
not going to work in the long run.”
Lars is increasingly concerned about his
uncertain financial situation himself. Pre-
viously, he would think about his financial
situation “from day to day”, but now he
feels he has to take more responsibility,
as his life situation has changed.
“It [his financial situation] is a bloody
nightmare. When I was still living at
home, I only had my car and my phone
and a few other expenses. It didn’t bother
me. But when you start thinking about
having a girlfriend and children and your
own house, you feel very insecure.”
The financial insecurity and uncertain-
ty with respect to work planning also
means that being part of a family and all
the aspects involved in family life can be
difficult. For example, it is always diffi-
cult to plan the family’s vacation.
New forms of work among young people
Lars is not troubled by
his many temporary
employments, but he is
aware of the mental burden
of constantly having to adapt
to new workplaces and new
colleagues.
“I could imagine that if you’re kind of
shy, then they [temporary employments]
wouldn’t be good for you. You have to
be able to learn new things fast and be
willing to adapt. Driving a truck at a
warehouse or operating a machine one
day, and then mowing lawns, trimming
hedges and planting shrubs the next. Of
course, the first couple of days, you’re
just checking things out; how do they do
things around here? You know, how do
people talk to each other. Do they have –
excuse me – pictures of naked women in
the workshop. When’s our break? Things
like that. But once I’ve figured out the
routines, I quickly get the hang of it. So if
you want a good experience from being
a temporary employee, you need to be
the kind of person who can fit in almost
anywhere.”
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“Previously, I’d just plan more or less from
day to day. But now it’s a bit annoying
[not to be able to plan further ahead].
For example, when we want to go on
vacation. When it’s not just you going
on a vacation, then you have to plan it
together. And if I work at a temp agency,
and I tell them that I’m going on vacation
in October; well, then I just know that it
can cost me a lot of money, and that it
may not be a good time to be away. I just
don’t know yet. So it’s a bit of a mess.”
plan ahead. Generally, Lars feels that his
family responsibilities mean that he can-
not be available for work at the same
short notice that he used to.
“My girlfriend’s children go to an after
school daycare centre [SFO]. And
sometimes, I’ve had to say no to a job at
the temp agency because I had to say:
‘Well, I have to leave at 3:00 because
my girlfriend is working late. She’s got
an evening shift, and I’ve promised her
to pick up her children’. And that’s, you
know... that’s a problem. It’s just difficult
to plan, I guess. I don’t think about it so
much on a daily basis. But when you’re
confronted with it... then it’s actually a
bit annoying. You become very inflexible.”
Lars concludes:
“That’s what’s funny about precarious
work. Some people do it voluntarily, and
others because it’s their only option.
Right now I kind of feel that this type of
work is my only option."
Future
Lars’ immediate plan for the future is to
apply for an engineering programme. So
far, his grade point average is good, so
he stands a chance. One of the reasons
that Lars wants an education is that
he wants to create greater financial
security for himself and his family. Fur-
thermore, he and his father are talking
about the possibility of Lars taking over
his father’s business sometime in the fu-
ture. Nevertheless, there is also another
reason.
“I honestly think that many people look
down on unskilled workers. You know,
109
»
Previously, I’d just plan more
or less from day to day. But
now it’s a bit annoying [not
to be able to plan further
ahead]. For example, when
we want to go on vacation.
When it’s not just you going
on a vacation, then you have
to plan it together. And if I
work at a temp agency, and
I tell them that I’m going on
vacation in October; well,
then I just know that it can
cost me a lot of money, and
that it may not be a good
time to be away. I just don’t
know yet. So it’s a bit of a
mess.
Lars – Unskilled temporary jobs
Additionally, Lars has to cope with the
daily challenges of picking up the chil-
dren from school. Because Lars’ income
depends on him being available at one
day’s notice, it is almost impossible to
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Unskilled temp agency work
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I felt like a second-class citizen when I
was on unemployment benefits. And the
worst part is that I do the same thing
myself sometimes, when I see someone
who is still unemployed after more than
two years: ‘Get a move on!’. That’s what I
think myself. But actually it’s not fair. You
can very easily feel that you’re not good
enough.”
When asked for advice for young people,
about health and safety at work, Lars
says that it is essential not to have as
high expectations for young new employ-
ees, as for permanent experienced em-
ployees, with regard to productivity and
pace of work. Then he points out that, as
young people grow older, eventually they
need to be able to think and plan further.
Therefore, longer employment contracts
are essential, and that includes for young
people.
Portrait 9:
Julia: Work as a receptionist through a
temp agency
Julia is 27 years old and lives in Gothen-
burg. She recently returned to Sweden
after spending four years in London,
working first at a pub and various
restaurants, and later in a clothes shop.
She had to break off the career she was
building up in London when she moved
back to Sweden for family reasons. In
Gothenburg, Julia has a contract with
a temporary agency that sends her to
various workplaces to work as a recep-
tionist.
“In England, it was really easy for me
to get a job. But then I came back to
Sweden, and here it’s really hard. So I
kind of panicked, and then I got this job.
And now I’m kind of stressed, because I
never know when I’m going to work.”
Julia has an upper secondary school
leaving examination, specialising in IT
and media. She has no education beyond
this. Julia explains that people in her
family rarely start further education. Her
father finished upper secondary school,
and after that, he worked his way up in
the car business. Julia’s mother works in
retail. Julia says that she has never had
periods without a job.
”I can’t not work. Or you know, I have to
keep busy. That’s why it’s so important
for me to find a job and to have collea-
gues. My job is really important to me.”
Julia explains that she just signed a new
contract with the temporary agency at
which she is employed. Under this new
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contract, three weeks after the interview
she will be starting a permanent full-
time job in a reception where the tempo-
rary agency is responsible for permanent
staffing. In a Swedish context, this type
of employment is known as ‘tills vidare
anställning’ [a temporary job, but with
no end date]. Therefore, Julia still has a
contract with the temporary agency, but
she will have a ‘permanent’ workplace.
Wages and conditions of employment at
the temporary agency
When Julia came back from England, she
wanted to find a job fast, and therefore
she sent her CV to all the temporary
agencies she knew. One of them re-
sponded quickly.
At the moment, Julia works as a recep-
tionist for a temporary agency special-
ising in office work and HR. Through the
temporary agency, over a four-month
period, she has worked for seven different
companies, for periods ranging from half
a day to one week. During the first month,
Julia was paid by the hour. Subsequently,
she was employed for a trial period of six
months. At the time of the interview, she
has worked for the temporary agency
under a fixed contract for around five
months. By virtue of her contract with the
temporary agency, Julia is guaranteed a
fixed salary every month. This is known as
a ‘guaranteed salary’.
"I can only say no if I’ve worked more
than 100%. But I never have. It never
happens. So in principle, I always have
to say that I’m available for work (...) In
some weeks, I may not be booked at all,
and then in other weeks, I’m fully booked.
I can be sent to different companies every
day... So it’s a very varied job, as they
say”.
Julia explains that if, over a month, she
works on average 37 hours a week, her
actual salary will exceed her guaranteed
salary, but that has never happened. As
she explains, the reason for this is that,
as soon as her total working hours ex-
ceed the level warranting her guaranteed
salary, her hourly pay increases. Con-
versely, according to the contract with
the temporary agency, Julia is commit-
ted to be available for work for a number
of hours corresponding to a full-time
position. Consequently, if a receptionist is
urgently needed and Julia is not booked,
the temporary agency can call Julia at
any time during the day.
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»
I can only say no if I’ve
worked more than 100%.
But I never have. It never
happens. So in principle,
I always have to say that
I’m available for work (...)
In some weeks, I may not be
booked at all, and then in
other weeks, I’m fully
booked. I can be sent to
different companies every
day... So it’s a very varied
job, as they say.
Julia – Receptionist
“First we spoke on the phone. And then I
was invited to a personal interview with
a recruitment consultant. Then they sent
me lots of those personality tests that I
had to fill in. And then I got the job.”
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Unskilled temp agency work
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Many “first days” at new workplaces
Julia’s work as a temporary worker
means that it is often on her ‘first day at
work’ in the reception of a new company
where she does not know the staff and
routines. Julia explains that when she is
going to a new workplace, she usually
receives some written material about the
company, and she is expected to have
read this before her first day at work.
The material may describe routines at
the workplace, for example how to han-
dle incoming mail, how to forward phone
calls, and where to find different things
she needs for her work.
“Often, you receive training from the per-
manent receptionist. That’s really good,
because reading about the work is one
thing, but actually doing it can be quite
different. Usually, you get a half day of
training, and then the next day, you’re on
your own.”
But in Julia’s experience, a half day of
training is far from enough, because the
permanently employed receptionist has
to perform her usual tasks, while at the
same time training Julia.
“I think more time should be set aside
for it [the training], because they have to
do their normal work, and at the same
time show me how everything works. For
example, they’re showing me how the
phone systems work, and then the phone
rings. And then they’ll say: ‘Well, you’ll
figure it out.' And I’ll just say: ‘Ok, sure'.
You don’t always get a proper chance to
see how things work. So often I just think
to myself: ‘I’ll probably figure it out.’ Then
I’ll just have to do the best I can under
the circumstances. I went to a place
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once, and I was only going to be there
for two hours. And I remember thinking:
‘This isn’t enough’ (training, (ed.)). After
half an hour (of training, (ed.)) she (the
permanently employed receptionist (ed.))
said: ‘I think that was all. Do you have any
questions?’ And I just thought ‘Well OK,
after half an hour... I’m supposed to just...
well OK.’ There’re a thousand things, you
know. So many things are happening that
you haven’t learned and that you’re not
prepared for. (...).”
»
Often, you receive training
from the permanent
receptionist. That’s
really good, because reading
about the work is one thing,
but actually doing it can
be quite different. Usually,
you get a half day of
training, and then the next
day, you’re on your own.
Julia – Receptionist
Working as a receptionist covers a wide
variety of tasks, ranging from answering
phone calls to booking meeting rooms,
ordering lunch and making rooms ready
for meetings. Furthermore, Julia is
often responsible for handling incoming
mail, ordering office supplies, etc. Even
though, in isolation, many of these tasks
are straightforward, Julia thinks that the
nature of the work and shifts between
many different workplaces make great
demands on her personally.
“But it depends a lot on the company, so
it can be very different. You have to be a
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2.4
Unskilled temp agency work
Photo: Colourbox
Photo: Colourbox
Photo: Colourbox
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quick learner in this job. You know, be able
to pick up things really fast. Otherwise,
it’s not gonna work. And then you just
have to be a good worker. You really have
to be open, or, what can I say, you have
to be able to deal with a situation on
your own. You have to solve the problems
yourself. You shouldn’t be afraid to act at
your own initiative, because unfortunate-
ly, you can’t be sure to get any training.
And then you kind of have to say: ‘Well
OK, I’m just going to read the material, or
I’ll take a look around to see if I can find
what I need, or I’ll ask someone.”
Changing workplaces: No colleagues and
a lot to keep track of
After working as a temporary worker
for around five months, Julia has gained
experience from receptions in many dif-
ferent companies. She says:
“The temp agency’s fortunate because
I’ve been in so many different places.
‘Cause the more places I know, the great-
er the chance that they can send a temp
who knows the place. But there’s a lot to
keep track of. There’re so many different
passwords. Some workplaces want you
to do things in a certain way, and others
definitely don’t want you to do things
that way. ‘Is this the place where they
want me to do it like this?’ Something as
simple as not remembering who’s who.
That can be a bit embarrassing some-
times. I see so many different places.”
Working in so many different workplaces
is not something Julia likes. However, she
imagines that people with a different
personality could enjoy the nature of
temporary work:
“The most positive thing about this job is
that you get to work in a lot of different
companies. You definitely meet a lot of
different people and build many contacts.
I’m not really cut out for this type of job,
but I can imagine that some people would
love it. If you’re a very social person.”
Nevertheless, Julia does not feel com-
fortable with the myriad of temporary
colleagues she comes across at work,
and the absence of long-term work rela-
tionships.
»
Sometimes an employee
comes to the reception and
asks me to do something.
And then I don’t know who
that person is...: ‘Sorry,
what’s your name again?’
I feel very unprofessional,
sitting in a reception and
not knowing people’s
names. But I think the
hardest part is that I don’t
have any colleagues. I never
get to know anyone. I’m not
part of a team
Julia – Receptionist
"Sometimes an employee comes to the
reception and asks me to do something.
And then I don’t know who that person
is...: ‘Sorry, what’s your name again?’ I feel
very unprofessional, sitting in a reception
and not knowing people’s names. But
I think the hardest part is that I don’t
have any colleagues. I never get to know
anyone. I’m not part of a team.”
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“I want to feel a bit more important”
Julia’s work assignments as a recep-
tionist have mostly involved routine
work. As Julia only works as a temporary
receptionist on a very short-term basis,
her employers tend to think that the
important assignments can wait until
the permanent receptionist returns.
Julia does not find carrying out the
same simple tasks everyday challenging
enough. She does not think the work is
sufficiently stimulating, she says. When
the interviewer asks her to talk about a
good experience as a temporary worker,
Julia highlights a work assignment that
she found both stimulating and creative.
“At the place where I’m about to start
working soon, I was allowed to do a little
bit more. They wanted to do something
about their toilets, set up a relaxation
room and fix up the staff lunch room.
And then they asked me if I could do
it. And I was like: ‘Yes, absolutely’! So I
helped design the rooms, and I thought
that was super cool. It was cool, because
I was part of something and because I
was actually allowed to influence my own
workplace. That’s how I like it."
Julia reflects on the age difference be-
tween herself and the people she works
with. She thinks this might be the reason
that she has slightly higher expectations
for her work.
“I think maybe the age difference plays
a role. Because I’ve noticed that the
people I work with are 20, 21, 22. I don’t
know, maybe they think it’s cool. But I
want to do something that’s a bit more
important so that it makes sense for me.
Instead of just sitting there, with a pretty,
2.4
Unskilled temp agency work
smiling face. I want to feel a little bit
more important... actually, I want to have
more responsibility. I think it’s cool to plan
and organise things. To be more involved
in what’s going on.”
»
And then when I finished
at a quarter past two, they
called from the agency and
asked me to go somewhere
else to work until six o’clock.
And of course, I didn’t say
no, because we can’t say no.
But that made me a little
bit... It was just too much,
and the clients got really
annoyed.
Julia – Receptionist
Health and safety: Lack of influence in a
work life without structure
According to Julia, temporary agencies
do not pay very well, particularly given
the fact that Julia has not worked full
time yet. Furthermore, her income varies
from month to month. However, Julia
states that her main problem is not
financial uncertainty, but rather that she
cannot plan her own time because the
temporary agency demands that she is
available and flexible all the time.
“If I had a full-time job, then I would earn
a decent salary, or I would know how
much I could expect at the end of the
month. But that’s not the biggest prob-
lem. You know, temp agencies don’t pay
very well, unfortunately. But for me, the
worst thing is that I like to plan ahead. I
like to be in control and to be prepared.
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And if I haven’t been booked one day,
then they can call me between 6 and 12
on that same day, and then I have to be
available.”
In London, Julia worked at bars, restau-
rants and in shops with long opening
hours. Therefore, she is used to working
irregular hours, with morning, evening
and night shifts, but that was not a
problem for Julia, because she always
had a one-month work schedule. Howev-
er, this is not the case now.
“Now I don’t know yet where I’m sup-
posed to work on Friday, and that really
stresses me. Usually, I only know from
day to day where I’m going to work. But
next week, for example, I’m booked for
three days, I think. But that can change,
so maybe it’ll be four or five days, or
sometimes jobs will be cancelled at short
notice. If you look two weeks ahead,
your schedule may be completely empty.
Even though I have a guaranteed salary,
it stresses me. ‘Cause if I’m not booked
some days, then they can call me if some-
one has called in sick. It doesn’t happen
so often, but it still stresses me. I like to
get up in the morning, make myself a cup
of coffee and get dressed without any
stress. So if my morning is disturbed, then
the whole day is, you know (laughs)... well,
that’s just really stressful. How should I
put it... what stresses me is the uncer-
tainty. I want to be able to plan ahead.”
Julia explains that the temporary agency
organises the work when the companies
call the agency in the afternoon. Subse-
quently, the temporary agency calls Julia,
but sometimes the agency forgets to
contact her.
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“But sometimes I’ve been booked, and
then maybe the agency forgot to call me.
Then it’s my responsibility to call them
and ask where I’m supposed to go the
next day. So it’s like you never really get a
chance to relax."
Therefore, Julia is pleased with the new
arrangement with the temporary agen-
cy. Three weeks after the interview, she
will start a permanent full-time job in a
reception where the temporary agency is
responsible for permanent staffing. She
is very satisfied with this.
“I’ll be working from eight to five every
second week, and from nine to six in the
other weeks, and that’s absolutely fantas-
tic. I can start planning my life in a way
that I haven’t been able to before. And
in principle, it also means that I can stop
thinking about work when I go home (...)”
“It was just too much”
Another disadvantage of temporary
agency work is that, as a temporary
worker, you can be sent to a workplace
far away, from where you live.
Luckily, for Julia, she has mostly been
sent to workplaces close to her home.
However, due to illness, on one occasion
the temporary agency rotated five tem-
porary workers. Therefore, Julia was sent
to a workplace located 50 minutes away
at 15 minutes notice. One of her manag-
ers drove her to the workplace and called
them up to let them know that Julia
would be coming instead of their usual
temporary worker.
“When I arrived, I just said ‘Hi, sorry I’m
late.’ And they wanted to know what was
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going on because they thought it was
their usual temp who had been taken
ill. Then I had to explain that another
person had been taken ill and their usual
temp had been sent elsewhere. And they
were like: ‘OK, so they didn’t think it was
important for you to be here on time?’
Then they were kind of like: ‘OK, this isn’t
gonna work’. And the following day, I had
to go to the same place, and it takes me
50 minutes to get there. And then when I
finished at a quarter past two, they called
from the agency and asked me to go
somewhere else to work until six o’clock.
And of course, I didn’t say no, because we
can’t say no. But that made me a little
bit... It was just too much, and the clients
got really annoyed.”
Thus, Julia has had to face clients who
were annoyed at things that she could
not have handled any differently. The
situation was caused by the agency’s
poor planning and unforeseen events
that were out of her hands. Still, Julia is
confronted with clients’ dissatisfaction,
because she has contact with the clients
on a daily basis, and because she is not
part of the workplace.
Future
When talking about her future, Julia
strongly stresses that she is definitely
not going to start a family. She is not in-
terested in having children, and she does
not want to get married.
“I don’t know if I’m going to stay in Swe-
den. I don’t know what kind of job I want.
I don’t plan on taking an education. I like
these ’knegarjobben’ (Swedish term for
unskilled jobs, (ed.)), you know these or-
dinary jobs. In my previous jobs, I’ve been
2.4
Unskilled temp agency work
promoted pretty fast. I became a super-
visor, and I was also promoted in the shop
where I was working before I moved back
to Sweden. It went really fast. To begin
with, I was supposed to have my own pub,
you know, that was the plan. And then
I got a job in a shop, and, yes, that was
cool. A small shop could be cool. But you
never know, maybe I’ll go in a completely
different direction.”
Julia says that security is crucial for her,
while a high income is not essential.
“Security, yes, but I don’t necessarily have
to earn a lot of money. As long as I can
go out to a good restaurant, and buy a
few things now and then. That’s really all I
need. A bus pass costs SEK 600 [60 Euro]
a month... it’s not like I have the world’s
highest... no, what I mean is... as long as
I can make ends meet. I don’t want to
feel things are tight every month. But as
long as I can manage from day to day, I’m
happy.”
Working in temporary jobs
The young people presented above have
a working life where they need to be
available to meet up at their workplace
at a very short notice. They do not find
that flexibility is a value that provides
better conditions or opportunities, rather
the contrary. They cannot plan their own
time because the temp agency demands
that they are available and flexible all the
time. Constant demand for availability
and readiness to work is seen as stress-
ful.
Looking into the future, it is likely to be
difficult to continue this type of work
and start a normal family life. The most
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problematic issue for these young work-
ers is the worry of not being able to plan
and control their own future. The finan-
cial insecurity, and uncertainty in terms
of when and where they will be working
can, for some, be aligned with youth life,
without financial and social responsibility
for anyone other than themselves.
However, when young people establish
their own family, then temporary and
insecure employment is difficult to
reconcile with family life.
These young workers do not consider
their leaders as someone who can help
them. Just like Brynja, Devran and An-
ders, both Lars and Julia often feel left
to themselves. They both talk about a
workplace where they must continuously
adapt to new jobs, new tasks and new
cultural codes of practice.
(...) when young people
establish their own family,
then temporary and insecure
employment is difficult to
reconcile with family life.
These young workers both have
constantly changing tasks and work
situations. They both say that they are
good at adapting and are experienced in
taking great independent responsibility
and performing new tasks, but that they
receive very little support and help when
they start at a new workplace. They say
that they lack colleagues and a social
community.
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Photo: Colourbox
2.5 Working on social digital platforms
In the three following portraits, we will meet Sara, Paula
and Anette. All three are busy developing social digital
platforms and using social digital platforms for blogs
and so on. However, this is not the only job function they
have. All three of them work for many hours during a
week at a number of different jobs and with a number of
different tasks
2.5
Working on social digital platforms
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Portrait 10:
Sara Jin Smidt: Chief Editor, blogger
and fitness instructor
Sara Jin Smidt is 30 years old. She lives
in Copenhagen. Sara has a Master’s
degree in human nutrition from the
University of Copenhagen. In addition,
she is a qualified fitness instructor. Sara
says that she has always worked a lot.
During her time at university, she worked
full-time and, among other things, she
was an hourly paid fitness instructor, at
first in FitnessDK, later in Palm Fitness
and finally in the Fitness World chain.
These employments came to shape her
current work situation. Her fitness class-
es became very popular, and in the wake
of her popular classes, demands for
personal training and dietary counselling
emerged. In 2013, this success inspired
Sara to establish her own business and
her Healthy Skinny Bitch blog, which
quickly got many readers. Currently, the
blog has 25-30,000 unique readers per
month (primarily Danish readers). In
connection with the blog, Sara occasion-
ally enters into commercial cooperation
with companies that offer health and
weight loss products. Through these
agreements, Sara is paid for sponsored
blog posts and for producing other forms
of commercial content for the blog. In
this regard, Sara is paid a fee and simply
sends out an invoice.
While working on the blog, in 2014 Sara
began writing articles about food and
exercise for the magazine Elle, both
for the printed and the online versions.
Moreover, in 2016, she was contacted
by the Nordic publishing house Egmont,
which headhunted her for a permanent
120
full-time employment as chief editor
of the magazine FIT LIVING. Therefore,
today, she spends her daytime hours at
Egmont’s head office in Copenhagen.
Now she has an employee to handle
the dietary counselling that she previ-
ously did herself. In addition, Sara has a
third job as an hourly paid instructor at
FitnessDK, where she instructs fitness
classes for six hours a week. Sara has an
open-ended contract as a class instruc-
tor paid hourly. Sara has also written
a book about food and healthy recipes,
and she is in the start-up phase for a
new book.
In 2013, this success inspired
Sara to establish her own
business and her Healthy
Skinny Bitch blog, which
quickly got many readers.
Currently, the blog has
25-30,000 unique readers
per month.
Establishing a network as a work
method
Sara is an hourly paid instructor at
FitnessDK. This means that she is paid
per training hour. Sara instructs different
classes with titles including ´tighten up’,
’pulse/strength’ and ’HIT’. The training
takes place in the two fitness centres
that employ Sara. As a class instructor,
she has to organise and conduct the
exercises together with the participants.
When Sara talks about the participants
in the different classes, it becomes clear
that she has a special bond with them.
”When we meet up for the training
sessions, we’re all dressed in sportswear.
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When I ‘ve arranged bootcamps, no more
than 12 girls participate. They’re really
struggling, and they’re going through
an eight-week food and training pro-
gramme. It’s very intense and tears are
not uncommon. And when you come out
of the other end, you suddenly realise:
“Oh my God, she’s a huge career woman,
she’s the boss of some huge company.
And she seemed like everything but that
when she was working out. So, in some
way, it becomes a natural network, where
it’s not about networking, but more
about working out together. And sudden-
ly you find out, “Oh my God, I know 20
lawyers”, because, as it happens, there’re
a lot of lawyers in my classes. So, when I
go through my contract for my book, I’ve
got five girls saying to me; ´We can help
you with that!”
Sara’s work is not confined to training in
the exercise room. Over the years, the re-
lationship between the participants and
Sara has grown into something more
personal. Sara calls the participants in
her classes at FitnessDK ’her girls’. She
explains that she does this to cultivate a
team spirit. She has also set up a Face-
book group that enables her to contact
the girls outside the fitness centre.
“Once or twice a year, I’ve made a post
if I’m substituting for another instructor
on a class or if there’s extra sessions or
something like that. Also, if I’m going on
holiday, I post it on the group page; ‘I will
be absent there and there, but someone’s
substituting these and these classes’. Or:
‘There’s an extra session in the Easter
vacation’. The Facebook group has also
been out to dinner together, at least
those of us who wanted to. So, suddenly,
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perhaps 30-40 girls have participated in
3-4-5 events. And then I arranged a huge,
free party to celebrate my birthday last
year, and 200 showed up. So, you can
say that a lot has happened since the
beginning.”
»
The Facebook group has
also been out to dinner
together, at least those
of us who wanted to.
So, suddenly, perhaps 30-
40 girls have participated
in 3-4-5 events. And then
I arranged a huge, free
party to celebrate my
birthday last year, and
200 showed up.
Sara Jin Smidt –Chief Editor,
blogger and fitness instructor
In this way, the training and the Face-
book group also function as a place in
which Sara can create and maintain
networks and friendships. She says that
training and her role as an instructor
have led to several friendships.
“The reason why I won’t give up my job
as a fitness instructor is that I really can’t
see myself stopping. It’s not that I make
a lot of money at it. And now I have both
the blog, which is getting more and more
popular, and this new full-time job. But I
can feel that my training sessions mean
a lot to them, and they can feel that they
mean a lot to me. So, it’s sort of like a
love affair, I think I’d call it.”
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“You give so much of yourself”
“You give so much of yourself. Because,
when you train people and counsel them
about diet and so on, all of a sudden
you’re a part of their lives, and you know
what they’re eating, and what they’re
thinking when they’re eating. And when
they’re heartbroken and can’t eat or you
eat too much. That’s what I love about
it. But it’s also extremely hard, and it
requires a lot from me.”
Sara’s classes have always been very
popular; always filled up and with full
waiting lists. Sara herself explains the
success of her classes:
“I have a philosophy that people come
to me because they want to be trained
and pushed to a place they can’t push
themselves to. One of my girls told me
that one substitute had said; “If it’s too
hard, then make it easier by doing this
and this”. Where I have the opposite ap-
proach: “Start on with full body pushups,
and if you’re going to throw up, then you
can...”. So, I demand more from them, and
the classes pass by faster. I’m probably
also more foul-mouthed than many of
the other instructors - I shout a bit more
and I’m a little more militant. So, either
you’re totally into it or you think it’s the
worst thing ever.”
Sara also makes use of her affective
skills when she works as a personal train-
er and as a dietary counsellor. However,
it has a price, she says.
“Right now, it’s really great to train and
give dietary advice, but I realise that at
some point, I’ll get tired of it and I won’t
want to do it anymore. Also because I’ve
122
had the same group of girls, so I’m giving
the same advice all over again.”
Unpaid work
The network that Sara has access to
through training classes and as a per-
sonal trainer has given Sara jobs that
have increased the exposure of her blog.
One of Sara’s personal training clients
worked for the fashion magazine ELLE,
and she recruited Sara as a health writer
for the online version of the magazine.
“I became their health expert and sup-
plied expert statements for their online
articles without getting paid for it. Later
on, I was hired as their permanent health
writer, and then I was paid whenever I
wrote something for the printed version.
And then I also began writing for iForm
at one point. Of course that was also
paid. [...]”
Interviewer:
“Why did they only pay you,
when you wrote in the printed version
and not the online version?”
Sara:
“Well, that was just because it was
online, and I sort of had an expert role. I
was more like a source. We just sort of
switched. I submitted some statements
and articles, and I decided on some of the
content myself, so they gave me expo-
sure. That’s pretty normal. And then they
linked directly to my blog and gave me
more exposure. It really is pretty
normal in this industry. It was more like,
I got to write some things for them that I
wanted to share or which could be fun to
do. There were no requirements, expecta-
tions or even a contract.”
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Photo: Colourbox
Photo: Colourbox
Photo: Danielle- Cerullo / Unsplash
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Even though Sara does not receive a fee
for all of her writing, she is paid through
exposure to her blog. Besides, she has
accumulated experience from the maga-
zine industry; experience which ultimately
contributed to her gaining the job as the
chief editor.
Loose employment conditions, fired from
Fitness World
In 2015, Sara refused to sign a renewal
of her contract with Fitness World; her
employer at that time. Fitness World
had included a competition clause in
her contract, which forbade her to work
with health and weight loss outside the
fitness chain, and Fitness World alleged
that Sara broke this competition clause
when working on her blog. Sara was a
member of the IDA trade union, but an-
other trade union, HK, guided her on how
to deal with the case and how she should
respond. She also had help from her own
lawyer. In short, Fitness World allowed
some instructors exemption from the
competition clause to work with health
promotion and weight loss. Nevertheless,
Sara was not one of them, and therefore
she was asked to either close her busi-
ness or stop working in Fitness World.
She decided to stop at Fitness World.
The case was additionally fuelled by a
minor storm in the media.
“Well, I had to tell the girls that I was
stopping. And I had arranged with my
closest boss what I could say and what I
couldn’t say. But then things went fast,
because there was a huge network in
those hundreds of girls. So, it turned out
that one of the girls was a journalist and
she had an article in the newspaper. And
many girls initiated petitions, which were
124
signed by thousands of people. Fitness
World was sort of shot down. So, the next
morning, the administration called me to
find out what was going on, because they
had been attacked by angry women.”
»
So, the next morning, the
administration called me
to find out what was going
on, because they had been
attacked by angry women.
Sara Jin Smidt –Chief Editor,
blogger and fitness instructor
Nevertheless, Fitness World stood by
the dismissal, and afterwards, Sara was
quickly re-hired in another chain; Fitness
DK, where she had been employed
previously. This meant that many of the
people from Sara’s classes transferred
their membership from Fitness World to
Fitness DK. For Sara, this meant that the
dismissal, which she at first considered a
defeat, turned into something positive.
“There’s no doubt that the firing from
Fitness World actually ended as a huge
pat on the back for me personally. Of
course, I was aware that my classes were
extremely popular, and I was also aware
that I did a great job. And furthermore, I
was aware that I had a unique relation-
ship with my girls. But that support they
showed me... To experience that was just
awesome!”
Health and safety: Continued working
with a foot injury
Sara’s job as an instructor is primarily
physical work, and at one point, she had
an injury.
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“I had a fatigue fracture in my foot, and
my foot suddenly started to hurt from
jumping around. And I thought, ‘well,
that’s probably not so serious’. But then
it got worse and worse during the class,
and then I couldn’t stand on it. And then
there was a doctor in my class who came
up to me after the class and said, ‘we
need to take a look at that’. And I was like,
‘are you sure? I think my feet will smell
pretty bad after having jumped around on
them for two hours’. But she diagnosed
a fatigue fracture in my foot, caused by
too much of the same kind of exercises.
I’d simply been jumping too much in the
same spot. So my bone was slowly
fracturing.”
demonstrate the exercises now that I
couldn’t. So that went well. And other-
wise, I wouldn’t have had an income at
that time. I also ran a bootcamp, which
was my primary income, and I did that on
crutches as well.”
“You don’t die from saying no
sometimes”
It is not unusual for Sara having a
70-hour working week. The book she
published for Politikens Forlag in January
2017 was in fact written while Sara was
fully occupied with a full-time position as
the chief editor of a magazine, handling
the operation of the blog and her own
business, as well as being an instructor
at Fitness DK. Therefore, the book was
written in the late evening or early night
or at weekends.
“I’ve felt that I was working too much
once or twice. There was one night a cou-
ple of years ago, when I just couldn’t fall
asleep. I was writing my Master’s thesis,
working full-time and had my own busi-
ness that had just completely exploded.
At that point, my heart rate went
through the roof. The next day, I cleared
my calendar for a few hours, and I sat
down and wrote down all my part-
nerships. All my tasks, all the things I
was going to do. And then I cancelled
everything that wasn’t important. Then I
found out that you don’t die from saying
no sometimes. I’ve experienced the same
thing twice since then. When I start to
think that working isn’t the greatest thing
in the world, I think; ‘then I don’t want to’.
And then I try to stop up, cancel what can
be cancelled and set an autoreply on my
email.”
125
»
I had a fatigue fracture
in my foot, and my foot
suddenly started to hurt
from jumping around.
And I thought, ‘well, that’s
probably not so serious’
Sara Jin Smidt –Chief Editor,
blogger and fitness instructor
Consequently, Sara had to conduct her
classes in a different way than she was
used to.
“Then I instructed my girls on two step
benches, where I would sit with crutches,
wearing a boot-thing on my foot while
shouting at the others. That’s the advan-
tage of having so many regular classes.
Then you don’t have to do things yourself.
You can just tell them what to do. I just
posted on the Facebook group that the
regulars had to show up for my classes,
because there had to be someone to
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Being a public figure: “Of course, they’re
getting something of the real me”
Before Sara became a permanent em-
ployee as the chief editor of a magazine,
the majority of Sara’s work consisted of
being present on social media platforms.
Being visible and keeping followers updat-
ed were crucial in her endeavours towards
success. This brought with it some special
working conditions, where Sara’s life and
whole existence are exposed to the public.
Sara says that she is frequently stopped
when, for example, she is out, because she
is recognised as ‘the girl from the Healthy
Skinny Bitch blog’.
was asked: ´You and Toke, did you break
up?´ And I was like: ´Eh no, we didn’t´.
Obviously, I knew that things weren’t
going so well, but I was like: ´Why are
you asking?´ and they’d say ´Well, I can
just see...’. Yeah, my followers could sense
something, and it was actually really
scary.”
Interviewer:
“Have you ever experienced
anything uncomfortable, like stalkers or
something like that?”
Sara:
“I think it depends on what makes
you feel uncomfortable. For example,
there are people that take offence or get
angry from receiving dick pics or nude
pics of men on their social media. When
men send pictures to your Snapchat or
Instagram, or whatever they do. As long
as they stay on my phone, I can just delete
them and block them. I’ve just been
featured half naked in the magazine
Euroman as ‘A woman we like’. So, I’m
sort of asking for it myself, you could say.
I’m not that offended by it. Lonely men
in their late 50s, sitting in some small
town and thinking you look lovely because
you’re Asian, that’s... You know, I just
block them if it’s out of my comfort zone
in any way. But I have thought about
getting a private address.”
Plans for the future: Wishes a day was
longer than 24 hours
Sara wishes a day was longer than 24
hours, but she adds that she would “prob-
ably straightaway fill them with work”.
Sara’s immediate plans for the future
are work-related, and she says that her
own plans for the future are identical to
her work ambitions for the magazine FIT
LIVING.
New forms of work among young people
»
At that point, my heart
rate went through the roof.
The next day, I cleared my
calendar for a few hours,
and I sat down and wrote
down all my partnerships.
All my tasks, all the things
I was going to do. And then
I cancelled everything that
wasn’t important. ’
Sara Jin Smidt –Chief Editor,
blogger and fitness instructor
“My blog is like ‘I work out, I eat, I work
out, I eat, I work out, I eat. And then I’m
here, and then I’m there’. But it’s not like
‘this is how I feel’. It’s not that personal.
But of course, they’re getting something
of the real me. Otherwise, they wouldn’t
want to follow it. And maybe it wouldn’t
be so much fun to do either. But when me
and my boyfriend were having a rough
time, in the weeks leading up to our break
up.... Many of my followers had actually
seen it coming. Several times a week I
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»
I’m not that offended by
it. Lonely men in their late
50s, sitting in some small
town and thinking you look
lovely because you’re Asian,
that’s... You know, I just
block them if it’s out of my
comfort zone in any way.
But I have thought about
getting a private address.
Sara Jin Smidt –Chief Editor,
blogger and fitness instructor
have; I can write whatever I feel like. And
with that, I always have something to fall
back on. So, if people really stop reading
print magazines, as it looks like they will
do, then I can fall back on the blog.”
However, in the back of her mind, Sara
also has a future with flat purchase and
starting a family.
“Well, I hope for sure that I get to have
a family at some point. I’m 30 now and
haven’t really felt broody yet. I’m sure it’ll
come some day. But I don’t want to get
married and have kids just to get married
and have kids. I want to get married and
have kids because I want to.
I tried to borrow money for a flat a year
ago, but the bank was really sceptical
about lending me money, even though
I had plenty. I mean my business had a
good turnover, but I was vulnerable. You
could just push me down a staircase. If I
broke a leg or fell on my high-heels when I
was out, then I wouldn’t be able to make
any money. But this has changed after I
got a permanent position.”
“I really want to be here for a long time.
And I really want to keep my classes and
just enjoy instructing. I’m aware that if I
have kids, I won’t necessarily be able to
check in at seven in the morning or have
extra classes to eight in the evening six
times a week. That wouldn’t work. So, for
my future I definitely hope that my work
on the magazine is a success, and that I
can find a balance with my blog so I can
keep that too. Because it’s so great to
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Portrait 11:
Paula: Beauty blogger, art agent and
influencer
Paula is 28 years old and lives in Stock-
holm. In 2014, she received a Master’s
degree in social anthropology from
Stockholm University. During her studies,
Paula was a guest student in Califor-
nia. Here, she took courses on political
science, international relations, global
studies and sociology. Paula wants to
go back to California someday, as she
feels at home there. Paula’s parents are
from Chile. Her mother works as a nurse
and her father is a mechanic. During her
studies and after she graduated from
university, Paula worked as an unskilled
employee in a court of law. Nevertheless,
she quit her permanent position and
now works as a beauty blogger and art
agent while freelancing in various con-
texts. She calls herself a ´influencer´, but
at the same time, she finds it difficult to
explain what she is really working on.
“I freelance as a project manager and I’ve
arranged a number of conferences and
campaigns on culture and sustainability
- and now I’m working more and more
on events for bloggers, which I also do
myself. So I‘ve arranged bloggers’ confer-
ences, and I’ll continue working a bit with
that too. But yeah, I‘ve also just begun
working as a freelance copywriter and
blogger too. And then I also run a sort of
art agency for girls who paint graffiti. So,
it’s difficult to explain exactly what I really
do. I guess you could just say that I’m a
sort of freelancing creative person.”
Since 2015, Paula has run her own
beauty blog. On the blog, you can follow
128
Paula’s tips on skin care and make up
products, but also Paula’s thoughts and
everyday life. She blogs approximately
3-5 times a week. Meanwhile, she works
as a freelancer, arranging and organis-
ing events for different clients including
various culture institutions.
Working as an influencer: Creating your
own voice
As described earlier, an influencer is a
person with huge reach, who can influ-
ence, motivate and inspire followers via
social media platforms. Paula uses her
beauty blog as an influencer by uniting
her interests in beauty products with
sustainability and social justice perspec-
tives through conscious and reflected
profiling.
“A type like me probably sticks out in the
Swedish blogging community. I don’t
think that there are many social anthro-
pologists blogging about beauty. When
I write about beauty, cosmetics, hygiene
products and clothing, I write from a per-
spective of human rights, or even more
from an environmental perspective.”
Paula says that it is important to create
your own unique voice as an influenc-
er. She has positioned herself as the
blogger with focus on the environment
and sustainability in the vast landscape
of beauty bloggers. Additionally, Paula is
also motivated by giving voice to certain
people who she considers are under-rep-
resented within the given field:
“I think what I’ve done is to create a
special voice. And it’s this voice I also use
when I’m a project manager or when
I’m arranging conferences and booking
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speakers, for example. Many white, Swed-
ish men between 30 and 40 years old are
often booked to lead seminars and things
like that. And in these cases, I‘d rather
choose other people for the job. I think
it’s important that other people are also
heard.”
out that she liked managing projects,
and that many of her friends could
benefit from her project management
competences.
“I’ve got a lot of friends who do graffiti
and art. But they don’t want to do all the
administrative work or sell their art. So, I
felt as if there was an opportunity for me
to start an art agency.”
Another factor that helped Paula make
the decision to become self-employed
was that she was not happy employed in
her old company.
“And then I wasn’t happy in the compa-
ny where I was employed at that time. I
did have a full-time position with a fairly
good salary and everything. But I thought
to myself that I’d end up on sick leave
if I went on working there. So, I took up
a short employment in an organisation
working with human rights. In that or-
ganisation, I worked as a project assis-
tant and had my own project. And when
that employment ended I thought: ´Okay,
what do I do now?´ I couldn’t just go
back to a normal desk job in some public
authority or just work in administration.
I wanted to be creative, and I wanted to
decide my own working conditions. So
I thought: ´Well, I’m just going to do it
then, I’ll try it out.”
From a permanent position with office
hours to creative freelancer
Paula says that she has always had a
need for financial security and a perma-
nent residence.
“I’ve always wanted to feel secure and
have a fixed income, a permanent resi-
129
»
I think what I’ve done is to
create a special voice. And
it’s this voice I also use
when I’m a project manager
or when I’m arranging
conferences and booking
speakers, for example.
Many white, Swedish men
between 30 and 40 years
old are often booked to lead
seminars and things like
that. And in these cases,
I‘d rather choose other
people for the job. I think it’s
important that other people
are also heard.
Paula –Beauty blogger, art agent
and influencerer
Paula has many different types of jobs,
but the jobs she primarily makes her
money on are jobs regarding project
management and copywriting. She is
paid per job delivered. Her work differs
from very small one-off jobs, paid as a
fee, to temporary project employments,
also paid as fees. She does not receive
payment for some of the jobs she does.
The decision to become self-employed
was taken after Paula had already found
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Photo: Ioana Cristiana / Unsplash
Photo: Sarah Comeau / Unsplash
Photo: Freestocks Org / Unsplash
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dence and so on, which is nearly impossi-
ble in Stockholm. But I’ve always wanted
to live like that. So it really was a big step
for me to go from a permanent position
in an authority with office hours to be-
coming a creative freelancer.”
When Paula decided to leave her perma-
nent position to become a freelancer, she
had just bought an expensive flat with
her boyfriend at that time. Therefore, it
did not feel financially secure enough to
launch into a new life as a freelancer.
“I didn’t feel secure enough to start up as
a freelancer, because I’d already taken out
a massive loan. However, I did have some
money saved up. And I know that there
are people around I can borrow money
from in a crisis. And I have grandparents I
can move in with. My parents can help me
financially, and I also have many friends
who help me too. So, I realised that I had
to become a freelancer for my own sake.
The financial aspect would have to sort
itself out. For that reason, I‘ve sometimes
taken on jobs that have put money in the
bank, but may not have been my dream
assignment.”
Despite her concerns about life as a
self-employed freelancer, it was Paula’s
own decision. In line with the fact that
she wants to provide a voice to mino-
rities, Paula considers freelancing to be a
liberating, almost feminist strategy. She
hopes that others like her will use this
way of organising work life as a liberat-
ing strategy.
“I consider my work as a form of feminist
practice, in which I create my own terms
and conditions. I’m my own boss and I
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Working on social digital platforms
make my own rules (...) It could be inter-
esting if a movement came, encouraging
people to turn down those jobs that don’t
stimulate them like they want. Where
they don’t get paid what they deserve.
On the labour market, women make less
than men, you know, what if some sort of
empowering movement emerged. Yeah,
... or is it just something I’ve been thinking
about.”
»
I consider my work as a
form of feminist practice,
in which I create my own
terms and conditions. I’m
my own boss and I make my
own rules (...)
Paula –Beauty blogger, art agent
and influencerer
A normal workday
Paula describes a normal day at work.
She says that she has work tasks with
fixed routines and then more varied
projects and events that come in occa-
sionally.
“I go to the office at 8.30, 9.30 or 10.30
in the morning, depending on my mood.
Then I often write on an assignment
that I’m working on. Perhaps an Insta-
gram post. I can sit there and search for
hashtags for Instagram, or I can organise
a document that they (the bloggers (ed.))
are going to use on their social medias.
For this, I tend to use my office. At the
moment, there’s five of us working there. I
go home at around five or six, then I often
continue working in the evening. So, work
and leisure time are sort of intertwined.”
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The day before the interview, Paula
participated in a daylong event about or-
ganic skin care and did the make-up for
a music video for some friends. Later this
week, she is doing a photoshoot for a
newspaper. In this way, Paula’s everyday
life is filled with routines and “all the oth-
er stuff”, as she says herself. Therefore,
it is important for Paula to get some
stability into her everyday life.
“It’s important for me to have an office
space. I need something stable. I really
think I need that.”
Assignment: Worth getting in my
portfolio
Paula says that she gets new assign-
ments in many different ways. She is
primarily contacted by people in her
network. Her network is very important
for getting new assignments. The collab-
oration with one of her biggest clients,
Influencers of Sweden, a sector organi-
sation, was established through Paula’s
network. They needed a project manager
and they asked Paula if she could step in.
Because Paula’s life as self-employed
is relatively new, she has had to be pro-
active.
“I’ve also contacted people myself who I
wanted to work with, but that hasn’t led
to any jobs.”
Paula’s business is still very new, and she
says that she takes all the assignments
she can get. That is even though the
assignments must be done within a very
short deadline. On the other hand, the
new business means that, from time to
time, Paula has had periods where she
has not had that many assignments.
132
During these periods, Paula did things
she was not paid for.
“But there was a week in early April, when
I didn’t have anything at all for a week
and a half. I just went around enjoy-
ing myself and did things that I didn’t
get paid for, but that I thought might
generate jobs in the future [...] When I do
make-up for a music video, or some kind
of photoshoot, I do it because I think it’s
fun, or to do my friends a favour. Then I
think; ´Okay, I haven’t got any qualifica-
tions, I’m not a qualified make-up artist,
so it’s important to get something in my
portfolio´.”
Paula also gets worried when she has no
assignments.
“You just go with the flow when you’ve
got work, but you can also get a bit wor-
ried about what to do afterwards. But
it’s never been so bad that I couldn’t buy
food, for example. It’s been pretty stable.
But I also think that I’m pretty good at
not pushing myself when I start to feel
the pressure.”
»
You just go with the flow
when you’ve got work,
but you can also get a bit
worried about what to do
afterwards. But it’s never
been so bad that I couldn’t
buy food.
Paula –Beauty blogger, art agent
and influencerer
New forms of work among young people
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Stress, sedentary work and yoga
Paula considers herself good at sensing
her own mental state and whether she is
working too much and should slow down.
She considers this as an important com-
petence if you are working like her.
ing out. I do yoga, and when I don’t do
enough, I get totally stressed out. Which
is really stupid.”
Blurred work-life balance
In Paula’s work, there is a high level of
flexibility and freedom. She says that she
is her own boss. However, she also says
that there are disadvantages in having
this temporal freedom. It has its ups and
downs, she says.
“I think about work a lot. While I surf
Facebook or watch a series, I get ideas. Or
an email comes in, or I get an idea that it
could be cool to do this and that with this
specific person. So it’s cool in a way, but
at the same time, it’s hard to relax. But
then again, if I have friends visiting and I
want to go to a party on a Tuesday, I can
do it. So, it has its ups and downs.”
Interviewer:
“Do you know how many
hours you work a week?”
Paula:
“Well, I don’t really know. It’s really
difficult to say when I’m actually work-
ing. And I don’t register how much time I
spend on the assignments where I don’t
have a client. But some of my assign-
ments, for example the clients where I
produce content for people’s social media,
they want me to record my hours. In these
cases, I use an app to count my hours.
Then I know I work 40 hours a week on
those jobs. But I also work on other things
that I’m not recording hours for. So, may-
be between 40 and 60 hours a week.”
“Crazy and outdated welfare schemes”
Paula and her boyfriend split up a month
before the interview. Paula was supposed
to take over their joint flat, but when she
133
»
I’m really in control of my
mental health, or how can
I put it?” I can feel, when I’m
getting too stressed out.
I take really good care of
myself and I know my stress
and anxiety symptoms.
Which is really important
when you work like this
Paula –Beauty blogger, art agent
and influencerer
“I’m really in control of my mental health,
or how can I put it?” I can feel, when I’m
getting too stressed out. I take really
good care of myself and I know my stress
and anxiety symptoms. Which is really
important when you work like this.”
However, even though Paula can handle
the mental challenges in her life as a
self-employed freelancer, the sedentary
work in front of her computer has conse-
quences.
“On the other hand, my work does affect
me physically. You know, I write a lot and
my arms and hands really ache from
sitting down and writing so much. And
there’s no boss telling me to stop, or ‘you
shouldn’t do it that way´. So I’m actually
trying to remember to prioritise work-
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 BEU, Alm.del - 2018-19 (2. samling) - Bilag 10: Orientering om rapport om unge i atypisk beskæftigelse, fra beskæftigelsesministeren
called the bank to take over the full loan
and buy her former boyfriend out of the
flat, her request was rejected by the bank.
“And they just said ´no, no, you have to
have had your own business for at least
two years, and be able to show...´ And I
know other banks say five years. So, no
freelancers... or none of my colleagues
can borrow money. At the same time, the
property market in Stockholm is crazy, so
it’s impossible for me to get a flat.”
Paula talks about several of her friends
who have had children and want parent
allowance´ [in Swedish ’föräldrapenning’;
an allowance for parents at home with
their baby. It is based on income]. They
have to negotiate with the authority re-
sponsible for the allowance about what
level of allowance they are entitled to,
because the authority is not convinced
that they actually make money from
their businesses. However, Paula herself
also experiences problems with welfare
schemes not designed for freelancers.
“And yeah, professional matters like
that... there are no good trade unions for
people working like me [...] When I had
a permanent job and had a lot of ques-
tions about terms and conditions of my
employment and pay and so on, I knew
I could just call my trade union. But as a
freelancer, I can’t just call and say ´I have
a client who’s trying to cheat me, what
are my rights?´. You know, things like how
much I should get paid for this or that
type of job, or this client won’t pay me. I
deal with these questions with my net-
work, and not my trade union [...] You’d
think someone could do something about
this. It seems crazy and outdated.”
Paula talks about an unemployment
insurance fund system, which, according
to her, does not align with the way she
earns her living.
“And I feel very insecure about the unem-
ployment insurance fund. To receive the
insurance, your business must be closed
down completely. You’re not allowed to
earn any money at all. But you might
want to take a small job, even though it
doesn’t provide you with a full income.
New forms of work among young people
»
We came to the solution
that my parents took out
a loan against their flat
and gave the money to me
privately. But what about
those who don’t have pa-
rents to help them out? In
these cases, it really feels
as if Swedish society is not
equipped to handle new
types of work.
Paula –Beauty blogger, art agent
and influencerer
Luckily, Paula’s parents were able to step
in and take out a loan against their own
property, so that Paula could stay in her
flat.
“We came to the solution that my par-
ents took out a loan against their flat and
gave the money to me privately. But what
about those who don’t have parents to
help them out? In these cases, it really
feels as if Swedish society is not equipped
to handle new types of work.”
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Maybe it’ll give you a little money, but
not enough to live on. There’s nothing for
people like me.”
»
You know, things like how
“I hope that I become more established,
get more jobs and get better pay for my
work, so I can relax and perhaps work less
with more structure in my life. So I could
take time off at weekends or something
like that.”
In addition, Paula reflects upon her own
personal life situation. She is considering
whether she wants children, but adds
some financial concerns:
“I don’t know if I want a kid. And if I do,
I’d first have to find someone to have it
with. I don’t want a kid on my own. And
then I’m thinking that maybe that some-
one would have to have an income, so
that we at least have two incomes. Then
it wouldn’t feel as insecure, even though
having kids is very expensive. But even so,
I’m not having kids in the near future. I’ve
been thinking about going back to the US
to work again. Then I could rent out my
flat to help cover my costs in the US.”
much I should get paid for
this or that type of job, or
this client won’t pay me. I
deal with these questions
with my network, and not
my trade union [...]
Paula –Beauty blogger, art agent
and influencerer
Plans for the future
Given that the welfare schemes are
not compatible with life as a freelancer,
Paula hopes that she will become more
established in her life as self-employed in
the future.
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Portrait 12:
Anette: Influencer and freelance
consultant
Anette is 26 years old and living outside
of Oslo. She is an influencer working with
commercial partners creating sponsored
content for them on her social media
platforms. However, she is also work-
ing as a freelance consultant. Not long
time ago her boyfriend left her, and she
moved from Oslo to a small place, where
she is now renovating an old house. The
small city is also the place she grew up.
Both the break-up with her boyfriend
and the renovation of the house has
generated interest from the media in
Norway. Annette’s education consists of
a one-year part time fashion studies. Be-
sides that, she has working experience in
marketing and sales. At the moment, she
works full time with social media. Anette
has been an active user of social media
already in the early days of social media.
Blogging especially caught her interest:
”I started already in 2005 after being
very active on ‘Forum’ and such, stuff
that was cool before. This was the social
media platform hosting the discussions,
people was very present having friends
you actually did not know. At this plat-
form many of us had a blog. So I started
early, long before there was any mon-
ey involved. I did this just for fun, and
continued until 2012, then it started to
involve money. But that time I worked as
a marketing manager as well”.
Anette tells us about her blog:
”This summer I started a somewhat
different project. I got some attention in
136
media because I started writing about
being dumped by my boyfriend. We were
about to buy a flat, and we had been
together for four years. Then, I sponta-
neously bought an old house and decided
to renovate it by myself. Therefore, I quit
my job, which actually was a cool job,
moved out of the city, and just started
something new. Then I started sharing
and writing about it. So that is actually
the reason why I turned back to focus on
my own social media channels. I had this
project and a story to tell”.
»
Then, I spontaneously
bought an old house and
decided to renovate it by
myself. Therefore, I quit my
job, which actually was a
cool job, moved out of the
city, and just started some-
thing new. Then I started
sharing and writing about it.
Anette – Influencer and freelance consultant
Employment contracts and wages
Anette characterizes herself as inde-
pendent and she makes a living from
working with social media platforms
where engages with different types of
commercial actors. The first type of
engagement is through her own pres-
ence on social media platforms, on
which different types of commercial
actors are interested in teaming up with
her because of her reach as influencer.
She has a temporary contract with an
influencer agency. They provide her with
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office space in their offices and Anette
invoices the influencer agency for her
services. The agency acts like a coordina-
tor, managing which advertisers Anette
is working for. Through the agency, she
has recently entered a one-year con-
tract with a large telecommunication
company in which she will function as
an ambassador. This contract is almost
a full time position, she says herself. The
engagement with the telecommunica-
tion company means that she is contrac-
tually obliged to produce content as an
ambassador for the telecommunication
company and publish through her own
social media channels. She has a similar
contract with a digital marketspace; the
Norwegian version of American Craig-
slist or Danish Den Blå Avis, where users
can sell items they no longer have use for
or search for items they need.
Second, she works as a freelance con-
sultant. At the moment, she has two
clients. She produces videos for one client
to share on social media platforms, and
she helps and advices the other on their
social media presence. She invoices her
clients for every task performed.
“I perceive it as having two jobs. The one
job is my social media channels, were I
cooperate with the digital marketspace
and with a telecommunication compa-
ny. Then I have this additional job [as a
freelance consultant], that I really do not
need. I keep it because, it was the job I
had before I could earn enough to live
from my social media channels full time.
This is being a consultant for a company,
assessing their social media profile, but
this job is more invisible. Hence, there
are these three I invoice regularly: The
2.5
Working on social digital platforms
influencer agency for my telecommunica-
tion company contract, then the contract
with the digital marketspace and then
the other company, being a so called
consultant, helping them managing their
social media”.
Anette has a desk at the main office of
the influencer agency. There she has four
colleagues, who are also bloggers. Anette
is very happy with the contract with
the agency, because it gives her good
working conditions. When she is asked
about her type of employment, she gives
an ambiguous answer to the question,
perceiving herself as both independent
and as employed:
»
I perceive it as having two
jobs. The one job is my
social media channels, were
I cooperate with the digital
marketspace and with a
telecommunication
company. Then I have this
additional job [as a free-
lance consultant], that I
really do not need. I keep it
because, it was the job I had
before I could earn enough
to live from my social media
channels full time.
Anette – Influencer and freelance consultant
”I perceive myself in a way as being inde-
pendent, even if I have a contract. I have
a contract at the influencer agency and
feel in a way as if I am employed, because
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I have a desk there. I have colleagues,
and I eat my lunch there and things like
that. But I do invoice them. And I have
other sources of income as well. And I am
not restricted to be there from 08 to 16.
Therefore, I perceive myself as… therefore
I am my own boss. I decide myself where
to be at any time and I myself has to
ensure that my tasks are solved”.
The contract with the telecommunica-
tion company is brokered through the in-
fluencer agency. Annette explains about
the specific contract and how it defines
her tasks:
“During a week, I am supposed to create
three postings for (name, telecommuni-
cation company). That is what is in my
contract. This can be a video on Face-
book, it can be an article that I write for
them, and it can be a posting at the blog,
as an example.”
is contractually obliged to participate in
specific events for the telecommunica-
tion company:
“It is written in the contract that it is
expected of me to take part in specific
activities were the [telecommunication
company] are present, representing them.
So what we have agreed upon is some
weekends and some days of travel. Like
Easter, I had to take part in an arrange-
ment for them, and in June I have to
travel a weekend for the company. But
yes, nothing about where I am supposed
to have my workplace or… They do not
care, as long as I deliver”.
However, in other ways Annette’s re-
lationship to the influencer agency as
well as the telecommunication company
resembles an employee relationship to
her employer. Anette describes how her
expenses are reimbursed if they are
connected to her work for the tele-
communication company:
“When I get the idea about making some-
thing and I need to buy something…. as
an example if I want to make a posting,
were I test different selfie-lightning. Then
I need to have three different lamps to
test. Then I just ask my superior in the
agency, if I can buy these things, because
this is something I do for the telecom-
munication company. And then she says
yes, and then I invoice the agency for the
expenses. Then they take the expense on
behalf of the telecommunication compa-
ny, who are their customer.”
When the interviewer asks whom she
perceive as her employer and who her
manager is, she answers:
New forms of work among young people
»
So yes, I do not perceive
one of the companies as
necessarily my customer, but
I look at the agency as my
work place, if you understand.
If someone asks, then
I answer, that I am working in
the influencer agency, but
I work for the telecommuni-
cation company.
Anette – Influencer and freelance consultant
Nevertheless, she is not required to
be present at the office or required to
work during specific hours. Rather she
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2062168_0139.png
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Photo: Vidar Kristiansen / Unsplash
Photo: Andrew Neel / Unsplash
Photo: Aleksandar Popovski / Unsplash
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“Yes, god question. I perceive both as my
employers. However, I more perceive
[telecommunication company] as my
actual customer. I have a contact person
that I meet two hours every week.
However, this is also together with a rep-
resentative from the influencer
agency. So the difference is that I know
that [telecommunication company] give
me the tasks, but it is the agency that
is my working environment. That is the
place I have my colleagues; the four other
girls. That is the place where I get tips
and advices for content and such. So yes,
I do not perceive one of the companies as
necessarily my customer, but I look at the
agency as my work place, if you under-
stand. If someone asks, then I answer,
that I am working in the influencer
agency, but I work for the telecommuni-
cation company”.
She tells that her contract is unique due
to the size of the contract. However, the
contract is also defining how she works
with others. She explains further:
“The telecommunication company has,
really in a way gone to town on me and
said ‘we want one girl, and she is sup-
posed not to work with any others’. So
you may say I am sold out. (...) So, if I
want to do something else commercially,
it has to be approved by both the influ-
encer agency and the telecommunication
company. Because I am actually sold out.
But if it is something that they do not
perceive as having impact on the existing
job, then they will accept it”.
Working as an influencer:
´I am completely honest’
The social media platforms that Anette
140
works on are her blog, Facebook,
Instagram and Snapchat.
“I have worked a lot helping bloggers,
choosing their channels. It is wise not to
focus on more than three main channels.
Mine are blog, I write a blog. Then I love to
snapchat, so that is an important chan-
nel for me. And then I have Instagram
and Facebook. Instagram is more like
an inspirational channel, and Facebook
is linked to the blog, so these two are con-
nected then. So if you do not share what
is going on, on the blog via Facebook,
then you do not get any traffic (on the
blog, red.)”.
»
They act like a sponsor,
and the content I make is
topics we agree upon. But
I write and produce the
content, the way I want it.
So I am the one deciding if
it is going to be a video, or
a text, and in which channel.
Anette – Influencer and freelance consultant
Anette has partnered with the tele-
communication company for one and a
half month. She is very happy with the
partnership, because it gives her more
influence on the content she shares on
her own platforms, compared to other
commercial actors. Anette describes how
commercial companies partnering with
bloggers often wants to control how the
bloggers write about the company, but
New forms of work among young people
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the telecommunication company does
not exercise control over Anette:
“They act like a sponsor, and the content I
make is topics we agree upon. But I write
and produce the content, the way I want
it. So I am the one deciding if it is going
to be a video, or a text, and in which
channel. And I am completely honest. It
is not as if they are deciding that I should
be positive about something, or should
have an opinion about something. I have
to find it interesting. The perspectives
and the production and the idea and
things like that is up to me.”
Anette describes the collaboration be-
tween her and the telecommunication
company:
“At the Monday meeting with [telecom-
munication company], we have agreed
upon the topics. Then I have to see, if
something is happening during the next
day or things like that. But it can also
be planned in advance, that I am go-
ing to the museum at Wednesday, and
then it can be cool to talk about the new
camera on my cell phone, because I can
take some cool pictures there. Then I will
dedicate the activity to the telecommuni-
cation company”.
However, it is important for Anette to
balance the commercial content with
non-commercial content:
“But then I have to make some content
that is not so [telecommunication com-
pany]ish as well (...) Because the content
I make for them it has to be genuine in an
way, not like a commercial. But some-
times I have to include, as an example,
2.5
Working on social digital platforms
information about some benefits with
specific subscriptions, or I have to include
products, but then it becomes somewhat
commercial(ish). It is also important that
I talk about other things that are not re-
lated to technology. Because I also write
about the renovation and the house and
my life and things like that, so that has to
fill in in a way”.
A regular working week
A regular working week for Anette often
starts with a meeting in the group with
the other four bloggers. They are on sim-
ilar contracts with the influencer agency
as well and share an office with Anette.
The other bloggers also work with their
own social media profiles with different
commercial partnerships. Anette names
this group a digital editorial group:
A regular working week for
Anette often starts with a
meeting in the group with the
other four bloggers. They are
on similar contracts with the
influencer agency as well and
share an office with Anette.
“The days differ a lot, but I may sum up
how a week is. On Mondays, I start with
an editorial meeting with the girls, where
I have my desk. This is a small digital
editorial group, consisting of five blog-
gers including me. We have a meeting,
where everybody go through their week
and their plans. If we need help from each
other, then we make an agreement about
that. Then afterwards I have an editorial
meeting with [telecommunication com-
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pany], showing them what I did last week.
So we look at what went good, what
went wrong. What are we supposed to
do this week? If all is planned, do we then
need something from each other?”
In order to manage the collaboration
process with the telecommunication
company, Anette and the telecommu-
nication company uses an app that she
installed on her phone and computer.
Anette describes:
idea in the system, and then I can go and
have a look. Then, they may say: ‘Yes, we
like the idea, but what if you change the
perspective or we have to change the
date, because at that day something else
is happening’”.
Anette uses the days between the sched-
uled meetings, to produce content to
her different social media channels. The
content, both commercial and non-com-
mercial content, is based on Anette’s
daily life:
“Like today for instance, it was snow-
ing, so I woke up and made a video-blog
about being dissatisfied with the snow
outside. And at the moment, I am testing
how life is without a smart phone. So
therefor I talk about that I woke up and
wanted to check snapchat, but I did not
have the possibility, because I have this
challenge. Then I sit down to produce a
video-blog out of that. It can also be a
day, where I am inside in my house all day,
making a film, taking photos, producing
and posting it.”
Moreover, what is really important for
her is that the content feels authentic:
“For me it is important that it is newly
produced. I do not fake things for my
followers. It is not like when something
is happening I record something at Mon-
day, and I pretend that it is happening at
Wednesday. I am very conscious about
that.”
An ordinary working week for Anette
usually includes one or two events. If
it is an event the telecommunications
company sponsors, she has to attend,
New forms of work among young people
»
It look just as a calendar.
Within this system, we
place different cards with
ideas. On the Monday
meetings, we go through
these ideas. If you have a
comment, you place these
comments within the
system and there will be a
notification. Then I can see
that [name telecommuni-
cation company] have made
a comment on the idea in
the system, and then I can
go and have a look.
Anette – Influencer and freelance consultant
”It look just as a calendar. Within this sys-
tem, we place different cards with ideas.
On the Monday meetings, we go through
these ideas. If you have a comment, you
place these comments within the system
and there will be a notification. Then I
can see that [name telecommunication
company] have made a comment on the
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but there are also other events where
Anette is free to choose whether to
attend or not. The night of the interview
Anette will attend a big concert with
Ariana Grande with some friends and
she has already planned make a post
on Snapchat for the telecommunication
company.
Planning and work organization
Despite the fast-paced nature social me-
dia, every piece of commercial content
has to be planned. The telecommunica-
tion company has a large infrastructure
of professionals working with communi-
cations and they have to be prepared for
the content Anette produces:
“My customers, they need to know when
I will make my postings. It cannot just
show up at any time during the week. So
we decide in advance. But It is me that
decide, because I am the one who know
how my schedule are, and when I have
time to produce it. […] They [telecommu-
nication company], have a lot of com-
munication agencies, and this and that.
If something is to be posted, then they
have to plan ahead, because it has to go
through several instances, and maybe
they are also supposed to include some
sponsorship at Facebook. And then it has
to be planned, but for me it could be like
from hand to mouth”.
To a large extend Anette feels that she
is in charge of her own working time,
but on one occasion she is not able to
deliver within the time frame she set for
herself, thus she feels that she is still in a
learning process:
“It is usually me that are setting the
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Working on social digital platforms
»
My customers, they need
to know when I will make
my postings. It cannot just
show up at any time during
the week. So we decide
in advance. But It is me
that decide, because I am
the one who know how my
schedule are, and when
I have time to produce it.
[…] They [telecommunica-
tion company], have a lot
of communication agencies,
and this and that. If some-
thing is to be posted, then
they have to plan ahead, be-
cause it has to go through
several instances, and may-
be they are also supposed
to include some sponsorship
at Facebook. And then it
has to be planned, but for
me it could be like from
hand to mouth
Anette – Influencer and freelance consultant
deadlines. I am the one that is in charge,
and then they approve. And I may say
that I am going to make this film on
Friday, and then I publish it on Saturday.
In my mind, I picture finishing the film
during the working hours at Friday. And
then it does not go like that at all. Then I
have to cancel my agreements on Friday
evening, to work with the film. And I have
to get up early, Saturday morning and
finish the film to post it. In that way I am
the only one to blame for missing out on
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my weekend, because I did set my own
deadline, because I thought I could do it
faster. It is a learning process. I am still
in the middle of that learning process. It
happens quite often, that I work eve-
nings or weekends. On the other hand,
unlike others, I can take a weekend or an
evening at other times during the week”.
Anette thinks that the pressure of dead-
lines can be quite stressful, but she does
not feel it is a problem:
“Some days I work from morning to
night. So of course, there are days, where
there is a lot to do. But I do not feel that I
am thorn apart in some ways”.
To use yourself and your own life: ‘People
might think what they want’.
Anette writes about her daily life and
sometimes her personal life on her blog.
According to Anette, the content she
shares at the moment is not intimate,
because it is mostly about the renovation
of her house or posts for the telecom-
munication company. However, earlier on
Anette has shared private moments of
heartbreak:
“When I started blogging, I was very
honest about my gloomy thoughts, my
broken heart. And I thought that every-
body should judge me anyway, due to me
taking these choices, that I was to dis-
miss my job, and my flat. And I was single,
unemployed and choosing to live in the
forest renovating this house. I thought,
‘everybody will judge me anyway, so I just
write what I want, because I am already
prejudged’. But actually I only got nice
feedback, on these very honest texts”.
The only thing that worries Anette
navigating this both personal and public
space is when other people than herself
is involved:
»
And I was single,
unemployed and choosing
to live in the forest
renovating this house.
I thought, ‘everybody will
judge me anyway, so I just
write what I want, because
I am already prejudged’
Anette – Influencer and freelance consultant
“If I am going to post something [person-
al], I try to think that people may think
whatever they want. But I always have
to think. If I for instance write about a
broken heart, then I try not to paint a
gloomy picture if it is about someone else.
It should be my real opinion about some-
thing and it should be very clearly stated.
So that is the only thing that occupies
me. People might be offended by my opin-
ions. But I do not want to offend anyone.”
Anette received quite a lot of attention
from the traditional media when she
blogged about her breakup. Moreover,
they depicted Anette’s story.
“The only thing that I have felt somewhat
unpleasant is, when I have been in media,
I have had some publicity in [name Nor-
wegian newspaper]. I have told my story,
and the [name newspaper], has chosen
to focus upon ´Anette was dumped, bla.
bla. bla., then she did this´. I am positive
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to girl power, but I am not positive when
it comes to. I mean. I am not a victim. I
have got private response, at the blog,
with comments like: ‘Oh my god what
an idiot he is the guy that dumped you’.
There was a lot of people that wrote
things like that. And I think; ‘wow’. You
know, there are two sides of the story. I
have not tried to paint a gloomy picture
of him. So these thing I feel is like arrh.”
’I feel lucky. I know how much I earn
every month’
Anette is in privileged position as a
blogger. She has a contract lasting for
some time. In her former job, Anette
worked with bloggers, so she knows that
income can vary quite a lot from month
to month.
“Firstly, I do not live from month to
month. I have a contract lasting for a
while, something that is not taken for
granted. (...) When I earlier worked with
the invoices for the bloggers [in her
earlier job], then one month you earned
big money, and another month it reduc-
es a lot. So I have this security. I know
what I earn every month. And I am lucky
because sometimes there can be some
extra, but usually I know for sure what I
invoice every month, because my contract
tells so, the contract is lasting for many
months ahead in time. I know, that it is
not like that for everybody”.
However, Anette is also aware of the
disadvantages of working as she does:
“If I should become sick, then I cannot
get a sick leave, if I do not do the job, I do
not get paid. And actually I do not have
any vacation. I have to manage vacation
2.5
Working on social digital platforms
on my own. And pensions, I just have to
establish something on my own.”
When Anette is asked, what she would
do if she would be offered a fulltime per-
manent position during the negotiations
of the yearly contract, she answers:
“It would depend on how much freedom
it would be possible to include into the
contract. Hehe, because freedom is the
key here. I really do want to be perma-
nently employed, because there is a lot of
benefits, you do not have as independent.
But I would not like a contract saying
that I had to be at the office Monday to
Friday, from eight to four. Then it should
have been formulated like: ‘You are em-
ployed with all the benefits it implies. You
have to take part in the meetings, and
the things that I do now. Otherwise you
are able to do what you want.”
Working on social media platforms
In the three portraits presenting Sara,
Paula, and Anette, we saw that they
are all busy developing and using social
digital platforms. All three of them work
as self-employed, for many hours a week,
in a number of different jobs, and with a
number of different tasks. This not only
requires a rather high level of energy,
it also requires a high degree of self-
discipline.
They are all very successful and empha-
size the joy of choosing their own way
and seeing their businesses flourish.
Furthermore, all three are 'influencers'.
This is a term usually associated with ce-
lebrities, bloggers, YouTubers and others,
who have such a strong personal brand
that companies can use their position in
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the social media landscape to get their
message through to a specific audience.
»
I have got private response,
at the blog, with comments
like: ‘Oh my god what an
idiot he is the guy that
dumped you’. There was a
lot of people that wrote
things like that. And I think;
‘wow’. You know, there are
two sides of the story.
I have not tried to paint a
gloomy picture of him. So
these thing I feel is like arrh
Anette – Influencer and freelance consultant
All the three portraits indicate that
working life for them is a very personal
project, where the boundaries of what is
personal and what is public are con-
stantly being negotiated. This is because
their personal lives are exposed in varying
degrees to the public as their person-
al brand. While some problematize
or criticize their conditions, for others
they become part of a positive self-
representation where the youth appears
to be successful in most parts of their
life, and the problems that might be in
their lives are minimized or downplayed.
When they give examples of what seems
to be a very hard tone on social Media,
the problems are minimized and down-
played. The three influencers portrayed
above provide examples of these new
types of work. One consequence of this
development is ever-increasing expo-
sure of the personal and the affective
personal narrative. As described in the
introduction, this forms part of an 'af-
fective economy' and forms part of the
product being produced, i.e., the personal
transforms into a product, which can
be part of an economy in which inten-
tions, consumer items and money are
exchanged. These mechanisms, inherent
in this kind of social media work, and this
form of consumer culture merge togeth-
er and become an affective economy.
This affective economy is also present in
the working life of professional gamers,
as we saw above.
The work-life balance is a challenge, as
the young people are working on social
media platforms and the personal is
transformed into a product. It is impos-
sible, and perhaps meaningless, for these
young ‘influencers’ to distinguish between
working life and private life. They also
report that they have a lot of sedentary
work. They report that they are aware of
this and that they keep their body healthy
by using different self-care activities.
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Photo: Jakob Owens / Unsplash
2.6 Young men in the creative industry (Iceland)
The last two portraits are about creative young men who
are both working in the Icelandic creative industry. In some
ways, their working life seems to have parallels to the
young female entrepreneurs and influencers portrayed in
the previous chapter. Dagur works in the film industry as a
best boy/ gaffer/ grip or assistant camera operator. Vidar
works as a contractor doing different sound engineering
gigs, as a DJ, and as a composer in his own studio.
2.6
Young men in the creative industry (Iceland)
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Portrait 13:
Dagur: Best boy, gaffer, grip and
assistant camera operator
Dagur is 23. He lives and works in Reykja-
vik in Iceland. He works in the Icelandic
film industry with different aspects of
filmmaking. He started as a best boy
(assistant) and worked his way to be-
come responsible for electricity (gaffer)
or rigging the camera (key grip) or to
become assistant camera operator. As a
child, he went to many different schools
because his mother and his stepfather
lived different places in Reykjavík and he
stayed a year in LA.
“I have been unusually raised because I
have four parents. I have a mum and a
stepdad, and a dad and a stepmom. My
mother and my stepfather have both
been working as independent artists.
When she said that she wanted to work
as a dancer, she would get looks and
people was asking ‘Don’t you want a real
job?’ It has become easier now”.
last year in lower secondary education
was crucial for Dagur because in the 9th
grade he made a film with his friends
and became strongly interested in film-
making:
“I had a bit of knowledge, because I knew
that the red button was for recording.
That was more than the others knew.
That is really when my interest start-
ed. After that my friends and I started
making short films and doing all kinds
of projects. We also worked at Reykjavík
Film Festival, or RIFF, and made a short
film that was showed there.”
His grades in compulsory school were
good enough to go to any upper sec-
ondary school, but on the advice of his
stepfather, he chose a programme in film
making in an upper secondary school.
“There I learned about writing scripts,
and editing. I got familiar with Kukl, a
company that rents out equipment here
in Iceland, and started working with RÚV
broadcasting station, and learned how to
handle live broadcasts. My dad stopped
nagging me and I could start doing what I
wanted to do, work on films.”
Dagur graduated 21 years old, a little de-
layed because of film making activities.
The way into the film industry:
Getting to work as a production
assistant and doing the light
Dagur and his friends from lower second-
ary school decided to make their own
short film in when they were 17-18 years
old. They were lucky to get recognized
and established Icelandic actors to star
in their short film. The film even made its
New forms of work among young people
»
I had a bit of knowledge,
because I knew that the red
button was for recording.
That was more than the
others knew. That is really
when my interest started.
Dagur – Best boy, gaffer, grip and
assistant camera operator
Dagur himself works in the film indus-
try, within working conditions that he
knows very well from his upbringing. The
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way to the Reykjavik International Film
Festival (RIFF):
»
Through that, I managed to
develop all kinds of relation-
ships. That is the way you
enter the business, really.
I just call someone or send
them a message, and I know
this and that guy.
Dagur – Best boy, gaffer, grip and
assistant camera operator
were making. We worked on it for free,
and it was a lot of fun. Then some time
later (in 2014) she called me because she
was producing a film that was financed
by the public film fund and later got
awards and was a box office success. In
this film I assisted on set, as a PA. But
there I met a lighting technician, and
worked a lot with him and became well
acquainted with professional work on
lights. I had always worked with the lights
when my friends and I made our own
amateur projects, but working with this
lighting technician opened up the profes-
sional world of lighting.
“We got good actors on board with us,
such as Björn Thors and Þorsteinn Bach-
man (renowned Icelandic actors), and
that film makes it onto RIFF. However,
we did not take this film any further, we
just did it to gather knowledge and be
familiarized with the film industry, both
public and private companies. Through
that, I managed to develop all kinds of
relationships. That is the way you enter
the business, really. I just call someone
or send them a message, and I know this
and that guy.”
Dagur is aware that the success he
had with his first film has given him an
opportunity within the film industry.
Through the making of the film, Dagur
developed a large network of contacts
he has relied on ever since:
“My first project was a PA, a production
assistant who works on set, for a movie
by an established director, and here I got
to know more people. One of them is a
film producer and she got me to help her
with a documentary she and her sister
2.6
Young men in the creative industry (Iceland)
»
Afterwards he called me
and somehow brought me
into that industry, because
he said ‘You did well’, and
he wanted me to help him.
That is how I get to know
better these gaffers who
work with light and their
assistants or best boys, as
well as producers. Now I am
getting more work and job
prospects
Dagur – Best boy, gaffer, grip and
assistant camera operator
Afterwards he called me and somehow
brought me into that industry, because he
said ‘You did well’, and he wanted me to
help him. That is how I get to know better
these gaffers who work with light and
their assistants or best boys, as well as
producers. Now I am getting more work
and job prospects. Today most people in
the business know of me, which is nice,
because that give me more projects and
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more chances. If someone knows how
you work, you will get a job, you do not
just get it out of nothing. There is always
someone who either knows you, or recom-
mends you”.
Working a a grip
Dagur has mainly worked as a best boy
for the light designers (gaffers), or for
the technicians who rig up the cameras
(the key grips), but in some cases and in
some short films he has been the respon-
sible gaffer or key grip.
take part in the shooting of films. It is a
good basis of being a director because a
knowledge of lighting is very important. I
have worked in many fields within the film
industry, everything from sets to sound
and more, but I have most experience as
a gaffer.”
Dagur tells that it is not common to work
on so many different aspects of movie
making in the Icelandic industry. In the
beginning Dagur accepted every job he
was offered, meaning that he tried his
hands at many different tasks. Eventu-
ally he began being working mainly as a
production assistant (PA), but he was
in fact more interested in becoming a
gaffer and afraid to be exclusively cast
as a PA:
“I had been a PA (production assistant)
for a long time, and then I just decided
that I had had enough. I wanted to be-
come a gaffer, not a PA. And if I worked
as a PA for any longer, people would only
see me as one rather than a gaffer.
It really goes up and down. Sometimes
I had nothing to do and no cash, and
sometimes I had a lot of things to do and
some cash.”
Mainly working as a contractor
When Dagur is hired to do a job, he is
hired as an independent contractor.
Dagur:
“I usually work as a best boy or
a gaffer, a grip or an assistant camera
operator. When I do that it is as an in-
dependent contractor. I just get a con-
tract for what I am supposed to do. But
sometimes I also work with someone, like
the producer or the producing company,
except for that I work independently.“
New forms of work among young people
»
Being a gaffer gives me the
opportunity to try to take
part in the shooting of films.
It is a good basis of being
a director because a
knowledge of lighting is
very important.
Dagur – Best boy, gaffer, grip and
assistant camera operator
“As a gaffer I work closely with the direc-
tor in terms of lighting design. He might
have a specific vision, or an atmosphere
in mind, and would like certain colours or
shadows for that. I make those colours or
shadows appear, or make them possi-
ble. I always bring up suggestion that
maybe something like this or that would
be good. It is a collaboration in a way,
which is really nice. I have also worked as
a grip, who is someone who works on the
rigging for the cameras, in other words,
it is the movements the camera does on
the canal. I might have to rig the camera
onto a car or something like that. Being a
gaffer gives me the opportunity to try to
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However, Dagur also has his own com-
pany, which he sometimes uses to do
subcontracts for production companies.
His company is small, he says, but it is in
the process of becoming bigger.
The producing company always provides
salary and handles payments for com-
pleted work. However, it is not uncom-
mon not to be paid. Dagur tells that
there are still a few projects that he was
never paid for.
“But that comes with being a contrac-
tor. You sometimes need to fight to get
paid. Once I send a bill, the company has
30 days to pay me, and some companies
today still do this! Thus, sometimes, I have
been working on a project for a month
before I send the invoice in. That means
that there are times where I do not get
any income for two months.”
If the company does not pay after 30
days, Dagur tells that he usually calls
them and sends them a message. Never-
theless, at times it has gone even further
and he needed a lawyer to collect his
salary. Further Dagur tells about a
project he worked on where the director
cheated all the contractors:
»
I usually work as a best
boy or a gaffer, a grip or an
assistant camera operator.
When I do that it is as an
independent contractor.
I just get a contract for
what I am supposed to do.
But sometimes I also work
with someone, like the
producer or the producing
company, except for that
I work independently.
Dagur – Best boy, gaffer, grip and
assistant camera operator
“Sometimes I do sub-contracts for pro-
duction companies, private or public, and
at the present I am trying to organize a
film production, I have contacted some
of the main companies in broadcasting
and filming in Iceland and I have applied
for the IFF (The Icelandic Film Fund) too. I
am trying to gather funds.”
Occasionally Dagur hires his own assis-
tants, but he tells that the people he
hires still have a contract directly with
the producer.
“You sometimes need to fight to
get paid. That comes with being a
contractor.”
2.6
Young men in the creative industry (Iceland)
»
You need to be very careful.
It is really your responsibility
to make sure you will get paid
and keep an eye on all of it.
Dagur – Best boy, gaffer, grip and
assistant camera operator
“You need to be very careful. It is really
your responsibility to make sure you will
get paid and keep an eye on all of it. Last
January I worked with the production for
a film where the director himself handled
the financial aspects of it. We (the con-
tractors) did not really find out until we
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had shot the film, that he had been lying
to us and that he had betrayed us. So we
just stopped our partnership, and stepped
forward, told the truth and told the em-
ployees what they have to do to get their
pay slips paid. But there are still some
people who have not yet been paid at all. I
try to fight for them. I go to meetings and
I criticize the producers, telling them that
this kind of thing is not ok.”
Day rates, flat rates, and long hours
Dagur explains that the working condi-
tions in the Icelandic film industry are
slowly getting better. When Dagur is
paid for his work he usually gets at day
rate, but flat rates with one final sum
for a whole period are still used in the
industry:
“I have a specific amount that I charge.
For example, I charge around 45-50 thou-
sand ISK a day [about 320-350 Euro],
and as a contract, the tax collected is
between 20-30% of the pay slip. I try to
raise my price as time goes, but for longer
projects that have little funding, we
usually negotiate a flat rate for the whole
process. If we work overtime, we are not
paid more. Overtime is really counted as
being part of the final sum. That is a flat
rate. But doing a flat rate is not the best.
The film making industry here is not big
and it is really difficult to raise the money
that we need. We are finally getting more
funding for the Icelandic film industry, so
we are finally getting normal pay instead
of having to negotiate for flat rates. Flat
rate just makes you work more than you
are paid for”.
In addition to the struggles with the
salary, Dagur tells that a typical workday
152
is around 12 hours. Typically, the day is
proceeds with 5-6 hours of work, half
an hour break and then work again the
remaining hours. Dagur tells that the
whole film industry is working towards
becoming better organised and a labour
union are in the making:
“In Icelandic film making it is usually like
that, at least 12 hours or more. But we
are working to fix that. We are finally
getting a labour union that we can look to
and will take care of us, so that produc-
ers will not use us too much. 12 hours
per day is a lot of work, and in Europe,
it is usually only 10 hours, which is a lot
better. We usually work around 5-6 days
a week. So you either work for 5 days, off
work for 2 days, work 5 days, or you work
six days, get one day off, then work six
again. These bouts of work can last up to
3 months or half a year, or for only two
weeks. It differs a lot.”
»
In Icelandic film making it
is usually like that, at least
12 hours or more. But we are
working to fix that.
Dagur – Best boy, gaffer, grip and
assistant camera operator
Working environment: Heavy cameras
and mental pressure
When Dagur is operating a camera, he
has to take care of his back. He is often
required to carry the heavy camera on
his shoulder or do specific movements
while carrying the camera.
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Photo: Jakob Owens / Unsplash
2.6
Young men in the creative industry (Iceland)
Photo: Jonas Jacobsson / Unsplash
Photo: Jakob Owens / Unsplash
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“I need to be careful, especially when I
am operating the camera […] Stress that
eventually goes to my back. But I try to
keep an eye on it. I go swimming regu-
larly and stretch my back. When I am
holding heavy things over my shoulder, I
try to spread the weight equally between
them. I am very much a right-handed
person. Therefor I throw everything over
my right shoulder. It is not good for my
back because that strains other muscles
more, which makes my back worse. I have
recently felt my lower back aching up.”
Filming does not only apply stress to
Dagur’s body, but also his mental health
is sometimes on the line as the work
can be quite stressful. For Dagur the
mental side of his work can also be quite
stressful.
“In film producing there is a lot of men-
tal pressure. You often get stressed, but
it does pay in the end because you are
doing something you are happy with. It is
also very stressful for your body and soul
that is why many people in the industry
look a lot older than they are. It is all that
stress.”
Dagur describes how his work was
stressful during his first years in the
industry, but now he has found a way to
prevent him from being stressed:
“But it also relies on your attitude. […]
When I looked at the persons around me,
and my role models. I could see that a
certain person was not stressed, or they
were taking it easy. And then you start
working more like that. Consequently, I
have started to become calmer on set
and I have stopped worrying too much. I
154
have started to see that it does not pay
off to worry too much, because it affects
your mental health immensely.”
Further Dagur tells that he has begun
meditating a lot more than previous and
the meditation helps him during busy
times:
“I have started to meditate more than I
did five years ago. I do not need longer
than half an hour to do it. Two minutes
can be just enough, to get your breathing
down and your head to the right place
instead of being all over.”
Holidays, friends and family: Work takes
up all of my time
When working on a project Dagur is
working long hours, but that does not
mean he allows himself to take longer
breaks in-between projects. On the
contrary, Dagur rarely has longer breaks
from work. During the last year, his
planned time off has eventually been
overtaken by new work commitments:
“Last year I worked for 350 days. I had
one day off in January. In February, and
half of March I knew I had around two
weeks where I could have had a holiday
before doing another two month long
project. But I actually took on a small
commercial job for those two weeks, so
I did not really get any time off, before
I started the new project. I was in the
north of Iceland for a month and a half
for the film, and then two weeks in
Reykjavík or Akranes (a small city nearby
Reykjavik). After that I knew I had another
two weeks before a three month long
project started. Those two weeks I ended
up working again, and so on. I always
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thought I would have some time off,
but it ended up not being the case. For
example, I thought I would have the day
off today, but yesterday I got two phone
calls asking me if I was free for work
today. So you never really know when you
have some time off work, but you need
to be careful. You do not realize it when
you are working, but when you get some
time off, you realize that you have been
working way too much, and that is not
good for your mental health.”
The future: I want to make beautiful
frames that capture a story
Regarding his plans for the future, Dagur
tells that the economic uncertainty that
characterizes his work life does not worry
him.
“My upbringing probably helps as they
are both artists and through them I have
got familiar to the concept of having no
income sometimes and little income oth-
er times. I know that being an artist does
not bring in the dough. But that really
does not matter to me. I can live on 100
thousand ISK a month. There is always a
way, as long as I enjoy what I am doing, I
am happy.”
Dagur’s plans for the future lie with in
the film industry. He is happy about the
work he currently does, but he wants
to become a director, but in order to
become that, he must study and go to
school.
“That is the big question [plans for the
future]. I am torn between two things.
What I want to do is to be a filmmaker,
but to become that I need to study, to go
to school.“
Dagur’s main drive though is the film
making in itself.
“What I like the most is to produce films
and make beautiful frames that cap-
ture a story and show it in the best way
possible. That is what I like best: To make
something for the audience, something
new, and experiment. At the moment
my dream is to make films that will live
long after I have passed away that I will
leave something behind. But I do not
155
»
I do not have many friends
from school or my child-
hood. I am in no contact
with them at all because
this industry does not really
allow a lot of time off. I am
not really good at visiting
my family even because
my work takes up all of my
time.
Dagur – Best boy, gaffer, grip and
assistant camera operator
Working so much of his time makes it
difficult for Dagur to stay in touch with
friends and family.
“I do not have many friends from school
or my childhood. I am in no contact with
them at all because this industry does
not really allow a lot of time off. I am not
really good at visiting my family even
because my work takes up all of my time.
I need to fix it and make it better, but it
takes a while to do. You will steadily find
the balance point. But that is something
that comes with the industry.“
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know what the future will bring. I am very
happy where I am right now and where I
am going.”
But he adds:
“I hope, that I will be accepted into the
school, but the odds are not in my favour.
Out of 300 only eight are accepted.”
Portrait 14:
Viðar: Composer, DJ and contractor as
a sound engineer
Viðar is 27 years old. He lives with his girl-
friend, in an apartment in Reykjavik. He
has a Bachelor degree from the Iceland
Academy of the Arts, and he has studied
Recording and Audio Mixing. What he
likes to do most is music. He has been
working independently with audio mixing
since he graduated half a year ago.
His work life consists of three different
parts: He works as a contractor doing
different sound engineering gigs, as a DJ,
and as a composer.
The main part of Viðars work is as a
contractor for a company that rents out
sound systems. However, he also works
independently recording concerts, DJ’ing
and so on, but those activities are not
affiliated with the company.
Both of Viðar parents are musicians and
work irregular hours like Viðar. He has
grown up with both his parents often
working in the evenings. They work on
the stage while Viðar has taken up a
career behind the scenes working with
sound engineering.
Working as a contractor, wages and
working conditions
Viðars work as a contractor is very di-
verse. The company Viðar works for (as
a contractor) rents out sound systems,
speakers, screens and projectors for con-
ferences. He drives a company car to the
venue and Viðars task is to assemble and
disassemble the rented items. Some-
times he sets up screens, sometimes he
maintains the role of the sound engineer
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and manage the sound, the microphones,
audio recordings and so on. Sometimes
he manages live streams on the internet
and deals with cameras and the stream-
ing process. Viðar tells that the work is
distributed through phone calls:
“I get a phone call: “Are you available on
Wednesday and Thursday? We have this
project that we need to do”. They contact
me, and I then have to move other pro-
jects I may have.”
Viðar tells that it varies a lot how long
time in advance he is asked. Sometimes
he is even asked the same day if he can
work:
“I might be asked: “Are you free tomor-
row?” or “Are you free today?”. I have
worked for them for half a year now so
I have gotten more involved. A couple of
days ago I was working and I was asked if
I could work next Wednesday, the Satur-
day the week after, and such.
does happen quite often that they need
to have something done right away. We
always try to be able to react right away,
even though that may not always be
possible.”
The company has three owners and 5-10
contractors. Viðar tells that the owners
of the company are the ones that are
working the most; often they just use
one contractor per week. Viðar and the
other contractors ‘join in’ and works with
the owners. Viðar tells, that his hourly
wage is so good, that he can work for
three days a week per month and still
get what for him is a full monthly wage.
It gives him room to do more of the other
projects he is doing. He tells that it suits
him well for the time being.
“I sometimes get my own projects for a
few weeks, and whilst I do those I am not
working for the company. I would just tell
them that I am shooting a TV series for
the next few weeks, and that I am unable
to work. And they’ll tell me it’s alright. I
am not in any way contracted to come to
work whenever they wish”.
A normal working week:
Often it feels like the very first day
at work, it is very diverse
The week before the interview Viðar
worked for the company renting out
conference equipment four days, he
describes a typical workday for the
company.
“I arrived at 9am, sorted out the invento-
ry, and prepared orders or packages for
delivery. Then, last Wednesday, there was
a conference at the University so I arrived
there shortly after lunch at 1pm and man-
157
»
I get a phone call: “Are you
available on Wednesday
and Thursday? We have this
project that we need to do”.
They contact me, and I then
have to move other projects
I may have.
Viðar – Composer, DJ and
contractor as a sound engineer
I can have a glance around 3-4 weeks
ahead in time. But sometimes there are
projects that suddenly become available.
We might get a word on the same day
that there is a conference, and so on. It
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Young men in the creative industry (Iceland)
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aged the sound system. I had to watch
over the mics and then we had to pack up
the system at 5pm. So for the company
that was a 9-5 workday.
When Viðar began working for the com-
pany he was introduced to the work, but
on his first job, he still felt new to the job:
“Sometimes I feel like every workday at
the company is my very first day at work.
Because you arrive and you do something
completely different to what you did the
day before (…).
One of my first jobs was taking care of
the stage at the shopping Centre for
Christmas, audio mixing for a Christmas
act. It was like being thrown into the
deep end of the pool. I just showed up
and – there is not a lot of help really. They
just go over with you how things work,
but then you have to find out things by
yourself”.
anything. Yesterday I was live stream-
ing for reading competition for children
at a bookstore. There were kids reading
comics and I operated the camera and
streamed it for a website. I had never
done anything like that before. I was basi-
cally just told something like; ‘you need to
do this now’. This is why I often feel like it
is always my very first day at the job.”
When Viðar is not working for the com-
pany, he works as an independent sound
engineer. He records sound for a TV show
and those days can be quite long:
“If I am recording sound for a TV show
that is starting this autumn on RÚV, I
arrive at 8-9am in the morning at the
shooting location. I record an interview,
pack it all up, and go to the next location
and so on. That day we went to four loca-
tions, so I worked until evening. So there
are longer days as well.”
However, other days Viðar works in a
studio he runs with some friends. In the
studio, he records music, work on his own
music and occasionally they have record-
ed sound for TV series:
“For a normal day at work, if I am show-
ing up at the studio, and there I am a bit
more free to do my own things. I arrive in
the morning and if I am not working on
something that is on a deadline, I work as
much as I want to. I am not paying any
attention to the clock. If I am DJ-ing, I
prepare for that during the day, and ar-
rive at around 10pm and work until 5am
the next morning. So it is not always the
same things.”
When Viðar is asked how he gets booked
New forms of work among young people
»
Sometimes I feel like every
workday at the company is
my very first day at work.
Because you arrive and you
do something completely
different to what you did
the day before (…)
Viðar – Composer, DJ and
contractor as a sound engineer
This is a basic feature of Viðars work for
the company. He is always sent out to
different venues and different events:
“The company gets projects booked with
them and we do the projects. It can be
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for the freelance assignment he
answers:
“Good question (laughs). Itis a bit like
a buddy system. I have not really been
advertising that I am doing this kind of
thing. It is just how the small Icelandic
community is.“
How many working hours?
Viðar cannot really set a number on how
many working hours he has a week be-
cause his work life is so changing.
“It depends really. I have had a lot to do
for the last two months because I had
been doing assignments that required a
9-5 schedule. So maybe like last March,
I was working for 4 days a week. I would
not really consider my DJ job as a job. It is
also a hobby for me. It does not feel like I
am going to work, because I love doing it.
I forget to think of that as work. How-
ever, I have difficulties answering this
question because my working hours are
so irregular”.
However, Viðar says that he believes
that he works less than 40 hours a week.
Working environment: Lifting and stress
For Viðar it is obvious that there is a lot
of stress related to the way that he is
working. The stress comes with the job,
he says:
“You are usually responsible for many
things. If something goes wrong, it is
somehow your fault. If they have booked
a contractor, then there is a lot of
pressure and a lot of stress that comes
with it. However, at the same time, time
goes by quickly in that way. Adrenalin
2.6
Young men in the creative industry (Iceland)
and excitement also comes with it, so it
both good and bad. However, you prob-
ably need to be a certain type of person,
someone that will not just freak out.”
»
Adrenalin and excitement
also comes with it, so it
both good and bad. How-
ever, you probably need to
be a certain type of person,
someone that will not just
freak out.
Viðar – Composer, DJ and
contractor as a sound engineer
As a sound manager working behind the
scene, you also have to lift many heavy
objects and even though Viðar tells that
he has trolleys available for him he still
has to lift speakers and so on from the
car and onto the trolley and again onto
a rack, and the other way around when
packing down.
“I had not mentioned this before, but this
is a tough job physically. We often have to
lift heavy objects around. I can feel that
my body is tired if I have been working for
a long time. Because of all the lifting in
and out of cars, up and down the stairs
and so on. If I were to end up with any
back problems, I would not be able to do
this job any longer.”
Viðar is very much aware that he is not
secured in his working life:
“If I were to have an accident, I probably
would not do so well because it could
mean I would need to quit. At least, for
now, I hope that will not happen.”
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Photo: iStock
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Photo: Marvin Meyer / Unsplash
Photo: krys Amon / Unsplash
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Working as a DJ: It is more personal, you
represent a specific brand
In addition to the work for the company
renting out conference equipment and
his independent sound engineering, Viðar
is working as a DJ playing house, dance
and techno. Viðar tells that he would not
be able to live of being a DJ in Iceland;
his income would be too low. For Viðar it
is a passion, he only plays music that he
likes.
“I started DJ-ing, or playing music for
places of entertainment, like dances
and clubs. I play certain music and I get
booked for that kind of music rather than
something else. It kind of entails making
yourself represent a specific brand, or
a type. Therefore, it takes a while to be
noticed and get bookings. I play mostly
house, dance, techno, and that kind of
music, and there are really only two plac-
es that offer those kinds of gigs.”
Viðar har chosen to DJ because of his
passion for music. In the beginning he
mainly DJ’ed because of the pay, but he
has made the choice to play music he
likes:
“When you start, you really just have to
do something to earn some good cash.
But then you either want to continue
doing that and do it like a job. Or it be-
comes more of a passion, and you start
playing music that you like. You cannot
just play these top pop hits. It becomes
more personal, and you start to repre-
sent something. It is about how you want
people to perceive you. Or what you want
to represent.”
The DJ’ing is not just a night job, but it
2.6
Young men in the creative industry (Iceland)
also requires preparations such as identi-
fying new music, prepare playlists:
“If I get a normal gig, I just prepare a
playlist of songs I’ve been listening to on a
daily basis for a while. When I’m working
on the computer, I’m listening to music,
checking e-mails, and finding new tracks
and putting them on playlists. Then I need
to buy the music, download it and put it
on an USB. There’s a lot of preparation,
but it’s more spread out. But you know it
takes a while, so you try to work on it all
the time.”
»
If I have been working for a
long while then it is good
for me to take a day off
on a Monday and just do
nothing. You cannot work all
days in a month. However, if
you work more, you are paid
more.
Viðar – Composer, DJ and
contractor as a sound engineer
Viðar's job as a DJ also keeps him from
having the weekends off as he DJ’s most
weekends:
“No, not really. I do the DJ work on the
weekends so I am not really used to have
the weekends off. What I try to do, when I
am working weekends, is to take one day
off midweek. If I have been working for a
long while then it is good for me to take a
day off on a Monday and just do nothing.
You cannot work all days in a month.
However, if you work more, you are paid
more, so it really depends on what you
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want. And sometimes there are not that
many projects, and that gives you plenty
of days off work. Therefore, you just need
to find a way to balance it out”.
Sometimes Viðar works for the company
renting out equipment for conferences
in the daytime and DJ’s in the night. On
those days he works around 15 hours and
they are tough says Viðar, adding that it
fortunately does not happen very often.
You are always representing yourself
When DJ’ing Viðar feels that, he rep-
resents a specific preference in music.
Viðars own taste becomes the reason he
is hired for a DJ gig. However, Viðar tells
that this feeling of always represent-
ing himself transcends into most of his
working life:
“You need to be able to keep an eye on
everything. Being organized is important
because you might forget to turn up
where you need to turn up at, and such.
You could be a really good sound engineer
but if you are bad at communication, you
will not get any work because the most
important part is that element. People
will remember you for being nice, or for
being tedious or difficult. You are always
representing yourself.”
Viðar stresses that the most important
skill in his working life is the ability to
relate to people. When working, Viðar
is always talking to people, listening to
them:
“If you are bad at communicating, you
will not do well. You need to be a bit, how
shall I say this, tolerant or patient. Often
you are blamed for something you did
162
not do, or if something goes wrong with
stuff that you do not have anything to
do with, people might take their irritation
out on you. So you need to know how just
to go: “Hey, I am doing my best here” and
not just get angry and irritated and fight
back. And what else? (…) You cannot
stress too much over things. You need to
be more chilled. That is what it is really
about, being good at human relations,
being calm and well organized.”
Doing unpaid work
Viðar describes how he during his educa-
tion sometimes would work free:
“When I was in my last year of school,
I took a few unpaid projects because I
decided it would be good for me to get
some more experience. I thought: “Yes, I
recorded music for a short film for free.”
Viðar tells that short films and films do
not often have big budgets to pay all
contributors to a production. Recent-
ly Viðar declined to work as an unpaid
sound engineer on a short film, because
he is already occupied with other paid
projects. Once he graduated, he made an
active decision to say no to unpaid work
unless it is for a friend. The short film
Viðar turned down was actually made
by a friend, which made it a bit more
difficult to refuse.
“But once I graduated, I started saying no
to unpaid work. It takes a while... You can
work for free if you offer to do something.
But I am not doing that now. Not unless
my friends needed something. Or, I don’t
know, it would need to be a special favour
for me to ask for no pay. Otherwise I
would not do it, unless it were some sort
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of special concert, for relief or anything
like that. But I try to avoid all projects
that I won’t get paid for.”
Economic uncertainty: If I am sick, I just
miss work
Viðar is in the middle of a process where
he is learning how to balance periods
of free time with periods of much work;
periods with no pay and periods of wage
income. Since he has lots of work, he is
currently most engaged in how to man-
age his own time right, but the economic
uncertainty is also an issue:
a contractor are thus very dangerous.
Or, at least, quite insecure in terms of
becoming sick and missing work, getting
compensation and such. That is a clear
disadvantage.”
During the time of the interview, Viðar
did not know what his income during the
summer would look like. He had work
planned for the next couple of months,
but his planned work does not extend
so far into the future. In order to secure
himself, Viðar has a savings account for
months without pay. Nevertheless, the
months without pay free time to make
music:
“There are months where I have a ridicu-
lous amount of free time, and that is the
time when I get really busy making music.
That is a balance that I am trying to get
used to. A balance I am trying to learn
how to deal with.”
Viðar finished his degree and has worked
independently for six months at the
time of the interview. During those six
months, it has never been a problem to
find work; in fact, he has been quite busy
and has had to decline many projects
because his schedule was full. Despite of
his apparent success, Viðar remains un-
certain of his preference for his working
life, thus acknowledging the stress it also
produces:
“I am in a very privileged position because
I can control what I will do and not do, at
least so far. At the same time, if I do not
have a lot to do in one work place, I try to
do more in the other. The freedom that I
have is governed by the projects I under-
take. It is stressful to a certain degree,
163
»
My work is still quite
unreliable. I mean, if there
are no projects, you get no
salary. That makes me the
sole person responsible for
how things are doing. There
is not a lot of support for
that kind of things. I have
no rights because I am a
contractor. If I am sick, I just
miss work and I do not get
sick leave
Viðar – Composer, DJ and
contractor as a sound engineer
“My work is still quite unreliable. I mean,
if there are no projects, you get no salary.
That makes me the sole person responsi-
ble for how things are doing. There is not
a lot of support for that kind of things. I
have no rights because I am a contractor.
If I am sick, I just miss work and I do not
get sick leave. These kinds of things as
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Young men in the creative industry (Iceland)
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yes, but at the same time I enjoy that I
am doing so many diverse things, and
that I have my fingers in many pies.”
The future: It suits my life pattern right
now
Regarding his plans for the future, Viðar
tells that he does not wish to change
anything about his working life now:
»
There are months where I
have a ridiculous amount
of free time, and that is the
time when I get really busy
making music. That is a
balance that I am trying to
get used to. A balance I am
trying to learn how to deal
with.
Viðar – Composer, DJ and
contractor as a sound engineer
both of them, working as contractors in
the creative industry also has negative
consequences. For example, Dagur says
that he worked for 350 days last year,
which made it difficult to see family and
friends. They both have demanding jobs
and they often have to find solutions in
unknown and complex working situa-
tions. As Dagur says: “I often feel like it
is my very first day at work”. Getting fair
and good working conditions and pay-
ment is a struggle for both of them.
They are also both aware of their work-
ing environment, and they say that there
is a lot of stress related to the way that
their work is organised. This stress comes
when they are responsible as contractors
if things go wrong. Viðar says that even
if he has trolleys available, he still has to
lift speakers and so on from the car, onto
the trolley, and again onto a rack, and
behind the stage – there is a lot of heavy
lifting too. “This is a tough job physically,”
Viðar says. Dagur is often required to
carry a heavy camera on his shoulder or
to do specific movements while carrying
the camera on his shoulder. They both
need to solve such working-environment
problems at individual level, by them-
selves. They are also aware of that days
off or periods with sickness absence
are days without payment. It is likely,
that the creative industry is similar in
the other Nordic countries, even though
the Icelandic film industry represents a
smaller community, and might be organ-
ised differently.
“It suits me very well where I am right
now. I enjoy it and I enjoy having a lot to
do. But maybe in a few years, this will not
suit me as it does with my life pattern
now. Maybe then, I just want to work
for set hours and know how much I am
being paid. […] In the future I think that
I would like to study more, but for now I
am good.”
Working in creative industries
The two young men portrayed are both
very successful and upcoming. They
both enjoy their working life, but for
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2062168_0165.png
2.
3.
young people and their working lives. The portraits are edited
versions of interviews made in 2017 with the help of colleagues
in Iceland, Sweden, Norway and Denmark. We made 21
In the previous 14 portraits,young people between 21 and
qualitative interviews with we have explored how working
life years of shaped for young people working in atypical who
30 is being age. For this report, we portray young people
employment. The widest possible of their into the new forms of
together give the characteristics insight working environment
might beyoung people (see the method bear a resemblance 1).
work for familiar to the reader, as they chapter in appendix
to conditions known from standard employment forms.
The specific purpose of the portraits is to give the reader
However, some of into characteristics seem to be more
a nuanced insight the some of the working-environment
extreme,that very long working hours, have for young people.
impacts e.g. new forms of work may physically demanding
work for many consecutive hours andperspectives of the
The portraits represent the personal boundaryless work,
which also involves affective work among the influencers and
14 young people on their working lives in the Nordic countries.
gamers. In the following we present thenuances, insights and
Together, the portraits form a pallet of characteristics of the
working environment for six types oflying ahead for future
knowledge about the labour market atypical work.
generations.
It is not easy to explore all new forms of employment through
usual register data and surveys. However, we have included
data on the risk of accidents among young people, which
shows an increased risk for some types of atypical
employment forms.
Working environment and
Young people in new and
risks among young people
atypical employment forms
with atypical work
different Nordic
The following contains 14 portraits of 14 very
2.1
Gaming: a professional work
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New forms of work among young people
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3.1 Results of interview data (portraits)
In table 3.1 and in the following summa-
ry, we review the working-environment
themes and risks associated with the
atypical working life reported by the
young people portrayed. It is important
to stress that the characteristics are
based on these 14 portraits, and we
present no data on the prevalence of
these problems among all young people
in atypical work. The aim of the portraits
is to identify possible working-environ-
ment problems related to the various
types of atypical work and related to the
employment characteristics.
The new and digital forms of work rep-
resented by the portraits in this report
indicate that the limits of what we
traditionally have understood as employ-
ment have to be reconsidered, if future
initiatives and policies regarding the
working environment are also to benefit
this group of young people.
The characteristics of the working en-
vironment among these young workers
can be recognized from more traditional
or standard employment forms. How-
ever, some of the characteristics seem to
be more extreme, e.g. very long working
hours, physically demanding work and
boundaryless work. Constant availability
and being required to appear at their
workplace at very short notice make
long-term planning difficult for some of
these young people. They also report on
the lack of income security, and that a
number of issues merge together and
expose them to a new and more inten-
sive form of work.
3.1
Results of interview data (portraits)
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Types of
atypical work
Gaming
(e-sport)
Characteristics of
employment
•
Fixed-term contract
•
Monthly salary plus sup-
plementary income (e.g.,
bonuses, streaming, sub-
scribers and Twitch).
Characteristics of
working environment
•
Long working hours (usually 12-16 hours
a day)
•
Irregular, evening and night work
(adjusting to time zones for tournaments
and when subscribers are active)
•
Boundaryless work – borders between
work and private life highly blurred.
•
Organisation of work: challenge to
manage, prioritize and plan work
activities
•
Mainly sedentary work, difficult to have
breaks
•
Demanding physically and psychologi-
cally, work tasks with high intensity.
•
Reported problems with neck and
shoulder, sleeping disorders and
stress-related symptoms and illnesses.
Work via
digital
platforms
(off-line- and
online work)
•
Solo self-employed
•
No fixed or stable income
•
Work tasks (gigs) via social
digital platforms
•
Hourly pay or fee, often
negotiated
•
Lack of income security
•
Usually many shifting work-
places/tasks during a short
period of time.
•
Long working hours (about 12 hours a
day)
•
Boundaryless work: work/family borders
fluid
•
Lack of colleges, training and support
•
Online performance evaluations with the
use of ‘likes’
•
Reported neck and back pains, stress-
related illness, risk of accidents
•
Availability 24/7
•
Organisation of work: challenge to man-
age, prioritize and plan work activities.
Influencers via
social media
platforms
•
Solo self-employed
•
Usually also temporary
contracts
•
Hourly pay or fee, supple-
mentary income (sponsor-
ships etc.)
•
Lack of income security.
•
Long working hours
•
Boundaryless work – borders between
work and private life fluid.
•
Organisation of work: challenge to
manage, prioritize and plan work
activities
•
Hard tone on social media
•
Stress and sleeping difficulties
•
Neck and back pain.
Table continues next page ▸
Table 3.1.
Characteristics of employment and working environment for six types of atypical work based
on 14 portraits of young people in the Nordic countries
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Types of
atypical work
Flexible work
arrangements
Characteristics of
employment
•
Changing working schedules and
working hours from day to day
•
Time limited work
arrangement
•
Involuntary part-time
position
•
Supplementary working
hours offered with short
notice (Facebook, text
messages)
•
Lack of income security.
Characteristics of
working environment
•
Lack of opportunity for long-term planning
•
Many physically hard work tasks
•
Working alone without support
•
Lack of training and support
•
Stressful to be available and ready to
work 24/7
•
Challenges with work/life balance.
Temporary
agency work
•
Temporary agency employ-
ment
•
More than one job in the
same period of time
•
Many shifting jobs and
workplaces over a period
of time
•
Changing work schedules
and working hours from day
to day
•
Supplementary working
hours offered via telephone
calls with short notice
•
Lack of income security.
•
Constantly changing tasks and work
situations
•
Many physically hard work tasks
•
Lack of training and support when new
•
Lack of colleagues and a social
Community
•
Lack of opportunity for long-term planning
•
Constant demand for availability and
readiness to work is seen as stressful.
Work in
creative
industries
•
Different sources of income
in the same period of time
(includes self-employment
and funding)
•
Temporary contracts
•
Fees (payments when task
is completed)
•
Very short response periods,
when offered jobs (some-
times the same day)
•
Lack of income security.
•
Long working hours
(typically 12–16 hours a day)
•
Evening, weekend, and night work
•
Few breaks and holidays
•
Work is demanding both physically and
mentally
•
Reported neck and back pains
•
Constant availability is stressful
•
Boundaries between work and privacy
are fluid and unclear
•
Work situations, tasks and workplaces
are ever changing
•
Lack of opportunity for long-term planning.
Table 3.1. continued
Table 3.1.
Characteristics of employment and working environment for six types of atypical work based
on 14 portraits of young people in the Nordic countries
3.1
Results of interview data (portraits)
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3.2 Results of analysis of Labour Force Survey data
Information on part-time work, tem-
porary work, fixed-term contracts and
consequences for occupational accidents
was available from the Labour Force
Survey data in 2007 and 2013 (Statis-
tics Denmark, 2019). We made analyses
for three age groups: 18-29 years 30-49
years and 50+ years. We investigated
the proportion of young workers in the
age group 18-29 years with one of these
three types of atypical employment
forms and compared the results with the
other age groups. The results are shown
in the figures below.
The proportion of young people working
part-time in Denmark is significantly
higher than for the other age groups.
This applies in particular to marginalised
part-time work, defined as less than 15
hours work a week. Mostly young work-
ers work for less than 15 hours a week,
and many of them are young people with
a job besides their studies. This work
pattern in particular applies to Danish
workers, as the proportion of marginal-
ised part-time work is less in the other
Nordic countries (Rasmussen, 2018).
The proportion of people in temporary
employment is highest in the age group
18-29 years. This is partly related to
youths working besides their studies and
partly expresses young people having
difficulties in getting a foothold in the
labour market.
In part time work
35%
30%
25%
20%
15%
10%
5%
0%
15-30 hours a week
> 15 hours a week
■
18-29 years
■
30-49 years
■
50-years
Proportional, in percentage
Figure 1:
The proportion of part-time work among
employed people in three age groups, in Denmark
(Statistics Denmark, 2019).
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This is also associated with a higher
proportion of young people working on
fixed work contracts with an end date
(Figure 3).
In Table, 3.2 below, the risk of occupa-
tional accidents is shown for the three
employment forms: part-time work,
temporary agency work and fixed-term
contracts. For people working on mar-
ginalised part-time work there is an
increased risk of occupational accidents
for all age groups, compared to peo-
ple on normal working hours, whereas
part-time work between 15 hours and 30
hours indicates a lower risk for the group
of young people.
The proportion of people in
temporary employment is
highest in the age group
18-29 years. This is partly
related to youths working
besides their studies and
partly expresses young
people having difficulties
in getting a foothold in the
labour market.
Temporary work
25%
20%
15%
10%
5%
0%
Fixed-term contract
40%
35%
30%
25%
20%
15%
10%
5%
Yes
0%
No
Proportional, in percentage
Figure 2:
The proportion of temporary work
among employed people in three age groups, in
Denmark (Statistics Denmark, 2019).
3.1
Results of interview data (portraits)
Proportional, in percentage
Figure 3:
The proportion of fixed-term contracts
among employed people in three age groups, in
Denmark (Statistics Denmark, 2019).
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In addition, there is an increased risk of
occupational accidents for the group of
young people doing temporary agency
work, compared to those not doing tem-
porary agency work. Such an increased
risk is not seen for the other two age
groups.
There does not seem to be any signif-
icant difference in risk between those
working on fixed-term contracts and
those who do not work on fixed-term
contracts, although the risk seems to be
a little higher for young people on fixed-
term contracts (Table 3.2.).
The proportion of young people working
in the three atypical employment forms
presented above is higher than for age
groups above 29 years. Marginalised
part-time work, temporary agency and
fixed-term contracts are associated with
a higher risk of occupational accidents.
These employment forms are charac-
teristic of the young people portrayed
in this report. Another characteristic of
the young people included here is that
they work many hours a week. An earlier
study on the LFS data found no asso-
ciation between long working weeks
and risk of occupational injuries (Larsen
AD, 2017). However, this previous study
defined long working weeks as more
than 48 hours, which is relatively short
compared to working weeks of about 70
hours for some of the cases included in
the portraits. In addition, solo self-em-
ployed work is also represented among
the young people portrayed, but we
could not obtain data on the risk of occu-
pational accidents for this type of work.
We have not investigated other working-
environment outcomes in this report, but
this would be relevant in future studies.
18-29 year
Part-time work 1
> 30 hrs a week
15-30 hrs a week
< 15 hrs a week
Temporary agency work:
No
Yes
Fixed-term contract:
No
Yes
3.0%
4.6%
4.7%
8.3%
7.8%
4.9%
11.0%
30-49 year
50+ year
Total
4.4%
4.5%
14.8%
3.6%
5.3%
9.9%
4.6%
4.8%
11.1%
4.4%
4.8%
3.5%
3.1%
4.2%
6.2%
4.0%
3.9%
2.9%
3.5%
3.3%
3.9%
1 The rate of occupational injuries is adjusted with the average working hours for each of the three groups.
Table 3.2.
Rate of occupational accidents among employed people for various types of atypical employment
forms, in percentage (Statistics Denmark, 2019).
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2.
4.
Discussion and new and
Young people inconclusions
atypical employment forms
We have interviewed young people with new and atypical
The following contains 14 portraits of 14 very different Nordic
employment forms in the Nordic countries and asked them
young people and their working lives. The portraits are edited
about how they experience their working life and their working
versions of interviews made in 2017 with the help of colleagues
environment.
in Iceland, Sweden, Norway and Denmark. We made 21
qualitative interviews with young people between 21 and
The results were presented as 14 portraits of young Nordic
30 years of age. For this report, we portray young people who
people working in new and atypical employment forms. The
together give the widest possible insight into the new forms of
portraits provide a detailed and integrated description of the
work for young people (see the method chapter in appendix 1).
working life of these young people.
The specific purpose of the portraits is to give the reader
The aim was to contribute to important insights into
a nuanced insight into some of the working-environment
employment forms, daily practices, perspectives and future
impacts that new forms of work may have for young people.
orientation in their work.
The portraits represent the personal perspectives of the
14 young people on their working lives in the Nordic countries.
We also asked the young people about their working life and
Together, the portraits form a pallet of nuances, insights and
working-environment problems they might encounter during
knowledge about the labour market lying ahead for future
their activities. We have endeavoured to include young people
generations.
who represent new forms of work that challenge current
categories and definitions of work and employment in the
Nordic countries.
However, there might be types of work in this new and
emerging field that we have not encountered in our search for
atypical employment forms.
2.1
Gaming: a professional work
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Categorizing the different types of
atypical work in a simple table like the
one above is not straightforward. The
portraits in this report explain why. Each
of the new forms of work listed in table
3.1 above represents a variety of work
and employment arrangements. Most
of the young people portrayed have
several jobs at the same time (up to
five jobs), or a number of different jobs
over short periods. Exactly how many is
often difficult to ascertain. For some, it
may be difficult to explain exactly how
their work is actually organised and paid,
because there are many different types
of employment and payroll benefits at
work. The actual employer (if they have
one) often appears to be unclear.
Most of the young people
portrayed have several jobs
at the same time (up to five
jobs), or a number of different
jobs over short periods.
Exactly how many is often
difficult to ascertain.
Several of the young people included
have different types of temporary and
flexible employments. These young peo-
ple are far from alone in having tempo-
rary and extremely flexible employments.
The extent of part-time work, underem-
ployment and non-permanent work is
increasing in all of the Nordic countries,
and in particular among young employ-
ees under 30 (Statistiska Centralbyrån,
New forms of work among young people
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2015a; Statistiska Centralbyrån 2015b;
Aagestad et al., 2015; Hanvold et al.,
2016; Kines et al., 2013; Scheuer, 2011;
Scheuer, 2014). For some young people,
these types of employment can be step-
ping-stones to more stable work, but for
other young people this is not the case.
For some young people, these
types of employment can
be stepping-stones to more
stable work, but for other
young people this is not the
case.
Stepping-stones?
The portraits presented can thus be seen
as examples of young workers who all
inhabit different positions in a transi-
tion ‘to and through the labour market’
(MacDonald, 2009). The transitions to
and through the labour market are char-
acterized by ‘multiple dropouts, detours
and seemingly dead ends’ rather than
‘smooth operations’ (Pless, 2013; Plug &
du Bois-Reymond, 2006).
We identified a number of quite diverse
paths between studying and work in
the portraits, for example, the gamers
Eirik and Nicolai see their gaming career
as a period in their youth. At the end of
this life phase, they hope to establish
themselves in a more permanent career
through education. Their life course re-
sembles football players, pop stars, fash-
ion models etc. in the way that they con-
sider it a limited period of their working
life and in the longer run they will have to
find their way into other activities.
Brynja, who has a short time horizon in
her temporary unskilled job and can be
categorized as a ‘sabbatical year worker’,
represents another path (Nielsen et al.,
2013). Her job provides an opportunity to
work long hours and save money for her
‘gap year’ before she starts her univer-
sity studies. Brynja‘s working situation
is temporary, and she does not think of
this work as a stepping stone to a career
and future job. For both the gamers and
for Brynja, the negative consequences of
their working environment are thus re-
stricted to a shorter period, if they avoid
accidents and health implications. In his
book, The Precariat, Guy Standing divid-
ed youth into two groups: ‘The Grinners’
and ‘The Groaners’:
We find it important to
distinguish between young
people in a transitional phase
in their life, like Eirik, Nicolai
and Brynja, and young
employees who are more or
less stuck in their work situa-
tion and thus at risk of ending
up in precarious employment.
“Among youth, the ‘grinners’ are students
and travelling backpackers, happy to take
casual jobs with no long-term future; the
‘groaners’ are those unable to enter the
labour market through apprenticeships or
the equivalent, or competing with ‘cheap-
er’ old agers with no need for enterprise
benefits.” (Standing, 2011 p. 59).
4
Dicussion and conclusions
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We find it important to distinguish
between young people in a transitional
phase in their life, like Eirik, Nicolai and
Brynja, and young employees who are
more or less stuck in their work situation
and thus at risk of ending up in precari-
ous employment (Nielsen et al., 2018).
Stefan the carpenter and Stefan the
entrepreneur also see their present life
as a chapter in their life story, but they
believe that their future will be built
upon their present working life, and thus
they see their digital platform work as
a ‘stepping-stone’ to their future work
(MacDonald, 2009).
Many of them describe their
life as a journey ‘up the ladder’,
where they gather resources,
experiences and contacts.
Devran and Anders are at the entry point
of their working life. They have a foothold
in the labour market, but not yet the sta-
ble job they are striving to get. However,
they represent a group of young workers
at risk of being involuntarily caught in
social and financial insecurity (Nielsen et
al., 2017a). Lars‘ and Julia‘s life course
and future orientations are similar,
though not quite the same. They both
seem to be making their way to a more
stable working situation, which they
also want to achieve. However, Lars has
a new life situation with financial and
social responsibility for a family, which
means that the insecurity he has had
for many years is now experienced as ‘a
bloody hell’. He plans to make his way out
of it through education.
176
Solo self-employed – creative workers
and influencers
The life plans of some of these young
workers are not characterized by a
choice of either security or insecurity.
They are all in many ways adjusting to
insecurity as a life-long condition. A
number of them appreciate their present
life, and they do not seem to be aiming
at more secure positions on the labour
market, but those who seem more vul-
nerable are striving for strongholds like
education or long-term contracts. Many
of them describe their life as a journey
‘up the ladder’, where they gather re-
sources, experiences and contacts. Their
very different working situations seem
to have one thing in common: access to
their career is primarily through
‘learning by doing’ rather than ‘by
studying’ (Katznelson et al., 2018). Vidar,
Sara, Paula and Anette all have educa-
tional degrees, but these degrees alone
will not help them, and to some extent
they have to invent their jobs and then
sell them! This applies in particular for
the solo self-employed.
For several of the young
self-employed, excitement and
hassle are two sides of the
same coin, and the relation-
ship between individual free-
dom and individual
insecurity seems to be a
balance for many of them.
The young solo self-employed included
in this report are employed in a variety
of professional specialties and crafts.
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One example is the three influencers, all
three of whom organise their working
life unconventionally, with many differ-
ent activities. As for several of the other
young people portrayed, their way of
working cannot be defined within a sin-
gle category; they go beyond traditional
forms of working arrangements and job
categories. For example, Sara is a full-
time employee, a temporary employee,
and she runs a self-employed business.
What in general characterizes these
young self-employed workers is that they
have a medium or long-term educational
background. Accordingly, they reflect a
general labour market trend; while the
proportion of solo self-employed has
remained relatively stable in Denmark
since 2010, there has been an increase in
the number of solo self-employed within
the group of specialized professionals
(Scheuer, 2017).
employment relationship. Several men-
tion the high degree of autonomy and
freedom as a situation they appreciate.
The self-employed generally stress their
freedom to organise and control their
own work and perform tasks as they
wish (Manyika et al., 2016). Nevertheless,
what is said to be enthusiasm for work
is often also emphasised as stressful
(Buch & Andersen, 2009). For several of
the young self-employed, excitement and
hassle are two sides of the same coin,
and the relationship between individual
freedom and individual insecurity seems
to be a balance for many of them.
From full-time jobs to short-term
work tasks
When the young people tell us about
their working lives, they do not necessari-
ly concentrate on the work in itself; often
they focus more on how they get access
to work tasks as something essential and
valuable. This is the case for the self-em-
ployed, but in particular it applies to
the young workers with work organised
through online platforms. For example,
Stefan the carpenter talks about how he
uses a large part of his working time to
manage the various digital platforms he
uses to get access to work tasks. Stefan
can either have direct contact with his
customers online, or indirect contact,
where the platform organises his work
tasks and customer contracts for him.
Stefan pays the online platform to man-
age this specific task to administrate
his work. For Stefan, gaining access and
managing these tasks is a task in itself: it
is an ongoing part of his work and takes
up many working hours. In particular,
many smaller tasks are a challenge for
177
Many of the young workers in
this report (especially those
performing work organised
through online platforms)
articulate permanent access
to work tasks as a privilege.
Permanent access to paid
work is of great value for many
of them, and not something
they take for granted.
Although several of the young workers
presented in the report are aware of the
negative consequences of being self-em-
ployed, several of them emphasise the
benefits of not being in a permanent
4
Dicussion and conclusions
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him, as they take up a relatively large
part of his time compared to the time he
spends doing the actual work he is being
paid for.
Many are working hard to
secure themselves a position
in the labour market by being
good at gaining access to
work
tasks.
For many of the young workers, this
condition causes high demands for them
to manage, prioritize and plan their work
individually. Many of the young workers in
this report (especially those performing
work organised through online plat-
forms) articulate permanent access to
work tasks as a privilege. Permanent
access to paid work is of great value for
many of them, and not something they
take for granted. On the contrary, access
to work is something that many of
them work hard to gain. In line with this,
several of the young 'solo self-employed'
included in this report say that they have
one primary source of income from a
single permanent contractor, and that
they consider that, in many respects,
this relationship resembles an ordinary
employment contract. This is not only
a tendency in our limited number of
cases: it can be seen as a general trend
(Scheuer, 2017).
For several of the young people por-
trayed in this report, the absence of full-
time employment reduces their ability to
establish the adult life they desire. This
applies both to those who have deliber-
178
ately chosen this type of atypical work
and to those who would prefer some-
thing else. Many are working hard to se-
cure themselves a position in the labour
market by being good at gaining access
to work tasks. For these young people,
the value in their work is their ability to
access work, and not necessarily the ac-
tual performance of the job itself. Work
tasks are described as something these
young people have to earn individually,
and where they are in competition with
others for each job. A good network or
good online ratings are of high value in
this context.
Work tasks are described as
something these young people
have to earn individually, and
where they are in competition
with others for each job.
For example, Stefan the translator
points out that his Danish nationality is
an advantage to him when he is compet-
ing for translation tasks globally. Stefan
the carpenter similarly regards it as a
privilege that the bathroom installation
company that he is a sub-contractor for
sends him an order for a week's work
every week. Stefan does not describe the
sub-contract with the bathroom instal-
lation company as problematic, because
he is not an employee. On the contrary,
he regards it as a good deal that he
works as a subcontractor, and that the
company gives him access to tasks.
The financial security that Stefan the
carpenter talks about is primarily related
to the kind of security that relates to his
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2.1
Gaming: a professional work
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relatively permanent access to work, it
is not security that relates to a perma-
nent employment relationship. For them
the labour market is organised through
access to tasks, not a full-time job. This is
in line with the other young solo self-em-
ployed workers portrayed in this report.
For many of these young people, access
to and management of work is often of
particular importance for their working
environment, for their social and financial
security, and thus for their well-being.
Two forms of availability
For Lars, Julia, Anders, Devran and
Brynja, their work activities are linked to
the physical workplace. When they have
left the workplace, the job is done. This
differentiates their work from the other
young people portrayed in this report,
who in fact never leave their work. These
five young people appreciate their free
time, and keep work and leisure com-
pletely separate. However, they all have
to be available and able to appear at
their workplace at very short notice.
Some of the young freelancers and
self-employed people talk about the
many changes in their work as some-
thing positive and developing, but some
are also concerned about the insecurity
they experience when they are constant-
ly in new work situations and at new
workplaces with new and ever-changing
tasks.
The most problematic issue for many
of the young workers is the worry of
not being able to plan and control their
own future. The financial insecurity, and
uncertainty in terms of when and where
180
to work can, for some, be reconciled
with a youth life, without financial and
social responsibility for anyone other
than themselves. However, when young
people, like Lars or Devran, begin to
establish their own family, temporary
and insecure employment is difficult to
reconcile with family life. Several of the
young people in this report point to this
condition: the way they currently work
is considered temporary, as it is only
possible to maintain such a working life
as long as they do not have a family to
support. Interestingly, the majority of
the young people portrayed say that
they dream of getting 'a regular job'
with a fixed salary and fixed working
hours, if they have a boyfriend or children
at some point.
Several of the young people
in this report point to this
condition: the way they
currently work is considered
temporary, as it is only
possible to maintain such a
working life as long as they do
not have a family to support.
Several of the young people talk about
a working life in which they have to con-
tinuously adapt to new jobs and/or new
cultural codes they will be part of for
a short period. "All the time it feels like
the first day at work" say several of the
young people, including Julia, who works
as an unskilled temporary receptionist,
and Vidar, who works as a contractor
in the creative industry in Iceland. This
indicates that a general characteristic
across the young people portrayed in
New forms of work among young people
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this report is the lack of continuity in their
working lives.
Everyday life is my commodity
For some of the young people their
everyday life has become an important
part of what they produce on different
social platforms, such as blogs or videos
on YouTube. Consequently, the borders be-
tween work and leisure time, publicity and
privacy, often become fluid and unclear
for them. This can have consequences for
their relationships with family and friends,
as it can be difficult to disconnect from
work (Brock, 2017; Gregg, 2011; Yung Niels-
en, 2016). The professional gamers and
the influencers talk about working-envi-
ronment challenges that resemble those
known from previous working-environ-
ment research related to 'the boundary-
less work' and stress (Holt et al., 2013).
As shown above, many of the young
people say that the boundary between
what is work and what is leisure, what is
private and what is professional, is not
clear, and they have to deal with these
boundaries individually all time. The three
young influencers are examples of this;
they use their personal selves in their
work, and share in different ways their
personal lives. All three run a blog, but
also use other channels like Instagram
and Facebook to reach their followers.
Work thus becomes borderless in several
different ways. For all three, the bounda-
ries between privacy and working life are
constantly being negotiated, and often
remain unclear. For example, Anette
talked about going to a concert with
some friends and sharing her attendance
at the concert on one of her social media
4
Dicussion and conclusions
platforms as part of the sponsored
content that she is contractually bound
to deliver.
This also indicates that many of the
young people work outside normal work-
ing hours, for example if they rely on live
audiences, or if they need to play against
competitors globally in other time zones
than the Scandinavian time zone. For
example, the professional E-sports gam-
er Eirik tells that he sometimes games
for 12-14 hours a day. The day before
the interview, he was live streaming for
ten consecutive hours. Live streaming
is a form of work where it is difficult to
hold any breaks because the audience is
constantly watching.
Parallel to this, Stefan the carpenter
states that the online digital platforms
create a working environment where it
can be difficult to shield yourself from
too much work and that digital contact
to private customers contributes to
a more intensive working life. Private
customers do not always understand
and respect that he has other tasks
than theirs to do, and that he cannot be
available 24 hours a day, even though the
digital platforms are available 24 hours
a day.
When work is organised through online
digital platforms, there are actually no
limits on how much and when a worker
can work. Work becomes borderless.
Consequently, this requires that workers
are able to manage, prioritize and plan
their working hours themselves to pre-
vent work from becoming a burden. In
relation to the working environment, this
seems to be an important issue for both
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182
New forms of work among young people
Photo: Damon Lam / Unsplash
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of the young workers, who get their jobs
through online platforms. For example,
Stefan the carpenter says that in the be-
ginning of his working life it was difficult
for him to manage and control his tasks.
He says that he worked so much that it
became both a physical and a mental
strain for him. This is similar to the situ-
ation of the gamers, and to other young
workers presented in this report – they
work many more hours than a normal
working week.
The necessity of being available 24/7, and
how technology is facilitating this, is a
theme that most of the unskilled young
workers talk about. This availability is
experienced as stressful, as it is difficult
for them to opt out of this relationship
because they experience that they must
show that they deserve more hours by
showing their employers (or platform
owners) that they are available immedi-
ately when labour is needed. In addition,
their ranking on the platforms can go
down if they are fail to show their im-
mediate availability for platform users.
This kind of ‘bonding’ also applies to the
creative freelancers.
In this report, we portrayed a number
of young people whose access to work
varies, and they talk about how their
working environment connects closely
to their access to too little or too much
work, or to their inability to plan their
work. Likewise, the opaqueness of how
to gain access to tasks, or to be paid, is
a very important issue for several of the
young people's well-being.
Occupational injuries
We used data from the European Labour
4
Dicussion and conclusions
Force Survey (Statistics Denmark, 2019)
to investigate associations between
atypical employment forms and occu-
pational injuries. There was an increased
risk of occupational injuries for young
people working in marginal part-time
work, in part-time employment, or with
fixed time contracts. This is supported
by international research that has found
an association between the degree of
temporary employment and the risk of
occupational injuries (Bena et al., 2013;
Marucci-Wellman, 2018; Quinlan et al.,
2001; Underhill & Quinlan, 2011).
Young people who have stable
working conditions with cer-
tainty in recruitment are not
affected to the same extent as
young people with a peripheral
connection to the workplace.
Furthermore, we know that there is a
particular risk of occupational injuries
among young people under the age of
30, and that the risk is increased for
new employees, and for those working
part-time (less than 30 hours pr. week)
(Arbejdstilsynet, 2013). Young people
who have stable working conditions with
certainty in recruitment are not affected
to the same extent as young people with
a peripheral connection to the workplace
(Rasmussen & Håpnes 2012). The young
workers in this report fortunately did not
mention any serious accidents at their
jobs, but they mention a number of other
issues related to their working environ-
ment. A recent Nordic survey of young
people (18-34 years old) in six European
countries concludes that:
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“(...) the weaker the link to the labour
market, the less likelihood of happiness,
optimism and health“ (Bergqvist &
Erikson, p. 27, 2015).
This indicates an increased risk of injuries
and health problems among young
workers with peripheral connections to
the workplace, even though they say
that they are good at adapting and
dealing with changeable work situations.
Although none of the young people had
been hurt at their workplace, we know
that there is a special risk associated
with being new in a workplace in relation
to the risk of occupational injuries or
accidents (Dyreborg et al., 2018; Arbejd-
stilsynet, 2013).
The constant experience of being new is
a condition experienced by most of the
young people. It has to be considered
whether the changes currently taking
place in the labour market are acceler-
ating some of the occupational health
issues that we already know are related
to being new.
1984; Kjellén, 2000), including work inju-
ries among young employees (Arbejds-
tilsynet, 2010; Arbejdstilsynet, 2015).
However, as is the case with several of
the youngsters in this report, the two
young people with unskilled precarious
employment experience say that they are
often left to themselves when starting a
new job and in charge of new work tasks.
This situation may be associated with
a particular safety risk (Nielsen et al.,
2017a; Nielsen, 2019).
They are often left to
themselves when starting a
new job and in charge of new
work tasks. This situation
may be associated with a
particular safety risk.
A recent Danish report points out that
young people in particular perform
unskilled routine work that does not
receive training, as this type of work
is often understood as a form of work
that anyone can perform, and therefore
does not require training (Nielsen et al.
2017b). Parallel to this, both Julia and
Lars say that there are often a number
of conditions in the workplace that the
experienced employees take for granted.
Following this, the experienced employ-
ees are often not aware of the necessity
to pass this information on to the new
one. This kind of tacit understanding is
difficult to grasp when you are new in the
job. Any communication can quickly go
wrong, if tacit understanding is not made
clear for the new employee. However, this
rarely happens, exactly because it is tacit
understanding (Nielsen et al., 2017b).
New forms of work among young people
The constant experience of
being new is a condition
experienced by most of the
young people. It has to be con-
sidered whether the changes
currently taking place in the
labour market are accelerat-
ing some of the occupational
health issues that we already
know are related to being new.
Introduction of formal safety learning
routines and instruction is a classical way
to prevent occupational accidents (Hale,
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Uncertainty about access to, and alloca-
tion of work, lack of opportunity for long-
term planning, lack of training, and lack
of financial security are mentioned by
many of the young workers in this report
as the main problems in terms of their
working environment and well-being.
Long working hours
Working in the Icelandic creative indus-
tries seems to have some resemblance
to several of the other types of work
portrayed. Similar to most of the young
people portrayed in this book, they have
quite long and intensive working days.
For example, Dagur says that he worked
for 350 days last year, which made it
difficult to make time for family and
friends. Both Vidar’s and Dagur’s work
seems to be without borders, and they
are both in a process of learning how to
balance periods of much work with peri-
ods of free time, and periods with no pay
with periods with wage income. Conse-
quently, planning and prioritizing tasks is
quite central to their working life.
them. However, like most of the other
young workers portrayed in this report,
all of these issues are something that
they most often deal with individually.
Working in the film industry can be both
physically and mentally demanding. As
Vidar explains: “Adrenalin and excite-
ment also come with it, so it is both good
and bad. However, you probably need
to be a certain type of person, someone
who will not just freak out.”
Working environment and digital online
platforms
There is still very limited research that
specifically focuses on occupational
health problems on digital platforms.
However, Jesnes et al. (2016) and Huws
(2015) provide examples of this. The
authors distinguish between ‘online work’
organised via online digital platforms,
and 'offline-work’ organised via online
digital platforms. In this report, Stefan,
who is a self-employed carpenter in his
own company, performs offline work
organised via online digital platforms.
Some researchers suggest that offline
work organised through online digital
platforms often encounters the same
kinds of risks and working-environment
issues as seen in standard employment
forms, such as lack of training, lack of
safety equipment and lack of breaks
(Jesnes, 2016; Huws, 2015). The portrait
of Stefan the carpenter supports this
argument. He says that it is very impor-
tant to him to take care of his body when
he is working, for example to lift heavy
materials correctly. Nevertheless, he
also says that this is not always possible
when he is working in a private home.
Here, he does not always have the right
185
Uncertainty about access to,
and allocation of work, lack
of opportunity for long-term
planning, lack of training, and
lack of financial security are
mentioned by many of the
young workers in this report as
the main problems in terms of
their working environment and
well-being.
Getting fair and good working conditions
and payment is a struggle for both of
4
Dicussion and conclusions
 BEU, Alm.del - 2018-19 (2. samling) - Bilag 10: Orientering om rapport om unge i atypisk beskæftigelse, fra beskæftigelsesministeren
tools or a colleague by his side. He says
that the working conditions in custom-
ers' private homes can be a challenge
to his safety, and customers might lack
understanding or prioritization of his
safety. This supports the conclusions
of Jesnes (2016) and Huws (2015) that
there is a particular risk in working in
private homes because of the lack of
relevant safety equipment and limited
knowledge of safety.
looking after one’s own health can
be counter to being rated as a good
provider.
Some of the young people report more
or less serious problems with neck, back
and hands associated with prolonged
sedentary work in front of a screen. In
many cases, the young people talk about
very long working days of 10-12 hours.
An example of such 'online work’ is when
Stefan the entrepreneur, who is self-em-
ployed in his own company, supplements
his income by translating English texts
into Danish at home on his own comput-
er. Another example is Paula, the influ-
encer, who also works many consecutive
hours at her computer, and the profes-
sional gamblers who sit at home and
play matches or train online.
Another important working-environment
issue that several of the young entrepre-
neurs, temporary workers and freelanc-
ers point to is their mental well-being;
the opportunity to join a social commu-
nity and share work with colleagues.
For several of the young people in this
report, colleagues are not a standard,
but a framework around their work that
they have to create themselves. Work
activities are seldom initially linked to
a permanent workplace with regular
colleagues. Again, many of the work-
ing-environment conditions mentioned
are perceived as individual issues, which
are primarily solved individually. Lack
of colleagues and labour organisation
among these young people contributes
to the individualization of the working
environment.
Offline work organised
through online digital
platforms often encounters
the same kinds of risks and
working-environment issues as
seen in standard employment
forms, such as lack of training,
lack of safety equipment and
lack of breaks (Jesnes, 2016;
Huws, 2015). The portrait of
Stefan the carpenter supports
this argument.
In relation to both ‘offline’ work and
‘online’ work organised through online
digital platforms, there can also be
psychosocial impacts associated with
the insecure income and working hours,
and psychosocial impacts in relation to
negative feedback via different rating
systems that can lead to annoyance
or being stressful (Jesnes, 2016; Huws,
2015). In addition, it seems that the
logics behind the platforms, e.g. likes
and ratings, might further increase risk
taking by these young workers because
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2062168_0187.png
5.
Recommendations
Most of the young people portrayed in this report have several
jobs or incomes at the same time (up to five jobs) or a number
of different jobs over short periods. They work in different
types of atypical employment. For some, these terms are
involuntary, associated with financial and social insecurity.
Others have very privileged and highly paid work not connected
with financial insecurity.
In addition, the employee/employer relationship is a grey zone
which challenges our usual ways of thinking about how work is
organised. This in particular applies to the solo self-employed,
but we have identified this employment pattern in several of
the portraits in this report.
2.1
Gaming: a professional work
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Some of the young people characterise
themselves as freelancers, self-employed
or entrepreneurs. They have their primary
source of income from the work they do
in their own company. The emergence
of new digital labour markets has made
these types of jobs easier to establish,
as the transaction costs are low. This
type of entrepreneurship differs from
the more traditional understanding of
entrepreneurship in that the work car-
ried out actively exposes the entrepre-
neur's personality through, for example,
blogging or streaming gameplay. This
increases the risks of boundaryless work,
as the product is these young people’s
private and personal spheres. For many
of the interviewed young people, a great
deal of their work is ‘being themselves’;
a personal brand. In fact, this represents
extreme cases of boundaryless work.
week. Several of the young people em-
phasize both the benefits of not being in
a permanent employment relationship,
such as the high degree of autonomy and
freedom, but also the other side of the
coin, which is the stressful work. Free-
dom and hassle/stress seem to be two
sides of the same coin.
All of the young people say that a safe
and secure working life is of vital impor-
tance for them. Nevertheless, the mean-
ing each of them attaches to this varies
greatly. These young people in atypical
employment report back problems,
insomnia, stress and boundaryless work,
which are known from more traditional
employment forms. It is important to
note that even though the work of these
young people can be seen as very differ-
ent from usual work, they face some of
the same traditional working-environ-
ment problems, and they might even be
more exposed to them than those in typ-
ical employment, as the data from the
Labour Force Survey indicates (Statistics
Denmark, 2019).
A number of the young people includ-
ed say they are trying to improve their
health by various approaches such
as training, breathing or swimming
to strengthen their bodies or mental
resources in order to keep up with their
work.
All these factors contribute to providing
an insight into a number of both new and
more well-known forms of working-envi-
ronment issues that the young people do
not necessarily understand as problems
related to their working environment,
and which they mostly try to solve indi-
New forms of work among young people
It is important to note that
even though the work of
these young people can be
seen as very different from
usual work, they face some of
the same traditional working-
environment problems, and
they might even be more
exposed to them than those
in typical employment, as the
data from the Labour Force
Survey indicates
Another characteristic of the working
life of these young people is the very long
working hours, for some of them up to
16 hours of consecutive work. For them,
work and privacy completely merge and
they work for many, many hours every
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vidually and by using other instruments
than the working-environment field has
traditionally used. The question is how
the OSH system and labour inspections
should meet these challenges in the
future.
so working-environment knowledge and
resources can be available for those
working in atypical employments and
through digital platforms.
For those young people working through
digital platforms, it should be possible to
integrate working-environment stand-
ards and guidelines with the algorithms
of the platforms. When a platform user
offers a particular job, e.g., carpentry
work, cleaning or service work on a
platform, relevant guidelines should pop-
up in order to inform the platform user
(those who offer the job), the platform
worker (the one who performs the job)
and the employer (the person responsi-
ble for the platform) about the possible
risks and precautions that should be
taken for a particular job. Furthermore,
it should be easy for the platform to link
to the digital notification system for
occupational accidents or diseases, so it
is easy to report cases of occupational
injuries to the authorities.
We recommend that
strategies are developed
to deal with the working-
environment issues related to
atypical work among young
people. These include how to
reach these young people and
the employers or the users
who deliver the work through
the platforms.
We recommend that strategies are
developed to deal with the working-envi-
ronment issues related to atypical work
among young people. These include how
to reach these young people and the em-
ployers or the users who deliver the work
through the platforms. We need to com-
municate knowledge about these types
of work and the possible consequences
more broadly to industry, governments
and social partners, and to the young
people working in atypical employment
forms. Based on this information we
recommend both legislative and commu-
nicative approaches to be implemented,
For those young people
working through digital
platforms, it should be
possible to integrate
working-environment
standards and guidelines
with the algorithms of
the platforms.
5
Recommendations
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2062168_0190.png
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Appendix 1: Method
From February 2017 to October 2017,
we conducted 21 qualitative research
interviews, five interviews in each of
Iceland, Sweden and Norway, and six in
Denmark. We included 9 women and 12
men in the interviews, with an average
age of 25 years.
Criteria for recruiting interviewees
The overall criterion was to interview
young people that represented new
forms of work challenging available
categories and definitions of work and
employment. Thus, the criterion was to
find informants with forms of work that
challenged traditional concepts of work
in the most radical way in order to be
open to new forms of work emerging in
the labour market. Of course, this had
some practical limitations in relation to
which young people and forms of work-
ing we knew of and able to contact.
The starting point of selecting and
recruiting interviewees was inspired by
Scheuer's (2011) description of employ-
ees included in the category of 'atypical
forms of work':
•
Temporary staff that a company hires
either to perform a job function, for a
specified period (time-limited) or to
complete a specific task (task-limited)
•
Temporary workers where a company
assigns time or task-limited staff from
a temp agency
•
Part-time employees, where employees
have a lower weekly working time than
194
the norm. (Here we sought to interview
young people with involuntary part-
time employment)
•
Self-employed, business owners (VAT
registered), but with no employees
other than themselves.
In addition, the research group decided
to interview two additional groups of
young people, not included in Scheuer's
categorization:
•
Digital work:
Since online labour
exchanges are continually developing,
challenging and transgressing tradition-
al concepts of work (Jesnes et.al., 2016;
Huws, 2015; Ilsøe, 2017; Eurostat, 2015),
we prioritized recruiting young people
with different forms of digital work
(often they belong to the self-employed
category).
•
Multiple jobs:
Young people with mul-
tiple jobs at the same time, because
this is particularly common for young
workers (Hanvold et al., 2016).
In addition, there was a criterion that the
interviewees should be between 18 and
30 years old and perform paid work. This
excluded students or apprentices only
working beside their studies.
The informants were not selected out of
scientific ideals about representative-
ness or generalizability, but because they
could contribute to important insights in
relation to the project's knowledge am-
bitions. However, we aimed at variation
in relation to length of education, as well
as an equal distribution between gender,
age and ethnicity.
New forms of work among young people
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Recruiting interviewees
In order to find 'the new types of work', we
were informed by social media and various
kinds of news and research articles. How-
ever, we are aware that this method is lim-
ited in terms of finding 'the new types of
work'. What is 'the new' or non-standard,
is difficult to define and limit.
Young people with publicly available
profiles online were recruited using the
young people's own publicly available
online contact information (gamers,
bloggers and young people with profiles
on digital platforms). We contacted
them through mail, text messages or by
telephone, and most of them agreed to
do an interview.
Young people without public profiles
(temporary workers, unskilled, free-
lancers, etc.) were recruited through
social media platforms and through the
Nordic researchers' professional and
personal networks. The participating
Nordic researchers have had individual
recruitment strategies. Among others,
the researchers contacted unions, the
board of a cooperative association, a
local supermarket, Facebook groups
for temporary workers at specific work
places, friends, colleagues and acquaint-
ances, etc. In some cases, we used the
snowball method, where one interviewee
recommended the next. We also used
Facebook and LinkedIn.
Subsequently, the research group
coordinated data collection to ensure
that each participating country met the
above criteria as far as possible. This
recruitment procedure clearly entails
that we have not generated knowledge
Appendix 1:
Method
about the types of work that are so new
that the research team is not familiar
with them. There will probably be young
people with new forms of work of which
we have no knowledge.
Before their interview, all interviewees
received written participant information
about the research project and signed an
informed consent about the criteria of
their participation. While someone want-
ed to participate with their full name
and without anonymization, others have
been anonymized. This was agreed be-
fore the interviews.
Interview Guide
Based on the research questions, we
developed a joint Nordic interview guide.
The semi-structured questions were
formulated in an open and investigating
manner (Järvinen & Mik-Meyer 2005,
Staunæs & Søndergaard 2005), where
the themes were the young employees’
life situation, working routines, work or-
ganisation, pay, introduction and training
to the work in general, as well as to safe-
ty, social and financial risks, and working
environment. We were particularly inter-
ested in investigating the many types of
blurred borders due to the transgression
of conventional concepts of work that
the ‘new forms’ of work have led to
(Huws 2015, Pybus & Coté 2011), and we
wanted to investigate how these new
forms of work and the related working
life are perceived by the young people.
From the employees' experience of such
complex and ambiguous phenomena,
we can produce nuanced and detailed
knowledge about with qualitative re-
search interviews (Järvinen & Mik-Meyer
2005, Staunæs & Søndergaard 2005).
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Qualitative interviews
The duration of interviews lasted from
approximately one hour to 1.5 hours.
They were collected at times and places
that suited the young people's everyday
lives. Some were done at their workplac-
es (if they had one), some in the young
people's private homes, some at the
researchers' workplaces and some at
cafes. Project researchers conducted the
interviews in their native language. We
recorded and fully transcribed all inter-
views in verbatim.
Selection and producing
the portraits
We selected 14 interviews out of the 21
interviews collected to be included in
further analysis, and in turn presented in
the book. We selected those interviews
that we considered to provide the widest
possible variation in the data material
in relation to new forms of work, and
the best possible insight into these new
forms of work. This also includes insights
into new types of work and considera-
tions on how these influence the working
environment. In addition to this criteria,
we have had the criterion that inter-
viewees from all participating countries
should be represented in the book. We
excluded some interviews because they
had too many overlaps with others, and
we excluded other interviews because in
the end they did not represent new forms
of work.
We processed and condensed the se-
lected interviews to give a brief insight
into the young people’s overall life story
and current life situation. We held three
meetings in the Nordic project group,
where we worked with the material
and discussed the interpretation of the
themes of the interviews. Moreover, we
zoomed in on the main purpose of this
book: To focus on the working environ-
ment, impacts and risks that new forms
of work may have for young people in
these types of jobs.
All interviewees have read and approved
the portraits. Overall, the interviewees
had only few comments, and in one case
we were asked to take out a contractual
detail.
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Appendix 2: Nordic Workshop
New forms of work among young persons
– consequences for the working environment,
Copenhagen, April 25, 2018
List of participants
Evy Martinussen,
Arbejdsmiljørådets Sekretariat
(Secretariat for the Working Environment Council), Denmark
Amalie Ebler Blichfeld,
Arbejdsmiljørådets Sekretariat
(Secretariat for the Working Environment Council), Denmark
Astrid Jørgensen,
NFA (National Research Centre for the
Working Environment), Denmark
Jon Henningsen,
‘Jobpatruljen’, HK (The Union of Commercial
and Clerical Employees in Denmark), Denmark
Steen Scheuer,
Department of Marketing & Management,
University of Southern Denmark, Denmark
Merete Dengsøe,
Dansk Industri (Confederation of Danish Industries),
Denmark
Lisa Gemmel,
Fackförbundet DIK (Dokumentation,
Information och Kultur) (The DIK Association), Sweden
Kari Lysberg,
Arbeidstilsynet (The Norwegian Labour
Inspection Authority), Norway
Mette Lykke Nielsen,
Centre for Youth Studies (CeFU),
Aalborg University, Campus Copenhagen, Denmark
Louise Yung Nielsen,
Communication and Arts, Roskilde
University, Denmark
Kari Anne Holte,
NORCE, Norwegian Research Centre,
Bergen, Norway
Åsa Andersson,
Department. of Cultural Sciences,
University of Gothenburg, Sweden
Gestur Gudmonsson,
School of Education,
University of Iceland, Iceland
Thamar Melanie Heijstra,
School of Social Sciences,
Faculty of Sociology, Anthropology and Folkloristics,
University of Iceland, Iceland
Johnny Dyreborg,
NFA (National Research
Centre for the Working Environment), Denmark
Appendix 2:
Nordic Workshop
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Invitation to Nordic Workshop:
New forms of work among young persons –
consequences for the working environment
Time:
Place:
Program:
9.30 – 9.45
9.45-10.00
25. April 2018 from 9.30-15.30
The National Research Centre for the Working Environment
(NFA), Lersø Parkallé 105, Copenhagen
(presentations will be in English, discussions in Scandinavian/
English):
Coffee/tea and welcome on behalf of the Nordic project team,
Johnny Dyreborg, NFA, Copenhagen.
Presentation of the draft book of portraits about young and new
forms of work in the Nordic Countries (portrait book), Johnny
Dyreborg, NFA
10.00-11.30
Portraits of young workers in new forms of work: Gamers,
bloggers, workers on digital platforms, solo-self-employed,
freelancers, short-term contracts, multi-jobs, etc. Perspectives
from four Nordic countries.
(a) New forms of work and working environment among young
workers, Mette Lykke Nielsen& Louise Yung Nielsen, Centre for
Youth Research, Aalborg University, Denmark
(b) Experiences about autonomy among young workers in
atypical work, by Kari Anne Holte, IRIS, Norway
(c) Creative influencers Empowering strategies on a precarious
labor market, Åsa Andersson, University of Gothenburg, Sweden
(d) New types of work and employment forms: The atypical
working life of millennials in Iceland, Thamar Melanie Heijstra &
Gestur Guðmundsson, University of Iceland, Iceland
11.30-12.00
Feedback: What particular themes and problems have the work-
shop participants observed during the presentations?
12.00-12.45
Lunch
12.45-13.15
Atypical employment in Denmark, working conditions among
part-time workers, short-term employed, and self-employed
without employees’. Steen Scheuer, Professor, dr. merc. University
of Southern Denmark.
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Short introduction to the discussion theme:
13.00-14.00
Nordic experiences with new forms of work among young people:
What is new, what is usual business? How should we approach
the working environment of these young people?
14.00-14.30
Coffee/the
14.30-15.00
15.00-15.30
Group work 1:
Plenary discussion
Further work and wrapping up
What particular themes and questions have the workshop
participants observed during the presentations?
Observation:
Group work 2:
Working on the digital platforms is really the new thing.
Nordic experience with new forms of work among young people
•
What is new?
•
What is usual business?
•
How should we approach the working environment for young
people in new and atypical forms of work?
Group 1
observations:
•
Multiple jobs are not new. What is new is that it has become
more difficult to get a permanent job and join the workforce.
•
Discussion about a new profession? – Entrepreneurs are not
new, but maybe the extent of the atypical jobs e.g. the number
of bloggers, influencers or the like are new.
•
The role of platforms: Platforms act like an employer? But what
about regulation and law?
•
Employment in general: Dynamic employment for all, not only
for younger workers.
Appendix 2:
Nordic Workshop
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2062168_0200.png
Group 2
observations:
•
How do you define the young workers’ digital working environ-
ment (computers, platforms etc.)? This would be interesting to
investigate.
•
Discussion about the concept ‘digital working environment’.
The new aspect is that the working-environment borders are
broken up.
•
Talking about computers and working environment as such is
not new. We have had working environment and regulation
of computer work for decades. It is not new to sit in front of a
computer and regard it as a part of the working environment.
•
But intensive work for a long time in front of the computer is
new, and how it breaks up borders, e.g. disturbing the work-life
balance.
•
The new aspect is the digital platforms and how to reach and
regulate work on these platforms, and difficulties in determining
who the employer is.
Group 3
observations:
•
Digital platform is the new thing here.
•
Technology supports crossing boundaries – between privacy and
working life, between countries, between time and space etc.
•
Stefan the carpenter as a case – day-to-day jobs are not new,
but how they are organized on digital platforms is new
•
Work is broken down into jobs.
•
“My personal life/personality is my commodity”
•
Who has responsibility for OSH and physical and mental
disabilities of those working on platforms? Who is the employer?
And what is the responsibility of the employer?
Research assistant, Astrid Jørgensen, MSc. the National Research Centre for the
Working Environment, organized group work and made up the main observations from
the workshop.
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Photo: Aubrey Rose Odom / Unsplash
2.1
Gaming: a professional work
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202
New forms of work among young people
Photo: Joshua Earle/ Unsplash
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2.1
Gaming: a professional work
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Nordic Council of Ministers
Nordens Hus
Ved Stranden 18
DK-1061 Copenhagen
www.norden.org
New forms of work among young people:
Implications for the working environment
This report presents fourteen portraits of young people
working in new and atypical forms of work in the Nordic
countries. Most of the young people portrayed in this report
have several jobs or incomes at the same time or a number of
different jobs/incomes for short periods. Exactly how many
jobs/incomes is often difficult to ascertain. Some find it
difficult to explain exactly how their work is actually
organised and paid, because there are many different types
of employment and payroll benefits systems involved.
None of the young people in the study have a single permanent
work place with regular colleagues. However, they all say that
a safe and secure working life is vital. Nevertheless, the meaning
each of them attaches to this varies greatly. The young people
talk of themes that might be recognised by the reader as
traditional working environment issues, like lower-back
problems, occupational injuries, insomnia, stress and boundary-
less work. While other themes, mentioned in the portraits will
probably be new to the reader.
204
New forms of work among young people