New Challenges

This has been a long time coming but then, so has the time needed to write it. After seven and a bit years, I made the tough call to change employers for the first time since arriving in Sweden. I say that it was a tough call by virtue of the fact that they were my first employer. They took a chance on me when no one else would, and I will forever be grateful for the opportunity they gave me. I owed them big time, and then kept me in the role possibly longer than it might have done back in NZ. After 7 years, I hope that I have managed to repay their faith in loyalty. I think that they have made good money out of me, especially over the past 3 or 4 years when I have been sourcing and retaining my own clients. So I figure that we are all square.

There had been a lot of changes during my seven years with the company. Primarily changes in faces, which is of course to be expected. But also changes in company values and ideals, which was not so unexpected. The Company focus centered on being "bigger", which is a good thing. However, the remedy was to increase numbers, rather than increasing skills or knowledge. Having lost key staff members over recent years, plugging the gaps with new graduates simply put more load on the remaining senior members of staff. Morale and atmosphere dropped considerably, to the point where I was no longer enjoying going to work. OK, work isn't supposed to be like holiday, but it is hard to accept a situation when you know that it used to be better.

I had decided that I was going to change employers, and I had a couple lined up who I was hopeful would be interested in me. It was just a matter of timing. I was also mindful of the rather poor treatment that some of my former work colleagues had received from my employer, when handing in their termination notices. It was definitely not some thing that I would be looking forward to.

As it turned out, the opportunity came to me, instad of the other way around. I was approached on-line by a somewhat obscure recruitment Agency, about an equally obscure job opportunity. If it wasn't for the fact that everything was so obscure, I probably wouldn't have wasted my time looking any further. Fortunately the weirdness curiosity factor was enough, and I ended up finding that it was an employer I was quite interested in. One and a half interviews later and I was figuring out how best to hand in my notice.

Swedish employment termination laws can be quite strict, as in most countries. To protect all parties. Typically, the longer that you have worked, the more termination notice both parties have to give. I guess that is because it takes longer to replace more experienced employees and because those who have worked longer would typically have a higher workload. In my case I was required to give a 4 month notice period. I knew this wasn't going to work well with my new employer who had a need for a near immediate start. We discussed me starting directly as a consultant, until my termination period had finished. That would have worked but I felt bad about my current employer taking a huge fee for my time, when I was planning on leaving them anyway. I didn't really think that they had done anything to earn that money.

Luckily, I found a Plan B. Many Swedish employers allow for employers to take a Leave of Absence. Tjänstledighet can be taken for a number of reasons, ranging from parenting to travel. You don't get paid but your employment position is retained for an agreed length of time. One acceptable reason for applying for Tjänstledighet is to "Try a New Job". That is rather unique, I had certainly never heard of this in New Zealand before. And not all Swedish work places offer this as an approved reason. Anyway, because a Tjänstledighet application doesn't require the same long termination period, I thought that I would chance it. While employment termination periods are generally covered by union contract agreements, the termination period for Tjänstledighet is agreed at the time between the employer and employee. I asked for a one year Leave of Absence, commencing one month after submitting my application. There were some benefits for my employer in agreeing to a Leave of Absence. It meant that there was a "possibility" that I would return after a year and, as I was still officially on the Company books, they could use my name when tendering for contracts. Slightly unethical, that last part. Whatever the motivation, they bought my excuses and my new employer avoided having to pay 4 months of consultancy fees.

All this happened right Before the holiday break, which I had already told my new employer was going to be a one month break. So starting directly after my holidays was a better deal than they thought they would get. All this happened about 6 months ago and I am still catching my breath. A very intensive new role but I am glad to be a part of if. More about that later. My next step is to figure out exactly when to advise my former employer that I won't be returning at the end of my Tjänstledighet. I might seek some advice from my union about that, but will report back with the results.