If they wanted proof that the Swedish welfare state is breaking down (although it is still much more advanced than the Spanish one), these days the Stockholm press is reporting that various public and private institutions are calling into question one of the most sacrosanct institutions of this Nordic country: the coffee break at work.
Until now, the so-called Swedish fika was given as an example in PowerPoints of important companies around the world, especially in Anglo-Saxon ones, whose motivational gurus highlighted that taking one or two breaks with colleagues (normally around 9 a.m. and 2 p.m. h, but it is very flexible) increased productivity and camaraderie and reduced stress. This coffee (fika), which the company provides free of charge, is accompanied on Fridays with pastries, and even appears in some contracts, where a duration of between 15 and 20 minutes is established.
Along with the four weeks of vacation, the non-existence of overtime (only 1% of Swedes do it) or the additional benefits of some companies to their employees (from gym to yoga classes to ski classes), the Fika break was an essential part of the labor pride of that paradise that we envied in the south.
But, since last January, the cuts have caused some Swedish municipalities and institutions to start charging their employees for coffee, or to deduct a few dozen crowns from their monthly salary for this reason. We read that there are even regions that discriminate based on job or status (civil servants do have free coffee, social workers do not, for example). The scissors have reached health centers, where the traditional basket of fruits and pasta that was next to the coffee machines has been removed because they are considered “not essential for the production of care.”
Faced with the national debate that the Swedes are facing in this regard – perhaps a smokescreen that covers the seriousness of other more serious cuts – allow us to vindicate Latin spontaneity: perhaps this coffee break would not be so endangered if it had not been regulated or publicized so much.
