Coffee and Finnish Pop Music: inside a small Finnish company

October 24, 2011
DUNIA Mag
Posted in Around The World

by Ana Santos Silva

It´s almost 8 a.m. on a Friday morning in Helsinki. One of my colleagues at the small Finnish company where I work receives me at the door in his white socks — not so fashionable in my home country Portugal. I will keep my shoes on — and no, I do not have an extra pair of shoes under my desk that I change into when I arrive at the office, like our stylish sales manager always does.

The standard work hours in Finland are 8 a.m. to 4 p.m., which means that soon, during the winter months when daylight begins at about 9 a.m. and lasts for a few hours till 3 p.m., workers will start and leave work in the dark Finnish nights. However, this does not deter our business strategy planner from sometimes starting off his day swimming at 6.30 a.m. in one of the Helsinki’s swimming halls, and still arrives on time at the office, wearing a smile upon his fresh face.

The graphic designer, a young blond girl who creates brochures, catalogs and many other pieces of art (including her office!) usually arrives later. Like many Finns, she commutes by bicycle or on foot whenever the snow makes it too dangerous to ride. “It´s about a one hour walk and a way to get warmer during the winter,” she says, as if the -20ºC temperatures somehow make for a sunrise walk. In the mornings, she greets me in her tight black sports attire, but will soon be elegantly spreading her perfume around the office; there’s a common shower in the building for employees who work in the companies that have their offices in here.

Inside, the warm atmosphere makes me forget the excruciating cold outside. The strong smell of coffee is all around and so is the sound of Finnish pop music. Apparently, there is no stress or rush, neither laughs nor loud conversations – everybody is focusing on their tasks. On every desk there is a cup of coffee. The cups are by IKEA but guess what, made in Portugal – along with all the white porcelain dishes. I notice that one of the cups carries a NOKIA logo, the company where some of the directors worked before starting their own business.

Around 11 a.m. a young man who comes every Friday to clean the offices while the employees are having lunch arrives. Lunch at work typically comprises of pasteurized milk (not the usual UHT or Ultra High Temperature pasteurized milk most of us probably drink everyday), salad, dark rye bread with lots of butter and, obviously, more coffee. On the table is a Finnish newspaper; in its cover today appears the President of the European Commission Durão Barroso – I smile at the familiar Portuguese face of my countryman. By the side of his picture, a Finnish politician asks “Onko tämä vitsi?” which translates “Is this a joke?” Oh well, I just learned the Finnish sentence of the day — as this piece starts to take shape in my head.