Alright I shall try and keep this as anonymous as possible. English is not my native language so bear with me here. I have a business in a very competitive field. I am originally from Sweden but my wife is american. We met and lived in Sweden, but about 10 years ago my wife got homesick so we decided to move across the pond.
Since my field is quite competitive both in terms of finding qualified work but also gaining a foot into the market. I asked several of my top workers if they wanted to move with us and join me in my new business in the USA. When several wanted to join but expressed worries about working in America I've decided to essentially bring the entire “Swedish model” with us. So let me tell you what it entails, note that -NONE- of these things are controversial in Sweden, but rather expected and “normal”.
Firstly as a company I offered 200 days paid parental leave for up to 80% of their salary. They can choose to take these days up until their child turns 8 years old (without this none of my employees would have come with me).
Secondly I offer up to 10 days paid sick leave again up to 80% of your salary. No questions, no pressure. I trust my workers and it also means that they don't come in sick and infect anyone else and further disrupt production, a so-called win-win. Oh this is not limited to 10 days per year, but 10 days every time you are ill. If it's something more long term we will discuss our options then.
Thirdly every employee gets a base of 30 days PTO per year. A work week is 40 hours. If you work more you are entitled to OT-pay either in time off or in cash, all over time has to be pre-approved by me.
Thirdly I told them to form a union and we made something called a “collective agreement”. This is a Swedish thing and pretty much every workplace has one there. It is an agreement that is valid for 2 years. It stipulates several rules and is something that everyone has to follow. For example it states how much each starting salary should be at a minimum (22 USD), which days are work free days, for example if its a federal holiday on a thursday our agreement stipulated that the friday will be a workfree day. It states that everyone is entitled to a 4% yearly pay increase etc. How much extra you should get for working overtime etc.
An agreement is valid for 2 years. After that me and the union rep sit down and discuss changes to it. If we are doing well the Union might want a higher pay increase, or if we are doing poorly I might suggest lower etc. Last time we discussed they agreed on a smaller pay increase but then demanded that the company pay 20% of college fees for my workers' children or workers who have been working with us for at least 2 years that wish to go to college, which for me was cheaper and my workers didn't feel cheated.
I allow the union rep to have 1 day a week off to work solely with union related issues. I dont interfere with what they are doing or how they are organizing, but I am making sure they have the option to. And every Thursday morning I have at least an hour meeting with the union rep, discussing the situation at the company. Mood, workload etc and we work together to make the workplace a better workplace.
What are the results? Well so far fantastic. We are not the top earners in our field, but we make more than I ever made in Sweden. One thing I do know is that we never had any issue filling vacancies. Where my competitors complain about finding a qualified competent workforce I never had that issue. If I need a position filled I get 50-60 applications, people rarely quit. During my 10 years I’ve had 2 people walk out.
So another world is possible my friends, fight for unions and if they say they are bad don't listen.
I am happy to answer any questions, as long as I can remain anonymous.