Go Fika Yourself: A Proven Way to Work Better
Co-authored with Jennifer Gore.
Job-related stress is causing companies hundreds of billions of dollars each year. According to one study, 78 percent of workers put their stress levels at medium to very high, and some of them have missed a day of work (31 percent) or even quit their jobs (40 percent) because of it.
But not in Sweden. And the reason why may be as simple as a cup of coffee.
Swedish culture has a marvelous tradition known as “fika.” While it roughly translates to drinking coffee, it is much more than that. Fika is a scheduled opportunity to slow down to connect and bond with others. As Carl Honoré has said in his TED talk, In Praise of Slowness, “by slowing down at the right moments, people find that they do everything better.” To many in the US this may all sound like a waste of time, but a recent BBC article highlights how this workplace tradition may in part, according to OECD data, contribute to Sweden’s higher productivity than countries known for their long work hours such as the US, Japan and Korea.
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