Many store employees at Ikea work more hours than what is stated in their contract. It is this so-called extra time that Ikea wants to convert into more hours in the contracts and thereby reduce costs for the company, reports Trade news.
— We have to see how and when we use the extra time and how we can use those hours smarter. It is better to spend the hours on fixed contracts, so that the employees are more satisfied, says Linus Knutsson, head of work environment and labor law at Ikea Sweden, to the newspaper.
The union hopes that these extra hours on staff contracts will lead to more people getting full-time jobs.
“We want more people to be able to live on their salary and earn for a higher pension,” says Karin Vedlin, who works at Ikea in Kållered and is union coordinator for Handels at Ikea department stores.
Ikea thus follows a completely different path than, for example, H&M, which has received criticism from the union for doing exactly the opposite. The clothing giant is reducing the number of hours in the employees’ contracts to save money, so-called planing.
— Planing is not a good way to get people to enjoy their jobs. What Ikea is doing now is the opposite of planing. From the union’s side, we are pushing for more people to get full-time, says Karin Vedlin.