Young people in Finland have completely unrealistic expectations of working life, according to the headline of this article in Helsingin Sanomat.
HS hears from psychologists, consultants and employers, who tell the paper that many young adults do not know how to follow basic rules or norms when they enter the workforce, and also constantly expect special privileges at work.
"This is where we have ended up when the world is presented to a child as a supermarket from which you can choose nice experiences and adventures," professor of psychology Liisa Keltikangas-Järvinen notes.
Mika Sallinen of consulting firm Universum meanwhile tells HS that he works closely with Finnish companies, and he has heard many tales of youthful apathy — such as refusing to do an important task because the young person in question would prefer to do something else.
"If you have always gotten everything you want, working life can come as quite a harsh surprise," Sallinen says.
But could all this explain Finland's dire unemployment rate, especially among young people?
His firm carried out a survey last year which may go some way towards explaining this mismatch between employers' expectations and young workers' motivations.
The study found that nearly 60 percent of Finnish employers are looking for "results- and career-oriented go-getters", yet only about 12 percent of young people surveyed fit this bill. About two in five young people, on the other hand, said they want a healthy work-life balance, with their career just one part of a wider whole.
Sallinen therefore encourages employers to meet young people halfway, noting that management should be more about listening and less about commanding.
"It’s not a bad thing if a young person is active on social media or uses AI, because it might benefit the employer in a completely new way," he says.
Preparing for the worst
While Helsingin Sanomat is shaking its head over the youth of today, Iltalehti looks ahead to the Finland of the future. Or at least some of the potential worst-case scenarios.
The tabloid reports on a Finnish study which imagines four scenarios Finland might face in 2035 — and none of them make for particularly pleasant reading: a new Cold War, a new form of globalism led by China, Finland being dragged into a Baltic war, or Finland becoming involved in a so-called war of attrition (meaning the gradual wearing down of an opponent).
The scenarios are not very likely to happen, IL hastily notes, but dives in anyway.
In the first scenario, a new Cold War, Russia does not openly challenge Nato and the EU but Finland's defence spending increases as tensions remain permanently just below the surface.
The second set of hypothetical circumstances would see a China-led world order in which trade is the main priority and the US has taken a back seat in global affairs. Finland increases its defence spending — a common theme in these imagined scenarios — and the markets of the global South and Asia would become increasingly important for the survival of the Finnish economy.
Thirdly, Finland gets dragged into a war between Europe and Russia, which would conceivably begin with a Russian attack on the Baltic region. Finland's defence spending climbs to 10 percent of GDP, while Finnish companies and the Finnish state would become heavily indebted.
And lastly, and most grimly, an open war of attrition would see prolonged warfare on Finnish soil, defence spending jumping to 35 percent of GDP, and the near-collapse of the Finnish economy.
Beware of the fluffy stuff
Back to the realities of today, and Ilta-Sanomat warns Finnish motorists to be careful on the roads as about 10 centimetres of snow has fallen overnight in some areas, particularly in the south.
"It’s a very light, fluffy snow that accumulates very easily," Heikki Sinisalo of the Finnish Meteorological Institute (FMI) tells IS.
However, the paper adds, while this "fluffy" snow may sound harmless, it often gets compressed into a very slippery layer on road surfaces.
The FMI has therefore issued a warning of poor driving conditions that stretches across the south coast of the country, from the Turku archipelago all the way to South Karelia.
And after the snow, comes the chills. Overnight temperatures may drop as low as -25 degrees Celsius, according to the FMI's estimates, which won't do much to improve road conditions on Friday either.
