February: News from Ingenjören in English

Engineers of Sweden website now Google Translateable (here: English and Hindi). Engineer Peter Kross in East Germany and in Sweden. Different levels of wellness allowances in different municipalities. Consultants Miljömatematik try working less with full pay.

Updated salary statistics now available

Members of Engineers of Sweden have access to Saco Salary Statistic (Saco Lönesök), Sweden’s best salary statistics for engineers. The statistics show salaries for different age groups, degree years, educations and labor market sectors.

And now the statistics have been updated based on the survey that closed on January 31, with responses from nearly 85,000 professional members.

When using the statistics for salary negotiations, keep in mind that the statistics show the salaries for 2024. Therefore, you need to adjust the salary upwards.

Another tip is not to focus on the average and median salary:

– See them as benchmarks but aim for the upper quartile instead. The more specialized you are, the higher salary demands you should have, says Anna Ihrfors Wikström, statistician at Sveriges Ingenjörer.

Saco Salary Statistics is available only in Swedish. But soon we will publish a basic guide on how to use it here.

Go to Saco Salary Statistic (log in with Bank-id or Freja-id)

Engineers of Sweden website can now be automatically translated into English (and more)

Until now, only part of the Engineers of Sweden website was translated into English. But now, you can click on ”Translate” on the In English page, and the entire site is translated using Google Translate. Engineers of Sweden informs that there may be some grammatical errors, but most of the information should be understandable.

But that’s not all. Once you choose to translate, there is a dropdown list at the top of the page where you can select from 249 languages – for example, Hindi, French, Somali, and Bosnian.

Here is the page where you can choose Translate.

Consultants may be entitled to permanent employment with the client

A change in the Rental act means that consultants may be entitled to permanent employment with the client company if they wish. If no employment is offered, the consultant can request two months’ salary as compensation.

The requirements for this to apply are:

• Having worked for a client at the same operational unit for 24 of the last 36 months.
• Being under the client’s supervision.

The client company must make the offer within one month after the 24 months have passed. If they do not, the consultant has four months to act before the opportunity is forfeited.

The law has been debated. Some consulting firms argue that their employees are not supervised by the clients and therefore are not covered. But Engineers of Sweden disagrees. There are members of the association who have received two months’ salary from the client company and others who have been employed by the client.

Engineers of Sweden’s advice is that affected members should contact Engineers of Sweden’s Advisory Services if they have questions or need assistance.

Here is the entire article in Swedish.

Here is Engineers of Sweden’s page on the Rental act (Google translated).

Wellness Allowance: How Much (or Little?) Employees in Municipalities and Authorities Receive

Many employers in Sweden offer wellness allowances to employees – allowing them to submit receipts for things like gym memberships or massages and get reimbursed. The benefit is tax-free, meaning you are not taxed on it.

A survey conducted by the union Akademikerförbundet SSR now shows that there is a wide variation in the amount of wellness allowance that municipalities offer their employees. 22 out of 290 municipalities offer no wellness allowance at all. And only one, Kiruna, pays the maximum amount of 5000 SEK per year. The majority of municipalities offer a maximum of 1500 SEK.

The SSR survey also shows that 78 municipalities offer a wellness hour, meaning the opportunity to exercise during paid working hours.

The magazine Publikt has compiled the wellness allowance for 11 authorities, universities, and state-owned companies for 2025. Of these, eight offer a wellness hour, and the allowance is higher than in the municipalities.

Among the 11, the universities offer the lowest allowances, with a maximum of 2000 SEK per year. The highest are Swedavia, the Police Authority, the Migration Agency, and the Prison and Probation Service with 4000 SEK per year.

Here is the entire article in Swedish.

Engineering company in Malmö is testing shorter working hours

Research conducted by the global organization 4DW (4 Day Week) indicates that 80 percent working time can be combined with full productivity and full-time pay. Now, ten Swedish companies and organizations are participating in a study at Karlstad University to see if stress levels can also be reduced with shorter working hours.

One of the companies involved is the consulting and research firm Miljömatematik in Malmö, where five of the 14 employees are engineers.

During the project period, from August last year to April this year, all employees have a 35-hour work week: 31.5 hours of working time plus 3.5 hours of wellness (walking, swimming, etc.) and development time (taking a course, networking, or attending events).

Lova Brodin, engineer and CEO, says they have thought quite a lot about how to work efficiently. She believes that it is not optimal to sit for eight hours doing ”classic engineering work” – thinking and writing a lot, programming, and doing tasks that require concentration.

– When the project came up, we saw it as an opportunity to get input on where the research stands, what has worked for others, and how it is going for us.

The 4DW project will be evaluated later this spring.

Here is the entire article in Swedish.

Feature: The Engineer Imprisoned by the Stasi Security Service

Peter Kross is an engineer living in Västerås, but he comes from East Germany, the GDR. In the 1980s, he was imprisoned by the notorious Stasi security service.

The background is that a group of Swedish youths traveling in East Germany made him start wondering why GDR residents were not allowed to travel to the West. He applied for permission to travel but was denied. Then he wrote to a minister and tried to sound naive.

– I wrote, ”I am convinced of the communist system, but why am I not allowed to travel?”

After that, he was interrogated by the police and the Stasi. And the thought of fleeing to the West began to grow.

In 1987, at the age of 21, he bought an inflatable boat and gas to quickly inflate it. But he soon paused his plans. However, someone had already reported Peter Kross. So he was arrested and sentenced to prison for ”preparation for escape using dangerous means and methods.”

In prison, criminals ruled over the political prisoners. Once, Peter Kross was chased by guard dogs and had to stand for hours with his face against a wall.

– I was still lucky. Others were scarred for life. There was a torture chamber, but I avoided it.

In total, he was imprisoned for just over four months. A little later, he was offered to renounce his East German citizenship and move to West Germany, and he had 24 hours to leave the country.

He lived in West Germany for a few years but then moved to Sweden and Västerås and has stayed there. Today, he is an SAP consultant at Cap Gemini and has been a union representative for many years.

– Today, I feel that I am not afraid to say what I think. I have gone through it. If I didn’t stay silent in East Germany, I won’t stay silent now.

Peter Kross points out that when tens of thousands of people marched towards the Berlin Wall, it fell. He believes the same applies today: If we resist together, we can succeed. And he reacts to today’s surveillance.

– I think one should be restrictive with controls. Don’t make everyone a potential criminal. They say, ”if you have nothing to hide, you have no problem.” The crux is that I heard the same thing from the Stasi. Yes, it is a problem; you simply shouldn’t be subjected to it.

Here is the entire article in Swedish.

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Karin Thorsell

karin.thorsell@sverigesingenjorer.se

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