March: News from Ingenjören in English

Salary increase for engineers last year

The salaries for engineers rose significantly last year, in all sectors. The largest increase was for engineers in the private sector, 6.5 percent. 

For engineers in the government sector, salaries increased by 5.6 percent. This is the highest increase in the sector for ten years. The high demand for engineers may be one explanation. Competition with the private sector means that the fast-growing sector has to pay more both to recruit and to retain engineers.

The salary statistics from 2024 also show another trend. Engineers who remained in their workplaces, in the same position, received high salary increases. 

– It has usually been that engineers have been required to change jobs to get a higher salary, but here we see a clear sign that employers value the skills that engineers have and pay them to stay, says Camilla Frankelius, Head of Negotiations at Engineers of Sweden (Sveriges Ingenjörer).

In 2024, inflation fell to 2.8 percent, creating better conditions for real wage increases. Three out of four engineers also received real wage increases, the highest proportion in almost 10 years. 

The sector where the real wages rose most was in the state sector where 78 percent ​​received a real wage increase last year. 77 percent received a real wage increase in the municipal and regional sector. In the private sector the real wage increase was 75 percent.

Here is the entire article in Swedish.

Do you want to know more about the statistics? Members of Engineers of Sweden have access to Saco Salary Statistic (Saco Lönesök), Sweden’s best salary statistics for engineers. Here’s a quick guide in English how to use it.

The English guide to Saco Salary Statistic

Northvolt engineers: “Not surprising, but unreal”

In mid-March, the news came that Northvolt was filing for bankruptcy. 

– It’s hard to say that I’m surprised, but regardless, it feels unreal that it just happened, says engineer Teodor Mellström, chair of Akademikerföreningen at Northvolt the day when the news broke.

Right now, there is a lot that is unclear about Northvolt’s future. But as an employee, you should continue to work until you receive any other notice from the bankruptcy trustee. However, the bankruptcy means that the company will not pay salaries to employees as usual at the end of March. The salaries will instead come from the state wage guarantee. 

Magnus Bäckström, legal counsel at Engineers of Sweden, explains that it usually takes a few months before you receive the wage guarantee. If you are unemployed when the wage guarantee ends, you can apply for compensation from the unemployment insurance fund and the income insurance, if you are a member of Engineers of Sweden and the unemployment insurance fund. 

The bankruptcy trustee is also responsible for investigating if someone wants to buy all, or parts of Northvolt.

– If so, the employment contracts would not automatically transfer to the new owner. However, you have a preferential right to re-employment if the new employer needs to hire, says Magnus Bäckström.

Here is Engineers of Sweden’s information regarding Northvolt

Are you a member and working at Northvolt? Log in to find more information about the event of bankruptcy and what you need to do.

Here is the entire article in Swedish

Working time reduction varies between engineers

Today, approximately 55,000 members of Engineers of Sweden have working time reduction through their collective agreement. The size of the working time reduction, the model for calculating the time and other conditions vary between the different agreements. 

Ingenjören has looked into how much working time reduction there is in some of the larger collective agreements for members of Engineers of Sweden. 

The agreement with Teknikföretagen provides the most hours. Here, employees who work full-time receive 82 minutes of working time reduction per completed week. In a year, this amounts to approximately 8 days.

In the collective agreement with Industriarbetsgivarna and IKEM, the working time reduction constitutes 2 percent of the salary, which corresponds to 4 days off per year. 

It may seem unfair that the terms for working time reduction are so different in the agreements, but this is because working time reduction has often been negotiated in exchange for salary. The agreements that have the most working time reduction have therefore given up the largest salary scope.

Find the entire summary of working time reductions in the various agreements in the Swedish article.

Technical specialists are lagging behind managers in salary

Employers are in great need for technical expertise. But technical specialists are increasingly lagging behind in salary compared to managers. This can lead to shortage in specialists according to a report from Engineers of Sweden, “Värdera specialister högre”.

In the report, Engineers of Sweden compares the salaries of managers (at all levels except company directors) with the salaries of specialists at a high level (“one of the few in the country” or “one of the few in the world”). Managers make up approximately 20 percent of the members of Engineers of Sweden, and the group of high specialists approximately 7 percent.

The statistics show that managers have significantly better salary, both in median salary and for the 10 percent with the highest salaries (the 90th percentile). In median salary, there is a 15 percent difference for younger and 21 percent for older civil engineers. For those with the highest salaries, the difference is 15 percent for younger and 31 percent for older.

If you look at the last 20 years, the difference in average salary between specialists and managers has increased significantly: from 13 percent in 2003 to 23 percent in 2023

– It would be good if more companies valued specialists, before they realize that it’s too late. It’s important for Sweden and our competitiveness. Our message with this report is that the development is worrying, says Johan Kreicbergs Head of Social Policy at Engineers of Sweden.

Here is the entire article in Swedish.

Scania’s R&D engineers will soon find out who their boss will be

A gigantic reorganization is being carried out at Scania in Södertälje on April 1st. Around 5,000 employees in research and development are transferring to a newly formed company, TRATON R&D. 

Ingenjören asked Lisa Lorentzon, chair of Akademikerföreningen at Scania, how this will affect engineers.

Is there a risk that engineering jobs will move from Sweden?

– This is not about moving employees or that we will have fewer employees. With the skills we have, we will do more development work together. TRATON Group R&D will be based in Södertälje with subsidiaries in Germany, the USA and Brazil. For most people, the change won’t be that big. But more will of course work in global teams. Around 500 engineers will remain working within Scania’s R&D to provide products that have properties that are unique to Scania.

What is happening right now?

– The appointment of employees is now underway. Everyone will continue to work with what they do today, but they do not yet know which group they will belong to, which manager and which colleagues they will have. Many will be part of a national group, but global groups are also being formed and employees can have a manager who works in another country.

When will employees be notified?

– On April 1st, everyone will start working in the new organization and everyone will be notified before that date. It is a tight schedule but we are working intensively. I don’t dare to answer exactly when we are finished. Employment conditions and bonus programs in TRATON R&D will be equivalent to those in Scania and you also include your employment period.

Here is the entire article in Swedish.

AI expert shares five keys to a better promt

When the Swedish AI Prompting Championship was held in February, Magnus Gille was crowned Sweden’s first AI Prompting Champion. In his day job, he is a product owner for Scania’s AI Enablement team, where his job is to get engineers to use AI in a smart, efficient and responsible way.

He knows that the right instructions can transform an artificial intelligence from a clumsy assistant to a sharp advisor.

These are his best tricks for a better at prompt:

1. Give AI a role – steer the conversation from the start: AI works best when it knows what expertise it is expected to have. For example, if you want help writing a test strategy, ask it to act as an experienced test engineer. You could say: “You are an expert in software testing. Help me set up a test strategy for a new product.” The more detailed you are, the better the result.
2. Don’t be afraid to give AI a lot of context: AI can handle large amounts of information, so give it the right conditions. Paste in test cases, documentation, or code. Instead of asking “How can I improve my code?”, you can say: “Here’s my code. I want you to review it from a performance perspective and give me three concrete suggestions for improvement.” 
3. Think of AI as a dialogue partner – not a solution: Ask the AI ​​to ask follow-up questions instead of just giving a quick answer. A good prompt might be: “I want to discuss my testing strategy. Ask me about things you need to know before we start.” This will help you control the process and get a better result.
4. Let AI challenge you – flip perspectives: If you are faced with a decision, ask AI to argue against you. A good prompt might be: “I am leaning towards choosing this solution. Give me three arguments for and three against”. This forces you to think more broadly and see more aspects.
5. Test your approach and adjust – AI learns from your input: A prompt is rarely perfect from the start. Ask AI to explain its reasoning, change details and ask for a new answer if something feels wrong. Fine-tuning is part of the process.

Here is the entire article in Swedish.