Work Laws

The work days in Norway seem so much shorter than in America, but that’s probably because most everyone lives within just a few minutes of where they work and there is no real commute time factored in. Norway intentionally spreads the industries out in every little nook and cranny of the country. One little village will have a hot dog factory, another is the home of the “Grandiosa,” Norway’s favorite frozen pizza. If all the jobs were located in the big cities, then everyone would live in the city, and that’s just not the Norwegian way of life.




Norwegians work seven and a half hours a day with most shifts starting around eight and ending by four, including the half hour lunch break. An hour for lunch would be unnecessary in Norway because no one goes out to eat (it’s too expensive). There are rush “moments” (not “hours”) in the town where we lived in Norway.



The government in Norway demands that all working people take three weeks off every summer, and it all has to be in one chunk – they can’t parcel it out. They figure it takes that long to unwind from their jobs and be refreshed again for another year. They also get two other weeks off during the year whenever they want, and they get the week between Christmas and New Years and several Holy Days free. Norwegians have a lot of time off from work. It’s amazing they get anything done.



The law in Norway also says that no one is allowed to work more than ten hours a week of overtime – ever. And in one calendar year, it is not allowed to work more than 200 hours of total overtime. Imagine that. (Microsoft would have big problems operating in Norway.) But after the financial crisis that happened a while ago – they may need to re-think that law. Norway had over 33 million US dollars (168 million Norwegian kroner) of their citizen’s retirement fund invested in Washington Mutual stock (it made big headlines in Norway when that bank fell). Perhaps if some of Norway’s top financial advisors had put in a few extra hours at the office that year – they might have seen that one coming.