The economic benefits of friendship

A company in Sweden wants employees to spend more time with their friends — and they are paying them to do it

SWEDEN, LIKE MANY nations around the world, has a loneliness problem on its hands. Much like Canada (where 13 per cent of adults say they often feel lonely), 14 per cent of Swedish adults report feeling lonely some or all of the time, with eight per cent of adults saying they don’t have a single close friend, according to Statistics Sweden.

Click here to view this article in the London Inc. Worklife newsletter

But rather than just sound the alarm about this, one large company is trying to actually address it, by giving staff paid time at work, and a bit of spending money, to boost their social life.

Story Continues Below

 

In the past year, the pharmacy group Apotek Hjärtat launched a pilot project that gives employees one hour a month, plus a stipend of around $130 CAD, to put towards strengthening friendships or making new friends. “We try and see what the effects are from having the opportunity to spend a bit of time every week on safeguarding your relationships,” said Monica Magnusson, the company’s CEO.

The firm says the idea is building out on programs that are already relatively common in Swedish workplaces — wellness spending money and an hour of wellness time every month, calling the friendship time “a reflection on that, but targeting loneliness and relationships instead.”

The idea to offer ‘friendcare benefits’ is also interesting in the sense that it is a collaboration between the business community and the economy-focused centre-right Swedish government, which has made loneliness a public health priority. “We need to have greater awareness about this,” the government’s health minister told the BBC. “This is something that really affects health and affects the economy as well.”

Story Continues Below

 

Sweden is one of several countries that have started to target loneliness as a wider social issue — and part of a growing awareness that loneliness incurs economic penalties. In recent years, Gallup’s workplace polling efforts have asked about loneliness, noting that globally, loneliness rates sit around 20 per cent, and have argued that the data suggest that workplaces can be the ideal place to begin addressing the problem, and that social interaction and workplace engagement often go hand in hand.

For the pharmacy company’s workers, the benefit is being embraced. “I’m really tired when I go home. I don’t have time or energy to meet my friends,” said one 45-year-old employee, who makes use of her allotted friendcare time to make plans or even just chat with a friend on the phone. “I wanted to make it better for myself, kick myself in the back to do stuff. I feel happier. You can’t live through the internet like most people do these days.” Kieran Delamont