In maternity wards and GP offices, in nursing homes and in classrooms, the welfare state is embodied in actual people with hands, hearts, brains and first names. That’s where we need them. Most and longest. This is also where staff shortages have already made themselves felt. In town and village. In the coming years it will probably get worse. Even if the Storting allocates more money, someone has to do the work out there in the real world. Of course, some employees throughout their lives will become department managers, given responsibilities and tasks. Maybe drop the rotation or get less work if age weighs down. Nevertheless, it is unchanging that it is on the “floor”, on night shifts and in the specific job that the employees are primarily needed. In the future, it is not certain that all employees will be able or willing to stand in such positions throughout their entire working life. Workforce revolution For all those who make up the welfare state’s foundation and first line of defence, it is unlikely that the salary ladder is the primary lure. As a large society, we must inspire and qualify more young people to choose education and future careers in welfare professions. Workers who can see friends in the private sector earn more. Who can see that the neighbor has a home office or does not have to organize everyday life according to the employer’s work schedule. You can go on night duty at the delivery room, mark maths tests in the evening or have weekend duty at an institution, and see in your Facebook feed that another life is possible. Whether it is the education sector, the health sector or other important professions, we may not escape a revolution, rethinking and reorganization of everyday working life to get people to choose this type of profession. Workers in the toddler phase and seniors, who must stay at work for as long as possible, are particularly vulnerable. Many of society’s goals for the best utilization of human resources contain some intersecting objectives. The work line requires people to be in work. If work for everyone is job number one, those who cannot work full-time or on a full-time basis must also be able to provide what they can contribute. Therefore, there is a lot about the employees’ everyday life and life course that needs to be scrutinized. Dropout of employees. The use of part-time, temporary workers and unqualified labor means that it is already demanding to organize the workforce for employers and the life course of the individual employee. Danish conditions and Norwegian experts The welfare state faces monumental challenges this decade. In Norway, we have for many years talked too much about money and too little about personnel. In Denmark, the crisis in the healthcare system was one of the major issues in the parliamentary election campaign last autumn. The “health crisis” was a common thread throughout the election campaign. The Danish Labor Party was suddenly no stranger to direct wage allocations outside the social democratic, sacred tripartite cooperation. Parties critical of immigration were suddenly willing to rethink labor immigration. The major governing parties were suddenly willing to discuss structural reforms rather than defend the status quo. Keeping the welfare state sustainable in the coming years is likely to be so demanding and dependent on such major changes that Norwegian parties will also have to rethink their policies. Not least the Health Personnel Commission’s report that came out this week bears its stamp. Population changes The Commission’s report points out precisely that you cannot allocate or staff your way out of the situation when the proportion and number of elderly people increases significantly. It is precisely the change in population that is forcing changes, not only in the healthcare system, the school system and their many employees. The whole idea of working life and career must change, if we are to get people to work there in all phases of their working lives. Increased skill requirements also make it more difficult to jump in and out of a profession. The Health Commission will shift responsibility between professional groups. It will lead to professional disputes and stepped on toes both here and there. It is nevertheless something that cannot be avoided if the personnel situation is to be sustainable. This autumn’s election campaign must not only be about ordinary people. It must be about the fact that it may become unusual to get people for important key tasks in the years to come. It will affect all kinds of people.
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