The Approach

The programme facilitates companies to strengthen
workplace conditions and sustainable business

The Swedish Workplace Programme facilitates the education and training of employees for companies and other interested partners who join our programme and its network. The programme is centred around addressing three strategic areas: Decent Work, Partnerships, and Sustainable Business. To support companies in strengthening these areas, the programme provides three ways of collaborating with us: 

1) Workplace Programmes 

The programme facilitates an applicable and versatile Approach to develop an inclusive workplace dialogue and address workplace challenges.

2) Sustainable Business Platforms

Regional forums for companies to discuss and share sustainability challenges, find joint solutions, and create new partnerships that contribute to sustainable business. 

3) Global learning and sharing

Sharing of best practices on how to apply workplace cooperation to address challenges in society and in the world of work.

Workplace Programmes

Swedish Workplace Programme (SWP) is a multi-step approach to facilitate dialogue between managers and employees with the aim to find solutions to identified company specific challenges.The SWP Approach is versatile and replicable. It can be used to develop the sustainability of the workplace and supply chain, improve customer relations and create engagement within communities. 

Adaptable to the specific workplace

SWP establishes, trains and develops workplace committees based on mutual respect, commitment and international labour standards. By having a structure where joint goals are formulated, management and elected employee representatives can change attitudes in the workplace, thereby improving both the environment and business operations. 

We believe that when a company places workers’ engagement at the centre of business, it encourages and creates an inclusive work environment. This in turn enhances the company’s profile and position to attract and retain workers and compete more effectively in the marketplace.

 

Our 6 steps for our Approach at the workplace

Step 1 Getting all aboard

The company and SWP agree on roles and responsibilities. Together they create a baseline assessment to get an understanding of the challenges at the workplace (e.g. interviews and questionnaire).




Step 2 Workplace committee

Establish or strengthen a workplace committee with representatives from both management and employees. Agree on meeting frequency and roles in the committee. Create an understanding of the importance of workplace cooperation, inclusion and how to create sustainable change.



Step 3 Identify challenges and create an action plan

Feedback results from the baseline assessment are presented to the committee and management team to consider. The committee identifies and prioritises challenges and decides which thematic area to tackle. SWP provides capacity building by external thematic experts. The change management process is used during the programme to create sustainable change. The committee creates an annual action plan – from policy to practice.

Step 4 Implementation

The actions in the plan starts. Activities could include: Complementary employee survey within the thematic area (if needed), training of workplace champions/peer educators, policy development, awareness activities at the workplace.



Step 5 Learnings

Sharing of peer to peer experiences and insights from networks discussions.
Monitor and evaluate the results of the Workplace Programme. SWP leaves the company with a plan for continuous improvements after a period of 12-18 months.



Step 6 Share best practice

Companies are included within network meetings where like-minded actors meet to share lessons learned and experience of SWP interventions (e.g. CEO groups, HR groups, OHS groups, etc). Companies can also share the Approach within their value chain and eco-systems. SWP will share learnings with our partners and engaged companies in studies, conferences and best practice.


Sustainable Business Platforms

Forums for dialogues

Swedish Workplace Programme (SWP) utilizes platforms and networks as a catalyst for companies to engage in joint strategic discussions concerning improvements, solutions and actions taken to address local sustainability and related workplace challenges.

Companies use the dialogues as a collective tool to promote their decent work and sustainability agenda within their business environment.

Your company does not have to be involved in a Workplace Programme to participate in the sharing and dialogue session called Sustainable Business Platforms. The Sustainable Business Platforms are established according to region for companies that want to address sustainability challenges and generate results in the field of Agenda 2030 and specific the global goal 8 (decent work and economic growth).

Global learning and sharing

Global learning - the bigger picture

This component includes the development and diffusion of best practices and learnings from the Swedish Workplace Programme’s (SWP) iterations. To support our iterative approach, the Global learning- component provides the programme with learnings from the regional Sustainable Business Platforms (SBP) as well as from the local Workplace Programmes. 

The key for SWP is to create an enabling environment for learning within the programme through the peer to peer exchanges between and within companies, including the supply chain.