A delegation representing UNFPA Kosovo, the Ministry of Finance, Labor and Transfers and our family-friendly champion companies – Art House, Cacttus, KIVO LLC, Kosbit, Gjirafa, Raiffeisen Bank Kosovo and Super Viva – recently returned from a joint study visit to Sweden. They were there for several days on a visit dedicated to hearing about examples from leading Swedish companies regarding their legislation and internal policies promoting a healthy work-life balance, equal parenting and gender equality, and ways in which all this improves employee motivation and commercial success. They heard from HR reps, management, fathers on paternity leave, mothers advancing their careers and saw the transformative effects of family friendly policies in practice. 

The delegation first went to the Benify Company, where they were introduced to how the Swedish national system – known as a global champion in this regard –supports families with children, what benefits the company offers to parent employees, and interacted with two employees who are fathers currently on parental leave.

Together with Leunora Ahmeti from the Ministry of Finance, Labor, and Transfers, the delegation further visited and talked to the other Swedish companies on our list, to include Telia Sverige, Sandvik, Ericsson, UniversumGlobal and Contitude. In these visits, they heard about a whole range of policies and practices offered to Swedish employees, ranging from flexible working hours and paid parental leave additional to that offered by the state to remote working options and salary increases obtained during parental leave. As conveyed by the Swedish companies, what undercuts all this is a management logic of understanding and meeting the needs of employees who are or are becoming parents. 

To illustrate the topics discussed and experience had, the further text presents some of the impressions from the people involved.

Viktor Hakansson, father on parental leave, Benify employee, Sweden: "My parental leave has been the happiest period of my life. I am very grateful to my employer for this opportunity, to spend time with my child and participate in advancing equal opportunities to men and women in building their careers."

Blerta Pacolli, Super Viva: “This experience and the practical examples we saw during the visit are definitely encouraging for us to implement such solutions at Super Viva. Peaceful and happy life on the personal level ensures high contribution on the professional level!”

Fëllanza Krajkova Sejdiu, Art House: “As a human resources manager, I am highly motivated to promote and implement advanced policies that shape up a pleasant workplace environment.”

Loreta Tahiri, Cacttus Sha: “I am extremely motivated and enthused to expand the work of our company on the implementation of family-friendly policies, inspired by the solutions and ideas that we saw at companies like Benify, Teila, Sandvik and Ericsson.”

Greta Gjata, Gjirafa: “The Swedish companies we visited provided a great example of how can we further implement mechanisms that will help us achieve our goals and assess how far we have come in creating a work environment that everyone would love.”

Shqipe Shala, Raiffeisen Bank Kosovo: “As an employer we intend to continue our contribution for an even better balance between work and family obligations for our employees.”

Valon Grabovci, KOSBIT: “Visiting the most prestigious Swedish companies was an unforgettable experience, where we had the opportunity to learn the importance of a work environment that promotes and ksupports the well-being of workers.”

Burim Krasniqi, KIVO LLC: “Our company had a lot to learn on this trip. We are more than sure that as a result of this visit we will be able to further develop our policies to reflect global developments in this regard”. 

Leunora Ahmeti, Ministry of Finance, Labor and Transfers: “The study visit revealed examples of best practices to overcome challenges in achieving gender equality in the labor market. For policy-makers, these are inspiration for proactive actions towards the development of family-friendly policies, to support women and men towards the realization of their career and family aspirations.”

The visit was part of a UNFPA project implemented throughout the region.

Dea Pallaska O’Shaughnessy, UNFPA Kosovo’s Program Analyst, was also in Sweden and had this to say about the experience: “The visit was a great opportunity to shape and strengthen the network of private companies that champion family friendly policies in Kosovo, Moldova and Albania; to share their ideas and practices, hear new ones, and set an example to their markets. Their substantial impressions give us additional motivation to continue working with our companies and policy-setters and expand the reach of family-friendly workplace both in the private and public sectors, at national and regional levels.”

The initiative is part of UNFPA's Demographic Resilience Program, which aims to support and develop national capacities for the development of policies and programs aimed at society and the population, so as to respond to demographic changes, strengthen human capital and define a prosperous future. Under that initiative, the UNFPA project called "More opportunities through family-friendly workplace policies for the private sector in the Western Balkans and the Republic of Moldova" works to create a favorable environment for people of reproductive age to fulfil their family and career aspirations.

The study visit to Sweden was organized by UNFPA Eastern Europe & Central Asia and Tiina Bruno, CEO FamSmart at Work with the support of the Austrian Development Agency. In total, 18 private sector companies from Kosovo, Albania and Moldova participated, having previously been identified and awarded as family-friendly champion companies within their respective markets. UNFPA offices continue to interact with the network of companies and national policy makers to advance solutions for sharing the enjoyment and duty of child care without sacrificing anyone’s career path.