There’s something you should know about people from the Nordic countries. And it’s something that could save you – and your clients – a lot of bother over the next three to four months.
You see, Danes, Finns, Norwegians and Swedes take summertime very seriously. So seriously, in fact, that they spend much of it off work.
Indeed, from mid-June until late August, businesses in the Nordic region effectively shut down, as employees take their generous holiday allowances and head off for long, uninterrupted summer breaks.
Summer loving: it’s the law
In Sweden, employees are entitled by law to four consecutive weeks of holiday over the summer season.
And it’s a similar picture in Denmark, Finland and Norway, where many people take the entire month of July off to enjoy the long-awaited lighter days and warmer weather.
Freelance translators don’t have the same privileges as salaried employees, of course. But since pretty much everyone else in the Nordic region shuts down for the summer, it makes sense for them to do the same.
With no holiday limit, those freelancers who can afford to are free to stay off work for the whole season. And many of them do just that.
Lucky them. Now remind me how this helps me?
Armed with this knowledge, you now have the chance to plan ahead for the summer.
Do your clients have any Danish, Finnish, Norwegian or Swedish projects in the pipeline? Now’s the time to ask them, so that you can start sourcing suppliers for the summer period.
It’s also a chance to manage your customers’ expectations. Nordic translation projects often take longer than usual during the summer months, given the shortage of suppliers, and urgent jobs can be tricky to place.
Make your clients aware of this now, give them time to plan, and you may be able to save both them and yourself a few headaches further down the line.
The Scandis who will be working this summer
At STP, we specialise in the Nordic languages. But because we’re based in the UK, we’re open for business all year round.
We have 20 years’ experience of the Nordic niche – and we’ve helped our clients through more than a few tricky summers in that time.
We employ 70+ full-time in-house linguists and work with 1,000+ qualified freelancers. And while they all become extremely busy in the summer months, we are still better placed to meet your needs and deadlines than most non-specialist agencies.
So if you’re keen to beat the annual Nordic shutdown, please drop us an email today – and let us help you get a headstart on summer.
