Spotify said it would move “some” of its 250 Swedish employees overseas after a court ruling rejected SPOT’s request to allow its engineers in the company’s home market to work night shifts.
In response to the Administrative Appeals Court’s ruling, Spotify’s chief human resources officer and managing director of Sweden said: Katarina Berg, Wrote an article for Sweden today’s industry On Friday (October 4), it was claimed that Sweden’s “outdated bureaucracy” threatened the market’s status “as one of the leading technology hubs in Europe and the world”.
Berg added that the court’s decision means that Spotify has “moved some content.” 250 Positions are transferred to other countries” and “unfortunately, the recruitment of engineers in the future will mainly take place outside Sweden”.
“This means not only a loss of income for the individuals involved, but also a loss of tax revenue for Sweden,” Berg added.
In Sweden, there are strict rules regarding the number of hours and times of day that employees are allowed to work.
Night work – between midnight and 5am – is prohibited unless deemed necessary by society to maintain operations (public services, healthcare, transport, etc.) or in other exceptional circumstances.
The ban on night work can be exempted through an exemption granted by the Swedish Work Environment Authority or through a collective agreement (e.g. through a trade union). (in addition, break it It was reported last summer that negotiations between Spotify and market unions had broken down).
Spotify applied for an exemption from the night-time working ban in early 2023 to allow engineers to carry out emergency work on the streaming platform’s systems between midnight and 5am
The Swedish Work Environment Authority rejected Spotify’s application in February 2023 and fined Spotify for violating the Working Time Act. Last week’s ruling by the Administrative Appeals Court upheld the February 2023 decision of the Swedish Work Environment Authority.
Spotify’s Katarina Berg argued in her article today’s industry Last week, it was stated that as Spotify has 626 million monthly active users in 184 countries and regions around the world, “artists, podcasters, writers and advertisers, as well as our users, expect an experience that works flawlessly 24/7 in all time zones of the world.”
As a result, the platform needs to “have engineers on standby to quickly address potential intrusion attempts that could compromise sensitive personal data or resolve any operational issues that may arise,” Berg added.
Elsewhere in the article, Berg said Spotify “called[s] A review of rules for night working and emergency services in the tech industry.
“As the Administrative Court refused to allow night working in Sweden, we are working on transferring this important support function to another country outside Sweden.”
Spotify spokesperson
Spotify CEO Daniel Ek It appears that he has not commented publicly on the matter, but he “liked” a comment posted on LinkedIn by the public policy manager of the Federation of Swedish Business Owners. In a post liked by Ek, Pernilla Norlin said the “outdated approach” was to “prevent[ing]” Companies developing and doing business in Sweden.
Norlin added: “Now Spotify is moving 250 jobs abroad, which is a completely unnecessary blow to Sweden as a startup nation.”
A Spotify spokesperson told MBW today (October 8): “As a global audio technology platform, it’s essential that we have a staff of engineers on standby to ensure uninterrupted availability for millions of creators and listeners around the world.
“As the Administrative Court refused to allow night working in Sweden, we are working on transferring this important support function to another country outside Sweden.”
A Spotify spokesperson confirmed that the court ruling resulted in no job losses and that only the night/on-call portion of Spotify’s 250 full-time employees were moved overseas.
Spotify has approx. 1,500 people Staff in Stockholm.
global music business
