ABSTRACT
In this chapter we focus on how the programs and activities of the HO relates to Scania’s main operations. Of special interest is to what extent and how the HO strives to affect employees in finding the strengths they need to adapt to the requirements of the SPS by constantly improving their health, and to what extent and how the HO tries to shape and adapt this production system to the needs and abilities of Scania’s employees. This is done in a number of ways, where we concentrate on the role that the HO’s medical clinic plays, and the importance of a regular presence of the HO’s personnel in the production line. To gain a better understanding of how the HO manages a delicate balance between the requirements of the production system and the requirements of the personnel, we then explore how the health professionals interact and negotiate with Scania’s managers who are to execute the SPS in the daily and concrete production. As already mentioned, part of the HO unit consists of a regular medical
clinic that is open to all employees and their families and that offers regular medical services. As an employee, one may sign up as a patient with another provider of these services that is not owned by Scania, but employees are strongly encouraged to choose Scania’s unit. A manager said that “of course we want all our employees to go here.” One employee said that “it’s so convenient to have access to this unit since it is close to my working place” and another person claimed that “I feel like a VIP-person compared to my neighbours and friends who don’t work for Scania. It’s always easy to get an appointment and I can always bring my children there if they have a cold or so.” One of the managers of the HO unit stressed that “our service level is much higher than the ones offered at other clinics and we try to convey the feeling to our employees that we are their ‘family doctor,’ you know, always there to help and support.” Each employee visits this unit regularly as part of a compulsory medical check-up program. These visits consist of analyzing one’s body mass index, blood pressure and making a physical fitness test. The data from these examinations are stored as an individual case record that can be accessed only by designated medical staff. The data is also lumped together with the data of the person’s team colleagues that is then analyzed by the HO unit’s statisticians. If, for instance, “there is a deviance of the body mass index in the group,”
as a company doctor said, the HO unit contacts the manager of that unit in
order to propose “appropriate actions to deal with these problems of poor health.” In addition to making a regular medical examination, the doctor or nurse should initiate a conversation on the person’s lifestyle, irrespective of the results of the medical screening. “I talk with the employees on their habits, such as diet, sleep, stress, as well as how they experience their family life,” as one nurse claimed. She continued:
For instance, we have a group of employees who work with research and development and who are highly skilled and qualified. They are very seldom or never absent due to sickness. They have good control, a healthy lifestyle, they eat good and nutritious food, they don’t drink too much, rarely use tobacco, they exercise a lot. However, ‘balance in life’ is hard for this group, and they risk becoming burned out. By talking about ‘domestic stress,’ relationship problems and similar personal issues, we can help these seemingly healthy individuals to live even healthier lives. You know, it’s not normal never being sick.
