Starting your own business (Etablere din egen bedrift)

If you are at least 18 years old and are either a citizen of Norway or another Nordic country or a foreign citizen with a residence permit and a work permit, you may start your own business. Starting involves three steps:

• 1Decide on the form of company organisation.
• 2Complete the required registrations. For details and forms, see the booklet, Samordnet registermelding (”coordinated registration”), available from all agencies concerned:
• 3Complete any special registrations that may be necessary, such as with:

Many municipalities (kommune) have business departments (nœringsetat) that provide advice on the paperwork involved in starting a business. Oslo has a dedicated office, Servicekontoret for nœringslivet (”service office for business”), Tollbugt. 27, 0157 Oslo, Tel: 22860110, Fax: 22860130, and publishes a guide for new businesses, Hvem gjør hva for næringslivet (”Who does what for business”).

If you wish to start a business, you might consider franchising, which offers the advantage of a recognised brand and a ready-made concept. If you wish to farm and settle in the countryside, you might consider one of the many farms (Chapter 25) that are for sale or lease.

Unemployment benefits (Arbeidsledighetstrygd)

If you are dismissed from your job, you are entitled to unemployment benefits, provided you are a Norwegian citizen or have a valid work permit and have earned a certain minimum gross income in the last, or one of the last three calendar years before you apply for benefits. As soon as you are dismissed from a job, you should register as unemployed (arbeidsledig) at the local Employment Service office (Arbeidskontor) listed in the Pink Pages. First, the Employment Service office will try to find you a new job. You must be willing to take any job that the office finds suitable. If neither the office nor you find a new job, you may apply for unemployment benefits, popularly called “day pay” (dagpenger). Special rules apply to citizens of EEA countries.

Unions and professional associations (Fagforbund og yrkesorganisasjoner)

More than a million employees in the country – more than half the workforce – are members of trade unions or of professional associations that engage in negotiations on behalf of their members. There are more than 25 unions allied in The Norwegian Confederation of Trade Unions (Landsorganisasjonen i Norge, LO) and 15 professional organisations in the The Federation of Norwegian Professional Associations (Akademikerne).

LO is the largest and oldest, being founded in 1899. It is involved in the international labour movement, principally through the Council of Nordic Trade Unions (NFS), the European Trade Union Confederation (ETUC) and the International Confederation of Free Trade Unions (ICFTU). It is politically active, particularly in labour matters, and it maintains facilities dealing with unionism, including The Labour Movement Archives and Library (Arbeidbevegelsens bibliotek) in Oslo. It publishes extensively, both in print and online. For further information, contact any member union at addresses and telecommunications numbers listed in the Pink Pages, or LO directly, Youngsgt 11, 0181 Oslo, Tel: 23061050, Fax: 23061743, www.lo.no, lo@lo.no. In alphabetical order by trades and without the words “Norwegian” or “Union” in their names, the 25 LO unions are:

Athletes (NISO), www.niso.no

Chemical Industry Workers (NKIF), www.nkif.no

Civil Service (NTL), www.ntl.no

Electricians and IT Workers (El & IT), www.elogit.no

Employees in Commerce and Offices (HK), www.handelogkontor.no

Engineers and Managers (FLT), www.flt.no

Food and Allied Workers (NNN), www.nnn.no

General Workers (NAF), www.arbeidsmandsforbundet.no

Graphical Trades (NGF), www.ngf.no

Hotel and Restaurant Workers (HRAF), www.hraf.no

Labour Press, www.nj.no/apf

Locomotive men (NLF), www.lokmann.no

Military Officers (NOF), www.norgesoffisersforbund.no

Municipal Employees (NKF), www.nkf.no

Musicians (NM), www.musikerorg.no

Oil and Petrochemical Workers (NOPEF), www.nopef.no

Postal and Communication Workers (POSTKOM), www.postkom.no

Prison and Probation Officers (NFF), www.fengselogfriomsorg.no

Railway Workers (NJF), www.njf.no

School Employees (SL), www.skoleneslandsforbund.no

Seamen (SF), www.sjomannsunion.no

Social Educators and Social Workers (FO), www.fobsv.no

Transport Workers (NTF), www.transportarbeider.no

United Federation of Trade Unions (FF), www.fellesforbundet.no

Woodworkers (NTAF), www.ntaf.no

The Federation of Norwegian Professional Associations (Akademikerne) is the panoply organisation for professionals with a higher education including lawyers, engineers, psychologists, researchers, doctors, veterinary surgeons, clergy, social scientists, architects, business school graduates, economists, dentists, agronomists and officers in the armed forces, Akerasgata 16, 0158 Oslo, Tel: 23103410, Fax: 23103411, www.akademikerne.no. Alphabetically by the relevant professions, the 15 associations are:

Architects, afag@afag.no, www.afag.no

Business graduates, www.sivilokonomene.no

Chartered Engineers and Scientists, www.tekna.no

Dentists, tannlegeforeningen@tannlegeforeningen.no, www.tannlegeforeningen.no

Doctors, legeforeningen@legeforeningen.no, www.legeforeningen.no

Economists, www.samfunnsokonomene.no

Lawyers, njpost@jus.no, www.jus.no/nj

Military academy graduate officers, kol@kol.no, www.kol.no

Ministers, pf@prest.no, www.prest.no

Natural scientists, post@nafo.no, www.nafo.no

Psychologists, www.psykologforeningen.no

Research scientists, post@forskerforbundet.no, www.forskerforbundet.no

Secondary school teachers, www.norsklektorlag.no

Social scientists, www.samfunnsviterne.no

Veterinaries, dnv@vetnett.no, www.vetnett.no

Three independent unions for the theatrical arts and school teaching are:

Actors, www.skuespillerforbund.no

Ballet dancers, choreographers and instructors (Norsk balletforbund)

Teachers, www.norsk-larerlag.no

Work week and work year (Arbeidsuke og årsverk)

Jobs legally may require no more than nine hours of work a day and no more than 40 hours of work per week, although there are some exceptions. Shift workers (skiftarbeidere), who must work evenings and nights, have a shorter work week, whilst some work weeks, as for offshore oil workers, are longer. Many union contracts call for no more than 37.5 hours a week. In the late 1990s, the average work week for all employees was about 35.5 hours a week. In some sectors, including farming, fishing and offshore oil work, the averages were higher, but still no more than 45.1 hours a week, the figure for oil industry workers. Employees are entitled to at least four weeks plus one day of vacation (Chapter 23). Consequently, when public holidays are deduced, the work year averages about 1,725 hours. Most companies have both full-time and part-time employees, as well as temps hired for specific tasks. Accordingly, the total workforce of a company usually is stated in work years (årsverk), which is a number that may be equal to or less than the total number of employees.

Working hours (Arbeidstid)

Most offices start work at 8 am and finish at 4 pm, though 9 am to 5 pm is increasingly common in some sectors, such as financial services. Industries tend to start earlier, 7 or 7:30 am and finish eight hours later.

Almost all public and private offices have Saturday off (lørdagsfri). Working hours in shops correspond to opening hours, which may include Saturdays. Whenever an activity requires longer hours or work round the clock – such as health services, transportation, offshore oil or hotels and restaurants – working hours are split up into shifts of normally no more than nine hours.

Many companies now offer flexible working hours (fleksitid) that allow you to come and leave as you wish, provided that you are at work during the period of core business for the day (kjernetid). Many workplaces require you to clock on and clock off (stemple) at a time clock (stemplingsur), both to ensure that you work the contractual number of hours and to aid bookkeeping on contracts.

Any hours you work exceeding 40 hours a week are considered to be overtime (overtid), for which you are entitled to at least 40% overtime pay in addition to your base hourly wage rate. However, if you are in a salaried management position or are self-employed, you usually are not entitled to overtime pay.

If you work more than five and a half hours a day, you are entitled to a meal break (spisepause). If you work at least eight hours a day, you are entitled to meal breaks totalling at least 30 minutes. Some companies, particularly larger companies with cafeteria services, include the 30 minutes in the day’s business hours, such as being open from 8 am to 4 pm, with three or four half-hour lunch breaks for different divisions of the company, between 11 am and 1 pm.

You are entitled to at least 36 hours of continuous free time (sammenhengende fritid) each week. If your job involves weekend work, such as in a hospital, you are entitled to have a Sunday or public holiday free every second or third week.

If you work on shifts, you are entitled to at least 10 hours free between successive shifts, unless the Labour inspection authority has approved a shorter free time for your employer.

Night work (nattarbeid), defined as being work between 9 pm and 6 am, is permitted only for defined activities which cannot be performed at other times. Likewise, work on Sundays and public holidays is permitted only by special permission or agreement with a union (etter sœrskilt tillatelse eller avtale).