Spotify Shifts Jobs Outside of Sweden Thanks to Worker Protection Laws, Top Exec Confirms

Photo Credit: Linus Mimietz

Spotify is shifting jobs outside of Sweden to appease worker protection laws that prohibit IT personnel from working between midnight and 5 AM.Spotify confirms its plan to move a portion of certain jobs abroad after a court ruling denying the company’s request to allow Sweden-based engineers and IT personnel to work night shifts. The news comes in response to a ruling by the Administrative Court of Appeal, in an article written by Katarina Berg, Spotify’s Chief Human Resources Officer and GM of Sweden.

According to Berg’s article, “outdated bureaucracy” in Sweden will threaten the market’s position as “one of Europe’s and even the world’s leading tech hubs.” The court’s decision means that, Berg confirms, Spotify has moved “parts of 250 positions to other countries,” while future recruitment of engineers will “unfortunately mainly take place outside of Sweden.”

The court’s decision comes as the result of strict rules in Sweden regarding the number of hours and times of day that employees may work. Night shifts — those between midnight and 5 AM — are prohibited unless “deemed necessary” for key services in the market to continue functioning, such as public services and healthcare.

An exemption can be granted by Sweden’s Work Environment Authority, or through collective agreements such as through a union. Spotify applied for an exemption to the ban on night shifts at the beginning of 2023 for its engineering staff to carry out emergency work on the digital streaming platform’s systems.

Not only did the Swedish Work Environment Authority reject Spotify’s application, they fined the company for breaching the Working Hours Act. The decision by the Administrative Court of Appeal upheld the decision the Swedish Work Environment Authority made in February 2023.Berg argued that due to Spotify’s global availability in 184 countries, with an audience of 626 million monthly active users, “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.”

Therefore, Berg said, the platform requires “engineers available on standby to quickly deal with potential intrusion attempts that could compromise sensitive personal data or resolve any operational issues that may arise.”

Berg also added that Spotify calls for “a review of the rules around night work and emergency service in the tech sector.”

Spotify noted no jobs have been lost as a result of the court’s ruling, and only the night shift, on-call portion of the company’s full-time engineering roles have been moved abroad, with approximately 1,500 employees remaining in Stockholm.