Fågelsjö - Housing Staff at a Cultural Heritage

In Fågelsjö, Sweden, we have had tour guides hired during the summers for a very long time. Our museum location is in the middle of the forest with no possibility of using public transportation to commute to work. In the past it was easy to find people who were willing to work at the museum because there were many more people living in this area. Today we have a decreasing population resulting in challenges to hire staff. We therefore decided to lower the barriers to access jobs at our site by offering a more sustainable solution for the staff - free housing.

What we did

We decided to make housing available and free for all summer staff. Along with our simple standard rooms by our community centre in the village we prepared a shared common area and kitchen. At the beginning of the year, we began recruiting staff for the summer. This was done through the national employment services, and we made it very clear in our advert that we would provide free housing. In addition to this we offered our staff the use of our canoes and bikes for free and gave them the option to have a discounted lunch at the site. We had daily staff meetings with time to talk about any personal challenges resulting from living so close to the museum.

What we learned from it

We quickly understood that this was a sustainable solution to make the summer jobs more attractive. It allowed us to hire people from anywhere in the country. We received many job applications and had a broad selection of staff to choose from. During the summer our staff, living collectively, came very close to each other and took care of one another. They made meals together, made sure everyone got up in the morning and went out on trips together when they had time off using our canoes and bikes. They managed to car-share visits to the grocery store to lower fuel costs and be more kind to the environment. This also allowed some people without a driver’s license to be employed despite it usually being a requirement. What we gained from this investment was worth so much more than the cost of housing for our staff.

Some advice to others

• Housing for staff can be of simple standard as long as it is comfortable and functional
• If you want your staff to connect with each other - make sure to offer a common area to share
• Offer one room per person and don’t expect anyone to share a room unless they request it themselves
• Highlight that you offer this service as a work benefit and be sure to still offer a salary in line with the market value
• Make sure to give your staff some options of what to do when they are off work
• If you are located far away from civilization - make sure to synchronize grocery shopping between your employees
• Check in on your staff both in a group setting such as a staff meeting and also individually to make sure that they are comfortable