On the contrary, Swedes work some of the fewest hour per person in the OECD. The only people that work fewer hours than the Swedes are Germans, Danes, Norwegians, and the Dutch: https://data.oecd.org/emp/hours-worked.htm

> Sweden has one if the longest working weeks in the EU. Normal work day starts at 8am.

We're talking about startups on a website mostly for programmers, right?

Programmers enjoy nearly free work schedule. I've seen people come at work at 7 in the morning and leave at three in the evening. Or come to work at 10 and leave at 7.

Second, work-life balance is paramount in Sweden. No one will bat an eye if you have to pick your kids early from kindergarten/school, go to a doctor's appointment, take a day off because you're sick etc.

The government even tries to combat exploitative employers by making it mandatory that employees take at least 20 days of vacation a year.

“No one will bat an eyelid if you take a day off work.”

You forgot to mention that you WON’T get paid if you take a single day off work, something that makes Sweden unique in the modern world?

Sweden is a great place to work in many ways, but there are severe problems for people moving here to work if they are accustomed to other EU countries.

That's only if you are taking sick-leave (and for the first day, then you get some part of your salary), also Sweden got 25 days of mandatory paid vacation days.

Would not that lead to people taking the minimum required to get sick pay even for minor ailments.

off for sick leave, and this is somewhat changing now with the new karensavdrag system

Speaking from Germany, what you have described is true for here as well.

What is wrong with starting at 8? I start closer to 7 so I can go home a bit after 15. Some of us use flexible work schedule to get longer afternoons. You need to look at more than when it is normal to start working in the morning, like total hours/year and how flexible the schedule is

> Normal work day starts at 8am.

No, not necessarily.

Most of my career has been spent working in Sweden and/or for Swedish companies.

At only one company of the several I have worked for — my first programming job — were employees expected to arrive at 08:00.

All the others have started at 09:00, with a fair degree of flexibility.

This isn't to say Sweden is some paradise — it categorically isn't — but let's at least be accurate with our numbers.