My latest boomer experience in the modern work

Sometimes, it feels like we’re blasting into the future while towing a rusted trailer of outdated rules behind us.

That’s exactly how I felt during Finland’s mandatory occupational healthcare check. I’m the only employee in my company here, working remotely from home, and I’m confronted with a protocol that seems ripped from a mid-century factory manual.

The questions were surreal: Do I have a first-aid kit in my remote office? How many drinks do I have on the weekend? Can I put out a fire if my desk spontaneously combusts? What's my psychological stress and my grand plan for surviving a mental breakdown? As if I’d endure endless misery for a paycheck. If my job turned into a pressure cooker, I’d leave and play Playstation 24/7 for few months or figure out something else. End of story.

It kind of got under my skin that the government thinks I can’t manage my own adult life without someone officially signing off on my mental health and where I keep my band-aids. But the real disconnect is that work in 2025 (and beyond) no longer looks like a single schedule in a single building with a single manager breathing down your neck.

Nowadays many of us can set up our own schedules and choose where we work. Maybe we code from a café in the morning and outline a presentation in the backyard by afternoon. Yet the system lumps us together with folks operating heavy machinery at midnight, as though we all face the same hazards. It’s like requiring steel-toed boots for people whose biggest risk is dropping a laptop on their foot.

A more modern approach would separate workers by genuine risk factors. If you’re a remote employee, do a quick online check. If you’re handling industrial equipment, dive deeper. That kind of flexibility matches the way real work happens now, instead of forcing everyone through a boomer-era assembly line.

Safety and well-being definitely matter, but remote workers should be spared from rummaging under the sink for a fire extinguisher they’ll never use. Public systems should adapt without scrapping everything. By focusing on genuine risks, we’d free people from pointless bureaucracy and make sure resources go to those who actually need them - no babysitting required. It’s time to trust that grown adults know if their coffee mug poses a threat to workplace morale.