Lõhmus's promise triggered a great deal of public reaction, and the Estonian Labour Inspectorate commented that it does not see how such mass replacement of employees could be carried out under Estonia's current labor legislation.

Economic analyst Koppel, who himself has worked in the financial sector for years, notes that this sector is by nature a stressful working environment. At the same time, if one considers why people want to work there in the first place, it is precisely because it offers the opportunity to earn quite good money.

"There is nothing strange about expecting results, growth, and a constant — positive — level of pressure in a stressful environment. I don't want to use this word, but it seems to me that we've gone soft," he said.

According to Koppel, the reaction following Lõhmus's interview reflects today's reality in Estonia, where there are about 700,000 employees, but the population is aging and several thousand people leave the labor market each year. "This labor resource is constantly shrinking, unemployment is low, and that creates a situation where labor feels more comfortable than in many other countries."

But in a bank that is trying to grow beyond Estonia, the competitive landscape for employees is completely different.

"First, global competition is intensifying. Second, we need to think about what artificial intelligence is doing. AI tends to have a strong impact precisely on higher middle-class, office-based jobs that are well paid," Koppel noted.

"I suspect that we will have no choice but to return to the mindset that life is hard and stressful. Somehow we need to get back to the idea that an owner expects the company to grow, because otherwise the steamroller of competition will, in one way or another, run us all over."

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