Aiming for a positive workday experience

At Vantaa Energy, the employees’ wellbeing, safety and continuous possibility to develop one’s competence are a key part of development. The energy company wants to be a modern workplace where issues are dealt with in a constantly improved and more effective way. Drawn up in 2021, the strategy focuses on responsibility for people and their wellbeing and occupational safety.

Working capacity is a theme we invest in by a variety of means.

– When we are well and refreshed, we have the capacity to carry out our duties, take care of our competence and contribute towards common goals and matters. The promotion of wellbeing means different things for people because they may be in different life situations and have different preferences, says HR Director Maarit Rantala.

According to the personnel survey, the company has succeeded in its targets. The target score of personnel satisfaction in 2025 is four on a scale of 1 to 5.

– The scores for 2021 in almost every question are close to four, and the functioning of teams and the workplace community already exceeds the target scale. In other words, we are on the right track. People are the most important resource of a company, and therefore this is continuous development and progress that we do together.

Occupational safety is everyone’s responsibility

The safety targets are also ambitious in the company: the goal is 0 occupational accidents by 2025. In addition to the occupational safety organisation, Vantaa Energy also has occupational safety teams that convene regularly and develop occupational safety in their respective areas.

– The objective is a safe workplace that observes occupational safety, operates proactively, learns from deviations and develops the ways of operation. Increasing occupational safety is everyone’s responsibility. At Vantaa Energy, every employee has specified personal targets, e.g. on occupational safety discussions, observations and assessments, says Safety and Quality Manager Virpi Tienhaara.

During 2021, the accident frequency almost halved compared with the previous year.

– Despite the positive result, there were a total of four occupational accidents, one of which required longer absence from work. Typically, the accidents are sprains and strains caused by a fall. Work towards accident-free working days continues. The occupational safety teams enable rapid reaction to potential shortcomings, as well as development of matters.

Young people are our future

Vantaa Energy hires several dozens of summer employees each year, offering young people an opportunity to gain work experience.

– We are a partner of the Responsible Summer Job campaign by Oikotie for the seventh year running. With the campaign, we commit to complying with the six principles of a responsible summer job: good applicant experience, meaningful work, orientation and guidance, fairness and impartiality, reasonable wages, and a written contract of employment and references. We focus especially on orientation to make sure that the start of the summer job and work performance go as well and safely as possible. Naturally, the objective is that the work experience of the summer employee is as successful as possible and that we are an attractive potential employer for them also in the future, says HR expert Riikka Pelli.

No previous work experience is required of the summer job applicants. The energy company employs young people with various backgrounds, emphasising that an enthusiastic and learning attitude has been the most decisive factor.

Attitude, skills and competence are also crucial in managerial work. The company has focused on the management training of managers, collegial interaction and communications to ensure that the working day experience has a wide impact on the customers, new experts, the general atmosphere, and wellbeing.  

– The targets specified in our strategy are achieved through seamlessly good cooperation – a better working day is down to all of us. No one can achieve great results on their own, they require everyone’s commitment, input and cooperation, Maarit Rantala concludes.