People
People are VEO’s most valuable asset, now and in the future
In 2021, VEO took many actions as an employer to support its employees in their work. Although COVID-precautions and restrictions stubbornly remained from the year before and set limitations to teamwork and physical meetings, VEO still managed to effectively create and implement its own hybrid work model. VEO also successfully increased internal communication, training and information on many levels and started to plan for future work life needs.
VEO’s HR Director Piia Tuliniemi looks back on 2021 and sees a year of good development, active communication, and a positive forward-looking attitude. VEO ’s HR unit had been active on many fronts when it came to developing VEO as an attractive employer, which is in line with VEO’s strategic development as a growing international company with a strong focus on the wellbeing of its personnel. This work was implemented in spite of the remaining COVID-restrictions and precautions. One of the measures taken during this time was to create VEO’s own hybrid work model as soon as the strictest restrictions were lifted in autumn 2021.
“For us, it was clear from the beginning that one fixed model would not be suitable for everyone. This is why we created a flexible hybrid model to serve our employees in different teams and roles. The model emphasises the role of the team leaders in identifying their team’s needs, whereas the ground rules are commonly set by the team itself”, Tuliniemi explains.
Hybrid model increased equality
The team supervisors were supported in the implementation of the model through VEO arranged training in team leadership and people management. Attention was paid to questions, such as how to make all team members feel that they are equally visible. The feedback from the organisation overall has been positive. The hybrid model is also seen as an advantage for recruitment as a job seeker’s geographical location no longer becomes an obstacle for hiring.
Naturally, there was also a back side to the increase in remote working. People from all over the organisation expressed a longing to actually meet each other face-to-face.
“Luckily, the situation after the summer allowed our teams to strengthen the sense of togetherness by planning and realising their own team-specific recreational days”, says Tuliniemi with satisfaction.
Open communication is the key
The lack of face-to-face meetings also made VEO enhance its procedures for internal communication, information, and feedback. For supervisors, for instance, a forum with regular meetings was established to allow them to exchange experiences and raise issues, such as personal training needs. In addition, the entire personnel were informed about the actualities and company economy, at least quarterly, and several surveys were carried out among the personnel using the employee Net Promotor Score (eNPS) metric.
“We want to hear our employees more often than before and make more targeted surveys when needed. The eNPS metric also allows us to measure the personnel’s engagement to VEO as an employer”, says Tuliniemi.
In 2021, VEO planned and launched a significant organisational change, due to its new strategy 2025 targets. Many people’s daily work was affected as the processes and ways of working were unified throughout the VEO group, so the communication was kept open.
“Many of our employees were involved in the planning, and everybody was informed about the upcoming changes. In addition, our supervisors received information from occupational healthcare about the psychological effects of change to better understand the range of feelings that a change can cause”, Tuliniemi says.
Targeted training and proactivity
According to VEO’s strategy 2025 targets, the prerequisite for VEO’s future growth is that the employees’ competences and skills are continuously maintained and developed to meet the needs of tomorrow. To anticipate these needs and to be able to plan targeted trainings for its personnel, VEO has been in cooperation with educational institutions and students for years already and is also a member of a competence committee, appointed by the Ostrobothnia Chamber of Commerce, from the beginning of the year 2022.
“We need to be proactive and take care of our employees, who truly make our competitive edge. That is why we in 2021 were willing to make new local agreements to benefit our employees and offer even more flexibility. We also started planning a renewal of our office premises to attract both new and old talent to a modern work environment”, concludes Tuliniemi.
