Personnel

New specialists and perspectives

Our operations are run by an expert organisation, which, with 30 employees, is small in relation to the scale of the company’s business. In our model of operations, the organisation is flexible and agile, and our operations are based on collaboration with external partners. Our key cooperation partners include construction companies, maintenance and facility service companies and property development consultants.

In 2019, SYK was divided into four teams: campus development and marketing; property development and maintenance; customer relations and services; as well as business management that includes, among other things, financing and communication. During the first quarter, we transferred maintenance operations in our organisation from the customer relations and services unit to the property development and maintenance unit.

In June, our organisation was strengthened by two new employees, when we hired a third property development manager to be responsible for investment projects and a service coordinator (a new position) to be responsible for the operation of service offerings to customers. In addition, a fresh graduate hired through Student Work started with us in the autumn, and the intention is to make this person a SYK employee next year. During the year, two primary school pupils and three second-grade students were familiarised with working life at the Campus Club as trainees for a total of 18 weeks.

There was a significant change in the management of our company when Sanna Sianoja started as the new CEO at the beginning of November and Mauno Sievänen, our CEO ever since the company was established, retired at the end of the year.

At the forefront of the sector through active training

Our HR management is flexible, and we have a low hierarchical structure. Our focus is on actions and results. Our view is that HR management must ensure equal treatment and uniform models of operation. This includes events and training sessions for the personnel, internal communications and development activities.

Our employees are encouraged to seek training and maintain their professional competence.  We produce a training programme for each year. In 2019, the training intended for the entire personnel focussed on improving the knowledge of financial matters and on utilising electronic tools. With ambassadors selected from each administrative team, the SYK Academy brings the research and development activities closer to the needs of business operations and presents in the monthly RDI afternoons the topical research and events in the sector to the entire personnel comprehensively and in a multi-disciplinary fashion.

Development discussions are held, at least, once a year for all our employees. The discussions include the setting of personal targets and goals, based on the company’s strategy. We discuss personnel-related matters, occupational health and safety matters, as well as surveys and reports in company-wide personnel meetings or team meetings.

Well-being at daily work and celebration

In a close-knit expert organisation, each individual’s contribution and expertise is important to the overall performance. We are aware of the important impact that the well-being of personnel has on the everyday activities of the working community.

A reliable occupational healthcare partner and a comprehensive OHC agreement ensure that our employees have every chance to maintain their health. Our occupational healthcare has also partnered us when tailoring our personnel survey, processing the results and planning the actions. In 2018 and 2019, we implemented personnel surveys that were totally tailored to SYK’s needs, and the results of these surveys produced positive developments in terms of more reasonable workloads, the pace of work and work-related challenges, as well as in the working community atmosphere and cooperation at the place of work.

We set annual targets in cooperation with our occupational healthcare partner for maintaining our employees’ ability to work and promoting their health. We support proactive measures aimed at maintaining the ability to work and we organise employee training regularly and as necessary.

All of our permanent employees are covered by an incentive scheme. Our employee benefits include lunch, culture and exercise benefits, as well as personnel club activities.

In the spring, we had a SYK personnel day in Lappeenranta and viewed, among other things, the basic renovation project that had been completed at the university, and heard latest news from the university before recreation and free-form mingling. Furthermore, we celebrated the company’s tenth anniversary in the autumn, together with our personnel and a large number of guests, paying homage to our retiring CEO. We also invited to the events representatives of core partners with whom SYK works in close cooperation on a day-to-day basis to achieve its goals.