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12 Sept 2001
Press release

For immediate release

The Finnish Workplace Development Programme involves 100,000 Finns

Projects are supported by experts and financed with FIM 140 million

From 1996 to September 2001, the programme has allocated expert support to 450 projects involving nearly 1,000 workplaces and 100,000 people. The total sum allocated to the projects is FIM 140 million (EUR 23 million). Projects are launched in virtually all branches and workplaces of all sizes. The key form of activity in the programme is to support the development of companies, public bodies and other work organizations.

FINWDP gives support to projects which concentrate on one of the following focus areas: promoting learning-supporting forms of work organization, developing human resource management, improving functioning of work communities and promoting equal opportunities work communities. The range of projects is broad, because they start on the initiative of workplaces. Typical targets include promoting team-based work organization, internal cooperation within work communities, multi-skilling of the personnel and company-to-company networking. Supporting work ability of the ageing workforce and advancing innovative use of new technologies in the development of work organization are two increasingly important focus areas for the future.

FINWDP lowers the threshold for workplaces to start experimenting new, innovative practices. The projects, especially in the cases when research is linked to development, create new knowledge and know-how, which has also broader applicability. The programme provides forums, such as seminars, workshops, publications and data banks (www.mol.fi/tyke), where workplaces, researchers and consultants can learn from each other’s experiences.

The leading branches are the metal and engineering industry, and the municipal welfare and health care sector. One of the preconditions for expert support is that the personnel play an active role in the projects and participate on broad front in their implementation.

More Jobs in the Information Society: Integration of the Old and New Economies

The recent high growth of productivity in Finland owes to the rapid productivity development in the electronics industry, telecommunications and banking sector. In many other branches the development has been much slower. Integration of the ‘new’ and ‘old’ economy is still on its early phase in Finland, though Finland has gained international reputation in recent years, owing to Nokia and Finland’s high penetration of cellular phones and the Internet.

The main challenge in the integration of the ‘new’ and ‘old’ economy is not so much to find new applications of technology, but to bring about change in management cultures and the way work organizations are structured.

FINWDP promotes adaptation of workplaces to the challenge of the new information economy in several projects. For example, the ELVA project is a joint initiative of eight leading Finnish electronics manufacturers who have joined forces with a view to creating tools for managing quality in dynamic production networks. The KONEALI project builds Internet applications tailored to the needs of SMEs in subcontracting businesses. The aim of the Tel Lapland project is to build a comprehensive telemedicine system between the central hospital and 16 local health care centres in Lapland. A Finnish telecom company Elisa Communications is creating and experimenting, together with researchers from the University of Helsinki, new knowledge management tools for knowledge-intensive production.

FINWDP Continues until 2003

The Finnish Government, together with the social partners, has renewed working life from 1996 onwards with the help of the Finnish Workplace Development Programme (FINWDP). The programme, which belongs to the governmental programme of Prime Minister Lipponen, encourages and supports workplace development with a view to improving effectiveness and the quality of working life. The foundation for activities of the programme is utilization of research in development and improving of knowledge on workplace development.

The programme is coordinated by the Finnish Ministry of Labour in cooperation with the central employers’ associations, trade unions and entrepreneurs’ organization. At regional level, Employment and Economic Development Centres and Occupational Health and Safety Inspectorates are involved in the implementation of the programme.

FINWDP takes actively part in the work of European Work Organization Network (EWON), an expert network coordinated by DG for Employment and Social Affairs of the European Commission. This provides good opportunities to make use other countries’ experiences in workplace development in Finland as well as to make Finnish experiences in this area known to a wider audience in other European countries.