📋 Tender Overview
Well-being at work and competence provide opportunities to increase productivity at workplaces. This requires strategic management that integrates well-being, competence and cooperation as an essential part of business development. This sums up the main message of the recent report compiling a situational picture of working life.
Several statistics, studies and other data sources describing the state of productivity, well-being at work and continuous learning in working life have been used to build the situational picture. The summary provides a good basis when the Ministry of Economic Affairs and Employment and the Ministry of Social Affairs and Health begin to draw up a working life development strategy extending into the 2030s together with labour market organisations.
"Building the best possible future working life requires a common understanding and commitment to the long-term goals and means of developing working life. This is what we are aiming for when we launch a joint tripartite discussion on the new working life strategy based on research data in the autumn," says Minister of Employment Arto Satonen.
"Many indicators show that the health of working-age people has improved in the long term. However, experiences of the mental strain of work are common. Especially mental health-related sickness absences among people under the age of 35 have become more common. This trend must be reversed," says Minister of Social Security Sanni Grahn-Laasonen.
Research data clarifies the picture of productivity
Despite the average improvement in the quality of working life, there are too few companies in Finland that are at the forefront of high productivity. The starting points for successful innovation activities are leadership that strengthens the culture of learning, broad involvement of personnel, cooperation networks with research organisations and utilisation of digitalisation. Investment in research and development is also needed.
The importance of human capital as the main source of economic growth is undeniable. It is therefore worrying that competence development has not strengthened in working life in recent years. The skills of Finnish adults are top class internationally, but with retirement, competence disappears from the labour market. At the same time, the educational level of young people entering working life has lagged behind and their skills have weakened. ICT investments in Finland have lagged behind peer countries, even though they are of great importance for productivity.
In a healthy work community, employees experience work engagement and learn new things
By many indicators, the health of the working-age population has improved in the long term. Finns feel that their work is meaningful. The atmosphere of trust and the experience of fairness and equal treatment in the workplace have been strengthened. On the other hand, experiences of mental heaviness, stress and burnout at work are common.
Individual well-being at work and in society is promoted by participation in working life and the related opportunities to influence, do things together and learn.
