Case: Pirkanmaan Voimia
Case Pirkanmaan Voimia: Responsible International Recruitment helped Find Workers And Brought Families Together
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International recruitment often enters the picture when it becomes difficult to find suitable and skilled workers in Finland. This was also the case for Pirkanmaan Voimia Oy, a company providing catering and cleaning services in the Pirkanmaa region. In 2023, the company launched international recruitment in cooperation with Barona, as finding suitable labour in Finland had proven challenging.
Challenge
Finding suitable labour in Finland for the roles of cook and multi-service worker had proven challenging for Pirkanmaan Voimia, a provider of catering and cleaning services.
Solution
Barona helped find suitable international workers. Responsibility was taken into account throughout the recruitment process, and the starting point was to find workers who already had close relatives in the Pirkanmaa region. Barona took responsibility for integrating the new employees into the work community and organised, together with Arffman, language training for them and introduced them to Finnish culture. Barona also supported Voimia in training their own work community to welcome the new employees.
International recruitment was new territory for Pirkanmaan Voimia, which is why the support of an experienced partner was invaluable. Social responsibility became a central theme of the recruitment process: Barona and Pirkanmaan Voimia agreed together that one of the goals of the recruitment was also to reunite families.
– We have had a long-standing cooperation with Barona, but at the beginning of 2023 we launched international recruitment. Barona handled the entire recruitment process, including all the paperwork. Our responsibility was mainly the induction of the new employees, says HR Manager Katriina Bergmann.
– We aimed to find employees who were motivated to move specifically to the Pirkanmaa region, for example because of a spouse or close relative already living there. It is also in our interest that the employees are committed to working in the Tampere area and at Pirkanmaan Voimia, says Bergmann.
In cooperation with Barona, we succeeded in reuniting many families, which was truly important to us. As a result of the collaboration, we hired 20 new Filipino employees.
– Katriina Bergmann, HR Manager, Pirkanmaan Voimia Oy
Barona ensures the smooth integration of international talent
In addition to managing the recruitment process, Barona took responsibility for the smooth integration of the new employees into the work community. Before their arrival in Finland, Barona arranged Finnish language training for the employees and introduced them to Finnish culture.
– During the project, no particular challenges were encountered — everything went smoothly. Barona made sure that the new employees were well prepared to move to Finland and kept us continuously up to date on the progress of the process. We also received support from Barona in training our own work community, so that the new employees could be welcomed in an exemplary manner, says Bergmann.
Barona is a reliable partner, and that is extremely important to us. The cooperation has been pleasant and straightforward, and we have always received help whenever it has been needed.
– Katriina Bergmann, HR Manager, Pirkanmaan Voimia Oy
An international work community is a richness
At Pirkanmaan Voimia, the significance of international workers is seen as growing even further in the future. Already, the team has found happy, open and hardworking employees who enrich the entire work community.
– I have been pleasantly surprised by the incredible people we found to work with us. They have adapted well to our work community, and I have heard wonderful stories about how they have been included outside of work, for example joining sauna evenings and winter swimming. I can warmly recommend Barona as a partner for projects like this, Bergmann concludes.
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