Personnel and environment

Year 2005 was eventful for Elisa in terms of personnel management: the integration of One Elisa continued on many fronts.

Personnel survey

A personnel survey was carried out in January as well as November. The response rate for both surveys exceeded 75%. On the basis of the January survey, Elisa identified personnel motivation and well-being, a goal-oriented operating method and reinforcing the One Elisa model as group-level goals. A decision was also made to focus resources on the development of target-oriented operations and leadership.

In the November survey the measured indices for goal-oriented operations and leadership showed a statistically meaningful improvement. Elisa employees were particularly satisfied with the work of their immediate supervisors. The respondents also felt that the company responded to changes in the business environment with sufficient speed.

Although the well-being at work index calculated on the basis of the survey responses showed a marked improvement, the survey revealed a need for further improvements in well-being issues. The well-being work group prepared development plans for various areas.

Measures targeted at improving the employee?s well-being will be developed in connection with the employee pension insurance company Varma. The measures will focus on improving the smooth management and meaningfulness of daily responsibilities in particular.

A changing operating environment places special emphasis on compliance with the company?s values. A total of 27 employees nominated by their colleagues received awards for their exemplary input in translating Elisa?s values into practical work.

The nominations were accompanied with characterisations such as ?the key words describing this person?s work are productivity, development, ability to co-operate and readiness to help others? or ?able to see the customer?s point of view and question existing operating methods and models, as well as propose even radical measures for enhancing the operations?.

Promoting equality

The act on the equality of women and men was amended as of 1 June 2005. Employers must now initiate equality-promoting measures according to a separate equality plan, which was to have been completed by the end of 2005. Elisa?s equality plan focused on three issues:

• Payroll distribution: salary differences between men and women
• Structure of administrative and executive management: number of women in management and leadership positions
• Distribution of men and women according to job requirement and salary classification

Elisa had already set down its equality principles, as well as instructions for preventing harassment in the workplace, in 2004.

At the end of the year the personnel of Saunalahti Group Oyj were welcomed to the Elisa family, even if still as a separate company. They were provided with access to Elisa?s intranet and plans for joint development events were begun.

Development in personnel and activities

In Elisa, responsibility for the development of competence, the working environment and operations is shared by managers, line management and centralised functions.

Development is aligned with the needs of the business and the working environment. In addition to the business outlook, the personnel survey and objective and development appraisals provide an important basis for the development of competence, operations and the working environment.

Elisa supported leadership by providing training for new supervisors. The training modules involved leadership, business, finance, employment legislation and employment relationships.

The number of employees who entered supervisor training in 2005 was 75. A further 70 employees began an 18-month training programme tailored for more experienced supervisors and experts with development responsibilities. The programme will lead to a specialist qualification in management.

All of Elisa?s supervisors attended a management seminar, where agenda covered topical challenges concerning Elisa?s business and leadership. Supervisors were also provided with extensive training in topical issues concerning employment contracts.

The fifth Development Center programme for potential key personnel was brought to a close in the autumn. The programme consisted of Learning Forums focusing on topical management themes and Discovery Group sessions offering a more in-depth review of the identified themes.

The first Executive Masterclass, which targeted the present key personnel, ended in June. A total of some 80 Elisa people attended these programmes for key and potential key personnel. Planning of the new key potential programme began in the autumn.

The unit-specific training programmes focused on themes such as customer account management, sales development and reinforcement of technical competence. Process development and related information system development projects resulted in several training sessions and workshops during the year.

The Elisa Academy organised by Elisa R&D gathered Elisa employees together around various themes related to technology and the changing business environment. The customer service center personnel and sales teams were provided with continuous training on products and operating methods. Re-training projects were also launched.

Basic skills, such as IT, telecommunications, language and project skills, were improved by using mainly external service providers and partners.

Co-operation

Co-operation continued to be lively and regular within Elisa as a whole and within the different business operations. The harmonisation of guidelines concerning daily work and personnel benefits was largely completed during the year.

Together with personnel representatives, Elisa planned and determined measures in preparation for situations requiring staff reduction; the planned measures exceed the statutory requirements. The guiding principle is that Elisa will shoulder its responsibilities in situations involving personnel reductions, and individuals will not be left without support.

Corporate responsibility

Industrial safety co-operation within Elisa took the form of work environment groups established in the business units and operating areas. The groups serve as statutory safety committees.

Numerical indicators were developed for the purpose of monitoring the realisation of working environment targets.

Elisa?s work environment committee, which comprised nine industrial safety delegates, an occupational health care representative and two employer representatives, reviewed the working environment development targets for the entire company. A separately nominated well-being group plans measures supporting well-being at work.

Elisa launched a project aimed at surveying and reporting on the quality of interior air in the workplace. Elisa is involved in the development of a method for analysing industrial safety risks in the electronics and IT industry.

Environmental responsibility

Elisa carries out high-quality and environmentally friendly telecommunications services.

The aims of the company?s confirmed environmental policy are:

• to promote sustainable development at the local, national and international levels as part of competitive business;
• to commit to protecting the environment affected by Elisa?s operations and to take environmental, quality and safety considerations into account in its decision-making and management systems;
• to comply with national and international environmental regulations.

Elisa monitored the environmental impact of its operations and continuously strove to improve their environmental friendliness. Elisa took environmental concerns into account when making decisions concerning suppliers and subcontractors, and improved awareness of environmental issues among the personnel by openly and regularly providing information on environmental effects.

Elisa?s environment group collected data on the environmental load of energy, water and fuel consumption, and waste, etc.

Elisa also followed the development of environmental legislation and increased environmental awareness among the personnel by directing the operations that contribute to the environmental load.

The principal projects initiated in 2005 were concerned with the development of the environmental load data reporting system, improving waste management in Elisa?s office buildings, developing the production waste processes, and increasing the employees? environmental awareness. Elisa organised an environmental seminar for the employees working with these issues.

Elisa?s outlets serve as collection points for the customers? electrical goods and electronic scrap waste material from Elisa?s operations. Co-operation with the environmental management company Lassila &Tikanoja plc has taken various forms. Sorting of waste material in Elisa involves a total of 18 substances, of which only four cannot be recycled. Elisa collaborates with Vodafone and the European Telecommunications Network Operators? Association (ETNO) on environmental issues.