The National Workplace Programme, which is a part of Finland's National Employment Plan, was launched with workers' and employers' organisations, and will be allocated further financial resources in the near future.8 The overall goals of the Programme are to boost productivity and the quality of working life and to improve the wellbeing of employees by furthering full use and development of staff know-how and initiative in the Finnish workplace.
The Programme's group of experts is made up of the representatives of the central labour market organisations, the Confederation of Private Entrepreneurs, and the Working Environment Division and the Occupational Safety and Health Division of the Ministry of Social Affairs and Health. It decides which projects to fund (up to 50%). Projects must be workplace initiated, and workplaces can participate either individually or jointly. Both management and staff have to be committed to the project's aims and to carrying it out in co-operation with all the stakeholders concerned. So far the Programme has |
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involved some 300 projects and 500 workplaces. The following figures are drawn from an interest group survey that was carried out in November-December 1998. They highlight the Programme's success:
*Nine out of ten respondents saw the project as necessary; 95 % of respondents reported that effective management, the working ability of employees, and coping at work are the most important targets for workplace development in Finland;
*90 % of those whose project had come to end by the time of the survey said that the project had improved team-work;
*More than 70 % said that the occupational skills and co-operation between management and staff had improved;
*Two out of three contended that productivity had improved;
*The entrepreneurs considered the time they had devoted to their projects to be a profitable investment. |
