Competent specialists from all over Finland

Hybrid work has become commonplace, and more and more Hansel employees may now live so far away from the office that working from home is their main approach. For example, development manager Kati Ahola lives in Kemi, procurement specialist Leo Ahtilinna in Jyväskylä and category manager Jussi Känsälä in Lapua. They are all very pleased that working for Hansel is possible despite their places of residence, and none of them have felt that the distance has caused any sense of alienation in the work community. Kati, Leo and Jussi come to the office approximately once a month.

Kati Ahola. Leo Ahtilinna. Jussi Känsälä.

In addition to an induction arranged by one’s own immediate supervisor and close colleagues, Hansel arranges an induction day a few times a year, so that new employees can come together and get to know the different units.

“I can’t praise the induction I received enough. The first few days were spent face-to-face at the office with my supervisor and a colleague, and then we continued in Teams before the joint induction sessions where I met other new Hansel employees and heard presentations by people across the organisation. I immediately felt that I could always ask about things, and I could easily reach my colleagues,” Jussi praises.

Functional tools guarantee smooth working from home

Hansel employees Jussi, Kati and Leo, who work from home most of the time, emphasise that working mostly remotely does not necessarily suit everyone, but would warmly recommend it for those who enjoy being on their own and have a good and peaceful place to work at home.

“I don’t feel lonely at all. I usually work on projects with someone else from the team, and I also get to visit clients to train them, for example,” says Kati, who works in procurement development.

Jussi and Leo, who work in joint procurement, also work closely with other Hansel employees. A category manager forms a project team with the project manager and a lawyer, and a procurement specialist assists the users of joint procurement procedures together with a lawyer. You quickly get to know your colleagues when you work in a rotating team, and new people are always introduced on the intranet and at employee information sessions. Sometimes you talk to your own team members on Teams just to catch up.

“You quickly get to know your colleagues when you work in a rotating team.”

Leo says that during his two years at Hansel, he has never once had a request for a face-to-face meeting from a customer; instead, all meetings can be efficiently arranged remotely. Naturally, a face-to-face meeting could be organised, if necessary.

“There is always a clear goal for tendering projects, and it is possible to move towards it even when working from home. Personal presence would probably be more emphasised in development work. And my customers are also located all over Finland, which means that this way of working is quite natural in that sense as well,” Leo says.

Train conveniently brings you directly to the office

Kati has the longest commute, which is why she shares a flat with an acquaintance in Helsinki, almost within sight of Postitalo. Kati points out that one’s family situation must naturally be such that spending a few days at the office is possible. Jussi and Leo, who live about three hours away, can also visit the office during the day, but sometimes they also choose to stay the night in Helsinki. All of them prefer to travel by train.

“You can already start work on the train. My supervisor has done a great job of scheduling the tasks that require the presence of the entire team for consecutive days, which works very well for those of us who have a longer commute,” says Leo, adding that he is not the only long-distance traveller in his unit.

All three feel that their decision to apply for a job at Hansel and work remotely was a great success and praise the employer for the smart way of enabling procurement specialists to work from home. Leo says that he had been thinking about moving to the Helsinki metropolitan area, but now there has been no need to do so, as working from Jyväskylä has been going so well. Jussi, Kati and Leo point out that the way they work also gives them a lot more free time, as they are already “at work” first thing in the morning.