During the next few years the baby-boomer generation – now on the threshold of retirement age – begin their mass exodus from active working life to an equally active age of retirement. A significant proportion of SLO's personnel is also over 50. Exceptional professional know-how and skills balance out the tilting age-structure –scales. This deep font of knowledge is something that can only be accumulated through lengthy work experience.
"One of our greatest challenges is to successfully recruit new personnel to replace all those retiring and leaving", emphasises personnel manager Meeri Repo. "The ongoing battle between companies over good employees is already fierce and the competition will only get more heated as time goes on. We shall continue to recruit motivated and professional people with the right attitude, and they will help us to stay that crucial one step ahead of our competitors", she adds.
As a member of the Federation of Finnish Commerce training committee, Meeri Repo - in the course of her work - also partakes in developing commercial training as well as degree programmes. "We aim to further the practical working life orientation of the degree programmes. This also increases one's choices. For years now it has been possible to study lower level commercial degrees in Finland. In the future there will be a parallel, vocational college level, sales degree with a Business-to-Business profile. These are just some of the ways that helps us to encourage youngsters into a commercial education and then onto work in the field of commerce.
"With our joint objective of furthering the image and desirability of the electrical wholesale work in the minds of students, we cooperate directly with all the various educational institutions as well as indirectly through the Finnish Electrical Wholesalers' Federation. We want to be a sought-after place to work as well as the preferred employer once a student has graduated. We offer summer jobs as well as work practise and graduating placements for students", Meeri Repo explains.
Mrs Repo goes on to outline the positive attitude of SLO's managers towards individual betterment. The annual training target is 5 days per person. The company has its own structured training programme, which consists of tailored specialist training for various employee groups. Additionally, there are normally several training schemes with a customised theme. For example, this year the entire sales organisation has attended sales coaching courses for 2-3 days with an improved customer contact activity in mind.
- Training and development needs of each individual are reviewed annually during developmental discussions between a superior and each member of his/her working group. Coming year's development targets and their schedule are discussed and agreed. If necessary, a skills evaluation shall be drafted at the same time wherein the outline of short and long-term job requirements and know-how are settled.
- Staff potentials are surveyed every two years or whenever necessary. Superiors evaluate their own people's wishes and potentials for more demanding or entirely new jobs. Potentials survey is an excellent tool when an individual's career rotation and development is being planning.
"Aging population adds to the competition for skilled young people, and as we are the largest electrical wholesaler in Finland, we do our best to also be the most sought-after employer", Meeri Repo emphasises.
