Leading articles
22.5.2013 The employee is the most valuable asset
"All work is valuable". This phrase is heard repeatedly. From this it follows that everyone who works is valuable. The general goal is to develop work, and to improve productivity and efficiency. But how do we treat these valuable employees? Too often they are burned out and thrown away when they are no longer needed. Why aren't employees appreciated as much as services, products and organizations?
27.2.2013 Air is one aspect of safety
You are most likely reading this year's first issue of Telma indoors, at your workplace and during working hours. Someone may read the journal in a train, bus, or tram. At the same time, you are breathing the air around you.
4.12.2012 A lower threshold from school to work
Getting started is difficult in everything. At a job interview, you are asked for work experience and discontinuations in the curriculum.
In spite of the title, this is not Telma’s big carnival issue. Instead, 20 years ago, Rio de Janeiro was the site of a large conference on global climate change. In June 2012 the results of 20 years of work were evaluated at a meeting in the same city.
23.5.2012 Let’s get going
The goal of the ongoing national strategy to develop work life is that Finnish work life will be the best in Europe by the year 2020. Once again, it is being investigated why work processes don’t go forward fluently, and why work is not meaningful. Why doesn’t productivity increase and why do people get exhausted in work life?
29.2.2012 Everyone can influence safety at work
The labour market has become increasingly international. The spectrum of working conditions is vast. Workers travel from one country to another.
30.11.2011 Developing work through art
I have noted that many of my collaborators in work life have been involved with art at some stage of their life. Many have played some musical instrument in their youth, written poems, acted in an amateur theatre, made pottery or painted with oil colours. The most persistent ones have continued their hobby also during their hectic work career. I admire them.
21.9.2011 Is basic safety work fading away?
It seems that occupational safety has all but been wiped out from the new Government Programme; it is mentioned so rarely. It appears to be sufficient that the occupational safety legislation was amended in 2002, and therefore the matter doesn’t have to be constantly emphasized. Hopefully this is not a sign for workplaces, which now seem to concentrate strongly on promoting well-being at work.
25.5.2011 Trust is most important
People’s well-being at work is everyone’s privilege and everyone is entitled to it. Everyone can influence it, but anyone can also spoil it. Occupational well-being is not a temporary trend, it is something permanent that stays with us. We need to put effort into it every day. The measures are often small steps, but the direction must be clear to all, because together we improve and maintain our well-being at work.
2.3.2011 Editorial
There is a lot of public discussion about the work life of tomorrow. This issue of Telma analyzes the impact of the young Y-generation on work life. It is easy to think that the young people will replace the large age cohorts overnight. It is also tempting to think that tomorrow’s jobs and workplaces could in an instant become innovative, and be based on an entirely different work culture. However, there is a risk that we may be giving a wrong signal to the young people who are just entering work life.
2.12.2010 Big and little success stories
The theme of this year’s last issue of Telma is productivity, a topic of worldwide interest, as illustrated by an international conference on productivity held in Turkey in November. The following examples are from the presentations given there.
23.9.2010 How to motivate people to stay at work?
Some answers to this question are found in the current issue of Telma. More answers can be found at your own workplace, if you just ask.
27.5.2010 All services from one counter
In its report, Jukka Ahtela’s work group agreed on the following corrective measures for Finnish work life. Their goal is to lengthen the work careers of Finns and to increase the average retirement age. The Centre for Occupational Safety will carry out several of the measures proposed in the report, such as broadening existing services on well-being at work and increasing resources.
8.3.2010 Utilizing differences
We are now in the same situation in which many of the EU member states have been for a long time: Finnish workplaces employ increasing numbers of people from different cultures, speaking many different languages, of different ages, different religions, and with different sexual inclinations.
11.12.2009 Preventive action and trust
Occupational safety concentrates on foreseeing hazardous situations. Also trust among the collaboration partners is a must. The occupational safety delegates and safety chiefs are in a key position in building an atmosphere of trust, but the role of the occupational health services is growing continuously.
25.9.2009 Unbroken and longer work careers
There is general agreement about the need to lengthen work careers. Everyone says they support the goal, but do individual workers and employers really want to lengthen the work career, or simply patch up the ‘leaking spots in the ship’.
28.5.2009 The key role of management and leadership
The management of an organization and the leadership practices play a central role in the well-being of the personnel.
6.3.2009 Risks of exposure
When we speak of the exposure agents in work life, we often think of chemicals, radiation, mould and dust, noise, vibration and temperature. The list is long, and depending on our occupation, some factor can become critical. If exposure to it is not controlled, we may fall ill or even die.
4.12.2008 Good leadership energizes
Twenty years ago no one talked about not being able to cope with one’s work. Is the present generation so weak that people have problems in coping with their work, even when they work in a clean indoor environment?
3.9.2008 Telma 3/08: Controlling risks
Living and doing things entail risks, but they can be controlled with the help of purposeful planning.
30.5.2008 Telma 2/2008: Fresh new winds in occupational health services
We who are employed are used to getting our health services mostly from our occupational health care unit. Already 80% of workplaces offer this benefit in addition to the legally stipulated services. Many organizations that offer occupational health services have recently been transformed into profit-seeking enterprises, some of which are on the stock market or in the possession of investment funds.
6.3.2008 Telma 1/2008: Work smarter, not harder
What is a good workplace like? Everyone has their own opinion about that. Factors worth mentioning are, for instance, the security of the job, fair treatment, equality, opportunities for development, good workmates, a healthy and pleasant work environment, as well as sufficient wages.
