A company employing well over a thousand people can still operate like a family business. Elomatic develops its operations with a long-term perspective and by listening to employee well-being. Employees are offered interesting career paths, flexibility, and also fun. Well-being fosters commitment – and at the same time, results improve.
Elomatic, headquartered in Turku, designs solutions that improve the well-being of the environment and people. The company follows the same principles both when working for clients and when considering its own staff: people's well-being comes first.
Founded in the 1970s, the engineering and consulting company Elomatic has grown from a small family business into an international player with offices in 20 different countries. Its largest units outside Finland are in India and Poland.
About 950 of the staff work in different cities in Finland, the rest abroad. It has clients in over 80 countries. In Turku, the company is strongly involved in the maritime industry, but its areas of operation also include mechanical and equipment engineering, processes, as well as energy and the pharma sector.
“Even though we are an international company, our way of working is still like that of a family business. This is reflected, for example, in our management culture. Humanity and long-term perspective are essential to our operations. It is clear to us that it is through people that we succeed and achieve,” says Elomatic's Senior Vice President HR Marja Salenius-Ranki.
“The most important thing is that we have the right people in the right roles and that they feel good. That is when efficient results are also achieved.”
It is part of Elomatic’s way of operating that every month's figures are not over-analyzed, but rather that operations are developed with a long-term perspective.
“Of course, we follow the figures and take corrective measures if necessary. However, we don't put euros first in everything; the big picture is what counts. Every employee is a brand ambassador for their company. If employees are happy, it is the best possible marketing for the company. In my opinion, employee satisfaction tells the most about a company,” Salenius-Ranki reflects.
She emphasizes that promises must be kept. If a company claims to care about employee well-being, there must be real actions behind it, not just words.
At Elomatic, this is invested in at many levels. One of the key things is that every employee's job description should be meaningful and offer new challenges. The company also supports employee development and training.
– With us, it is possible to advance in your career or, if you wish, make lateral moves to another unit. The meaningfulness of the work is also important: here you get to design things that genuinely impact the environment, sustainability, and well-being.
Significant factors also include various forms of flexibility that help balance work and family life. Hybrid work is an everyday occurrence at Elomatic, and employees also have the possibility to work, for example, a shortened work week if needed.
Employees are also offered, among other things, comprehensive insurance for both work and leisure time. In addition, every office has an active social committee that organizes diverse programs supported by the workplace, such as theater, sports, and boat trips. The entire company staff gathers together about every year and a half.
“For example, we have had our own company festival, Elorock, in Ruissalo, Turku. Bands from each of our offices played there. Another time, we organized Beach Parties at Tripla in the middle of winter. We have a fantastic team that throws themselves into activities,” Salenius-Ranki praises.
Studies on working life have shown that the work community and good colleagues are the most effective at committing people to a workplace. The reasons for changing jobs, on the other hand, are often leadership, supervisors, and their actions.
“Supervisors have a huge impact on the spirit of the workplace, as they define the company's operating methods. We support leadership in many ways. In addition, our supervisors have repeatedly received good feedback in staff surveys,” Salenius-Ranki says.
At Elomatic, staff surveys also include a survey and interview conducted for everyone leaving the company to identify the reasons for their departure.
“As a general rule, we have long-term employment relationships. It has been nice to notice that even those who change jobs mostly recommend Elomatic as an employer. That is a great recognition.”
Elomatic
Industry: engineering and consulting company focusing on solutions that improve the well-being of people and the environment.
Founded: 1970
Employees: 1300
Revenue: €102M (2022)