Operations and strategy
1.4 Bank of Finland voted one of the most inspiring places to work in 2021
In 2021, Bank of Finland staff continued as a general rule to work from home (teleworking). During the COVID-19 pandemic, wellbeing at work has seen an emphasis on clear communication by the employer and an enhanced significance for the workplace as a community and for rest and the recharging of batteries. The good results of the Bank’s staff surveys were widely recognised.
At the Bank of Finland, we have 378 staff working in the areas of monetary policy and research, financial markets, banking operations and currency supply.
In addition to our core activities, the Bank also has strong in-house expertise in areas such as IT, personnel and financial administration, communications and financial literacy, and language services.
The average age of Bank of Finland staff is 46.5 years. Of total staff numbers, 47% are women and 53% are men. The Bank of Finland provides a pleasant working environment, and staff are committed to their work. People stay at the Bank for on average of 15.7 years.
Regular teleworking underlined the importance of clear communications and the need for a sense of community
On account of the COVID-19 pandemic, the Bank of Finland’s staff continued teleworking as a general rule. In the office we took care only of those functions that could not be carried out at a distance.
The joint crisis organisation of the Bank of Finland and the Financial Supervisory Authority (FIN-FSA) constantly monitored the COVID-19 situation and communicated the employer’s policies and guidelines regularly to the staff.
The Bank of Finland monitored staff wellbeing at work during the pandemic by use of a survey to this end. The survey was conducted in February, and the response rate among Bank of Finland and FIN-FSA staff was 83%.
The staff felt that the employer’s COVID communications and guidance had been clear. There was also general satisfaction with the employer’s COVID-related actions.
The survey also found that the importance of the workplace community and workmates had become clearer, but at the same time individuals’ personal wellbeing at work and ability to relax after work and recharge their batteries was felt to have weakened with regular teleworking.
‘Changing patterns of work’ project generates new ways of working
The Bank of Finland and FIN-FSA’s joint project ‘Changing patterns of work’ will update our common working practices and collect ideas and experiences for hybrid patterns of working.
Once the pandemic situation had stabilised and the extensive teleworking recommendation had come to an end, in early November the Bank of Finland prepared to embark on a transition phase towards hybrid working. The aim was to collect experiences with combining teleworking and working on the premises.
At the end of November, the pandemic situation deteriorated once again, however, and the crisis organisation decided to return the staff to general teleworking in order to ensure operational continuity and the health and safety of staff.
Bank of Finland among the most inspiring places to work in Finland
The Bank of Finland monitors satisfaction at work through a staff survey conducted every second year. Staff actively responded to the survey conducted in November, with an excellent response rate of 85.4%.
The overall outcome of the staff survey was ‘good’, according to Eezy’s PeoplePower measurement scale. The results showed a positive trend since the previous survey, with no weaker outcomes.
The trend in satisfaction at work is monitored at the Bank of Finland using the PeoplePower index.
The result of 73.6 on a scale of 0–100 was significantly above the Finnish norm for expert staff (71.5). Around 38% of organisations achieve a corresponding level. As was our aim, the leadership index (73.4) also exceeded the Finnish expert norm (71.4).
As a result of the staff survey, the Bank of Finland was ranked among ‘Finland’s most inspiring workplaces’, a title awarded annually to the organisations that performed best in Eezy Flow’s PeoplePower survey.
The Bank of Finland was chosen as one of the most inspiring workplaces in 2021.2
2Eezy Flow’s PeoplePower symbol is granted each year to the best organisations participating in their employee experience survey.
As an employer, the Bank of Finland is #SoundButNotSerious
The Bank of Finland is a stable, responsible employer and, as a participant in the national ‘Responsible employer’ and ‘Responsible summer job’ campaigns, is involved in developing responsibility and sustainability in working life.
In 2021, the Bank of Finland increased its employer profile communications particularly in social media, where the Bank communicated regularly on job vacancies and staff members recounted their ‘career stories’ of working at the central bank.
In the spring, we published 7 career stories, and 9 summer work blogposts, in which summer employees told of their daily experiences in their summer jobs at the Bank.
In the LinkedIn Talent Awards in 2021, the Bank of Finland was voted one of the three best employer brands in the Nordic region in the category for organisations with under 1,000 employees.
The Bank of Finland is one of the favourite employers for students of business studies, and one of the most popular employers in the public sector.
For the Bank of Finland, providing jobs for young people is an important component of our social responsibility. Every year, we have around 30 young people working in summer jobs at the Bank.
New Young Professionals programme launched in 2021
The Bank of Finland and FIN-FSA’s Young Professionals programme (or ‘YP programme’) offers new university graduates or others in the early years of their working life a unique opportunity to learn about the key functions of the central bank and the financial and insurance supervisory authority and to develop into a top financial sector professional.
In September, altogether 9 trainees began working in the Young Professionals programme on topics relating to economics, other financial specialties, IT, digitalisation and the law.
During the programme, participants gain experience in three different areas over a period of six months and become acquainted with the various sub-areas through practical work.
The Bank of Finland and FIN-FSA’s previous Young Professionals programme was held in 2018–2020.
