Workplaces and communities should create an open culture built on dialogue and cooperation. Improvements to workplace well-being should be visible in everyday life, not only in speeches and press releases. This is what the LobbausLuotain panel on financial working life thought in a nutshell.
”We need to create a culture of genuine dialogue. A forum like the one offered by the Healthy Financial Sector project is an excellent thing to have, because it brings people and companies together”, says Malinen, who also chairs the FFi’s Financial Work and Competence Committee.
According to Kivekäs, the way the Healthy Financial Sector project operated should become an everyday way of doing things, and employee well-being should be made one of the cornerstones of every company’s operations.
”When making decisions, it should be all about openness and doing things together – where is the company headed, and what does it mean for you, personally?” Halme concludes.
Local agreements and pay raises
The panellists also took a head start on the topics of this autumn’s union negotiations. One of the prominent topics is that many companies want to base their customer service times on the wishes of customers. In other words, the traditional working hours need to change.
”Now that the sector has had good experiences from trial runs of weekend work, it may well be possible to proceed with it at the union level”, Kivekäs says.
Local agreement on the terms of employment is another important topic. Kivekäs points out that this requires changing key practices in companies. The culture of local agreements would be strengthened through increased emphasis on collaboration.
Hakala and Halme agree that pay raises will also be one of the most important topics in this autumn’s negotiations. They will be one of the employee side’s objectives.
”Private consumption has kept our economy afloat, but has also led to severe indebtedness among households. It’s now time for reasonable pay raises”, Hakala says.