Finland: New TE Services Strategy focuses on individual services and employer-based approach

NordenBladet — The Ministry of Economic Affairs and Employment and employment administration have jointly prepared a transitional strategy for public employment and business services (TE services), which outlines the priorities for these services in the coming years. The strategy published on 16 December 2020 focuses on ensuring individual services and an employer-based recruitment service. The strategy also emphasises strategic partnership and digitalisation.

The challenges faced by TE Services include technological development, digitalisation, and changes in the labour market, work, skills and economic structure. The TE Services Strategy reviews the types of services, service and customer models, personnel skills and knowledge-based management that will be needed for the TE services to best meet the needs of customers and provide services in a customer-oriented, cost-efficient and effective manner.A vision for 2023 in the TE Services StrategyIn line with the vision of the TE Services Strategy for the next few years, TE Services will focus on individual and effective customer services, identification of skills and their development needs as well as job search skills, education-related guidance and recruitment. The services will be customer-oriented, broad and equal. Digitalisation will support the development of the service system and services.Actively contacting and interacting with companies and identifying jobseekers’ skills will promote the availability of labour. Customers will receive integrated services that include existing and partner services.

Key points of the TE Services Strategy:

Strengthen the start of job search and provision of individual services
Combine employer and jobseeker services into recruitment services
Support SMEs in recruitment, growth, internationalisation and changing circumstances in close cooperation with the network of partners
Focus on new entrepreneurship
Focus on efficient and multi-channel services
Reform the service structure of TE Offices and create a multi-channel service model
Competent and valued personnel is an important resource
Knowledge-based management is a key part of developing the service system

The strategy concerns the TE services provided by the State, TE Offices, TE Customer Service Centre and, in part, ELY Centres. The strategy, which has been prepared by public officials, is a transitional strategy outlining the priorities of TE services in the next few years. The strategy will develop in time and its implementation will be continuously assessed. An interim review of the strategy will take place in 2023, and at that time a decision will be made on the strategy’s continuation.

The strategy takes into consideration the ongoing reforms of the structures and organisation of the employment administration. These reforms include municipal experiments on employment, Nordic labour market service model, preparation of a permanent service structure, reform of the service organisation for continuous learning, and expansion of multi-channel services. These reforms are being prepared in interaction with each other. Customers’ service needs, individuality, customer orientation, cost-efficiency and effectiveness will guide the development of employment and business services, regardless of the future form of the service structure.

Source: Valtioneuvosto.fi