Posiva is now also officially among the most inspiring workplaces in Finland

The expected result for the year 2025 now coming to a close was that the development would continue in the same direction. I based my expectations on the several significant measures we have taken also this year to improve both the functioning of the work community and the standard of the company’s operation.

And the expectations proved to be true, fortunately. It gives us great pleasure to report that the results for 2025 were even better than in the previous year. We also achieved a whole new level of AA (on a scale of C-AAA) and for the first time, had better benchmark indices than our benchmark group of expert organisations.

The areas showing the most improvement included, for example, “Our company listens to the personnel about decisions that concern them” (the greatest change), “Inter-departmental cooperation is effective”, “Our company provides for the wellbeing of personnel”, “The personnel are treated in a fair and equal manner in our company”, and “Decision-making is efficient in the company”.

The biggest positive differences from the norm were the following in descending order: “The company strategy and future prospects have been communicated well to the personnel”, “Our company listens to the personnel about decisions that concern them”, “I receive adequate feedback”, “I am well aware of the values and goals of our company”, “Our company has a good spirit of unity”, and “The changes made in our company have been executed well”. It is these very points that we have targeted with measures and changes in the corporate culture and it is great that the feedback from the personnel supports the change.

Based on the result, Posiva was one of the recipients of the “Finland’s Most Inspiring Workplaces” Award (granted by Eezy Flow) and we can all take great pride in it – emphasis on the word all. Because the most important thing about the results and awards that we have achieved is how the result proves that the functioning of the work community has developed in the right direction. This is our main driver.

Exceptional percentage another clear telltale

The full 100 percent response rate in the survey is another point for which credit goes to the whole team. According to the survey organisation, this is extremely rare, even astonishing. For me, this little detail is yet another indication of our personnel’s extremely high commitment and desire to influence – to some extent an even clearer indication than the actual result. After all, it is immensely valuable and wonderful that every one of us wanted to take part in the survey and influence the functioning of our work community by doing so.
According to one piece of feedback, the explanation for the perfect response rate is the promise we made to the personnel at the beginning of the year to implement any improvements defined based on the survey results and to keep the personnel informed about their progress on a regular basis. And we did this.

I believe this will further strengthen our personnel’s trust in their ability to truly influence the future of their own work. As has now been seen, ideas which we agree on together and which are proven good will genuinely lead to actions and thereby improve the functioning of our work community. This really is in all our interests.

There is still room for improvement. This work is now underway in the form of development actions to be determined based on the most recent result. It is clear that the great result we achieved did not come “for free”.

Significant development work has been carried out

Plenty has been done across the organisation to make it happen. Suggestions for improvement measures have been gathered extensively from the whole personnel. Measures implemented in the past two years have included:
• A value discussion across the whole organisation and a reform of value contents based on it
• Introduction of the new organisation structure and restructuring of tasks
• Increased communication, including information events for the whole personnel and close subcontractors every three weeks
• Increased interaction, including interactive meetings between management and personnel on issues related to safety culture
• Leadership development, including introduction of monthly Line Manager forums and execution of extensive leadership training
• Increased possibilities for the personnel to influence the development of operation, including first-ever annual planning days where suggestions for measures are collected for an action plan
• Increased cross-organisational cooperation
• Definition of the cornerstones of our operation
• Elimination of irrelevant activities as well as making also many decisions against something

In addition to these measures, it should be pointed out that day-to-day leadership and the actions and choices of every person have an extremely important role in the development and strengthening of the organisational culture. A big thank you for this again goes to the whole Team Posiva.

A significant point is that safety results have improved on par with the results of the personnel survey, being at present on the best level ever. I firmly believe that the functioning and performance of the work community is strongly linked to safety performance. Not that we haven’t also carried out many targeted measures for the development of safety.

And why do we seek to improve the functioning of our work community? A major point, of course, is our desire to be a world-class company and accomplish results. Our motivation and commitment, as well as the functioning of our team, play a crucial role in accomplishing them.

A frontrunner’s path is always filled with obstacles

Being a global frontrunner in our field, we do not have an easy path to follow. Our pioneering role means that in practice, we are the very first to face all the challenges on that path. It is difficult to look for examples elsewhere, if none exist. The functioning of our work community is a major advantage in tackling these challenges. In a well-functioning work community, challenges of different types also enhance problem-solving capabilities and resilience, creating a learning organisation and making accomplishments taste even sweeter.

We may already have come a long way, but we still have a strong desire to improve ourselves and our development efforts. The transformation of the corporate culture is in a key role also now that we are moving from the project stage to production operation. We will now be facing new requirements as a nuclear facility as well as a new production environment and new practices associated with it. I am convinced that we are now better prepared for this than before.

What gives me joy, in particular, is that as Team Posiva we are on this journey together. People in Posiva want to develop the operation of the company and the work community. Our work is meaningful and sets an example to the rest of the world in the final disposal of spent nuclear fuel.

Thank you, Team Posiva, for your magnificent work!

Text is written by Ilkka Poikolainen President and CEO of Posiva