In promoting personnel responsibility, Paulig has three main thrusts: improvement of supervisor work, expanding every Paulig employee's coffee expertise, and operational harmonisation to boost efficiency and to cultivate unity in the business units and throughout the Paulig Group.

The number of personnel grew in the early months of 2014, particularly in Finland. Robert Paulig Roastery was aqcuired in May and company's nine employees were transferred with their current terms and conditions to Paulig. By means of a corporate acquisition effected at the end of the previous year Vendor became an integral part of Gustav Paulig and the company's 90 personnel became Paulig employees. In the merger, particular attention was paid to the personnel so that the companies' culture, values and procedures would genuinely blend. The essential points in this were both for the new employees to settle in and to prepare those already working in the company for the new situation. In the consultative talks held during the merger stage, job descriptions and expertise were considered as well as how these were distributed and duplicated efforts. As a result of the negotiations, five employment contracts in Finland were terminated.

Good results in the personnel survey

The TellUs personnel survey carried out every two years in the Paulig Group was implemented for the third time in autumn 2014. The Coffee Division's results were better than in previous surveys and rose above the average for companies in Europe by all key benchmarks. The main differences relative to the average are in leadership culture, supervisor work, job motivation, and flexibility and efficiency. The response rate, at over 90, was also markedly above the average for European companies (67%) and shows that the personnel feel that responding is meaningful. The results show that long-term development work is worthwhile also in challenges related to change.

 

Leadership development in full swing

The backdrop to this favourable trend is six years of determined development of personnel work as well as leadership and supervisor work. A total of 105 people work in supervisory roles in the Coffee Division, 46 of them in Finland. Their expertise is seen as a key strategic factor in the success of the entire organisation, and high requirements are also set for supervisor work. The good results of the latest TellUs personnel survey confirm this view and inspire continued development work. Also, the 3D target and development interviews model* has become established and all white-collar employees of the Coffee Division took part in it last year. The process was completed for the third time and with good results. Performance assessment is more capable than previously, and the assessment process is seen as a natural part of the job and of the annual routines for expertise development. During the interviews, agreement is made on personal targets, the result achieved are noted, and needs for improvement are outlined.
*3D=3 dialogues

Coffee expertise belongs to everyone

The Paulig Coffee Academy, which was founded in 2013, was brought up to a good speed last year. The objective of the in-house training programme is to ensure that all Paulig employees are experts in the world of coffee irrespective of their roles. Coffee involves a great deal of specialist expertise which cannot be studied anywhere else, and this is why learning on the job is crucially important. As envoys of excellent coffee, Paulig employees have to know the story of coffee, its attributes and special features, and every stage of the coffee chain. They also anticipate and monitor coffee trends and current affairs related to the sector.

Occupational health and safety requires constant vigilance

Paulig's occupational health and safety affairs comply with the OHSAS 18001 standard. The system in Vuosaari has been certified previously and it was updated last year. The roastery in Tver was certified in autumn 2014.

The situation for occupational health and safety continued to be good compared with the overall standard in the food industry, although the number of job-related accidents rose relative to the previous year. In Finland in 2014, there were in all five occupational accidents leading to sick leave, one of which was at the Vuosaari site and four were on business in the field. Particular attention is now being focused on the occupational safety of Paulig employees working on field duties. There were no occupational accidents in Russia and Baltic's.

The like-for-like figure derived from occupational accidents was 9.4 in Vuosaari. The corresponding figure for the food industry as a whole was 40 in 2013 according to the Centre for Occupational Safety. (LTIF: workplace accidents resulting in at least one day of incapacitation per million working hours done).

The sickness absence rate for Finnish operation rose from 2.2 to 3.2 per cent, which is a marked turnaround after a prolonged downward trend. Prevention plays a central part in occupational healthcare, so the reasons for the change were scrutinised carefully. According to the survey, the increase in absenteeism was due to a few exceptionally long periods of sick leave. In Russia, the sickness absenteeism rate was 3.3 per cent and 1.6 per cent in Baltic's.

Prevention and early intervention

In the prevention of occupational accidents, the active role of the personnel is crucial in detecting shortcomings in safety. The personnel are encouraged to be active in reporting their observations, and all observations are recorded in a common system.

In Paulig Professional's operations, fieldwork plays an essential part. Last year, special attention was paid to the occupational health of people working in the field and, for example, job ergonomic risks were charted and related training was arranged for this.

Supervisors are encouraged to be vigilant for signs that jeopardise working capacity and to act in accordance with the early intervention model. Paulig has its own occupational health committee, which facilitates close and effective job wellness enhancement.

 

Coffee Division personnel figures, 31.12.2014*

	Finland	Russia	Estonia	Latvia	Lithuania	Sweden	Norway	Poland	Total
White collar	207	105	53	16	22	20	10	6	439
Blue collar	88	37	0	1	0	0	0	0	126
Total	295	142	53	17	22	20	10	6	565

* Number of people in active employment. In addition, in inactive employment (e.g., job alternation leave, parent's leave) there were 21 people in Finland, Russia, Estonia and Sweden.

 

The year 2014 in figures