During 2009, Itella Corporation will cut down administrative costs. This also means that there will be dismissals in administrative and support functions. Next week, Itella will start statutory employer-employee negotiations concerning those working in data administration, procurement, financial administration, marketing and communications, among others. As the negotiations begin, approximately 85 jobs are estimated to be discontinued. All in all, the negotiations will cover about 320 employees.
The negotiations do not involve customer service personnel, and the reductions will not affect mail deliveries or the operations of post offices.
Caused by a long-term structural change, and accelerated by the economic downturn
By cutting costs, Itella is preparing itself for the ongoing structural change in the postal industry. Furthermore, it is expected that the downturn in economic development will have a considerable impact on the demand for Itella's services. A decline in the demand was showing already in the latter part of last year. The development of logistics and post volumes in the near future will have an impact on what kind of measures will still be required later on.
Also in the long run, Itella faces big challenges to be able to maintain the national service as it is. In the next few years, the entire European postal industry faces a major structural change as free market competition in the postal industry becomes a reality; Finland, however, has already progressed further than many other countries. In addition to communication going electronic, there will also be legislative changes, which will affect labor needs and competition.
Personnel reductions will utilize pension arrangements, among others, and an attempt is made to assign those left unemployed to other jobs in Itella. However, redundancies are likely. Almost without exception, the personnel reductions will concern the Helsinki Metropolitan Area, however, individual jobs will be discontinued elsewhere as well. Typically, at least 2,000 new permanent employment contracts are signed in Itella each year. In total, Itella Corporation has approximately 24,000 employees in Finland.
“Only through continuous reviewing of the efficiency of different functions will we be able to provide Finns with reliable but also reasonably priced post and logistics services. By preparing gradually for the changes in the industry, we will hopefully be able to avoid major one-off impacts which are always the worse scenario for the personnel. The weakening of the demand for Itella services caused by the economic trend constitutes an additional challenge and further underlines the need for more efficiency" says Jukka Alho, President and CEO of Itella Corporation.
Further information:
Jukka Alho, President and CEO of Itella Corporation, tel. +358 20 451 5600
Communications contact: Päivi Alakuijala, Vice President, Communications, tel. +358 40 8400 251
