1.2.2010

VMP Group goal to bring thousands of new employees to Finland

VMP GROUP ACQUIRES LABOUR LEASING COMPANY WORK CONTROL OY

“We were interested in Work Control Oy’s operations, because the company has succeeded in creating a functional system, which has a proven record in the responsible leasing of foreign labour. In order to fill in gaps in labour market age distribution, Finland would need to as many as 1.8 million immigrants by the year 2020. We want to use this business deal to help in preserving Finland's competitiveness and services by offering concrete solutions to meet labour market challenges in the near future,” says VMP Group Managing Director, Mika Kaukonen.

Staffing services market leader VMP Group is acquiring the entire business of Work Control Oy, which was founded in 2007. Work Control’s employees will continue as employees of the VMP Group and its owners will remain under a consulting agreement.

Operating in Finland and Romania, the company has brought hundreds of Romanian workers to Finland every year. Work Control Oy maintains its own regional office in Bucharest and has representatives in the Moldova region.

Operations to expand into new countries

Jouni T. Laine, Chairman of the Board for Work Control Oy’s main shareholder Lucia Capital Oy, is pleased that the company’s new owner is a Finnish market leader in staffing services.

“Our mission was to establish an efficient and ethical operating model for bringing foreign labour to Finland. Our Romanian operations were extremely well received. It is now our intention to work together with the VMP Group to expand into new countries, and we are currently looking into opportunities to bring, for example, nursing professionals to Finland from such countries as the Philippines, Vietnam or Cuba.”

Kaukonen explains that the company’s goal is to bring thousands of foreign workers to Finland by the year 2012.

“We see a demand for our services particularly in construction, nursing and health care and seasonal positions that do not require special qualifications. In the nursing sector we place an emphasis on skills in Finnish language and culture, which is why we’re offering immigrant language and cultural training programmes in the workers’ home country,” explains Kaukonen.

Goal: market leadership in foreign labour staffing services

According to Statistics Finland (Tieto&Trendit, 8/2009) estimates, by 2016 the dependency ratio in Finland will exceed the limit of 60 dependents and by 2026 it would already exceed 70 dependents, a level unprecedented in Finland's entire history as an independent state. In order to keep the dependency ratio at its current level, approximately 140,000 people of working age would have to move to Finland every year. By the year 2020 there should be approximately 1.8 million immigrants of working age (Talouspoliittinen strategia, 2008).

According to Kaukonen, the VMP Group is also aiming for market leadership in foreign labour staffing services. The goal is to increase the number of workers brought to Finland by the company from the hundreds to the thousands.

“The Finnish workplace simply cannot survive on Finnish labour alone anymore. Foreign labour is already brought to Finland right now, but this is being done by companies with widely varying backgrounds. The VMP Group wants to offer an alternative that observes Finnish law and working conditions, one that also takes care of the workers’ orientation and training, living arrangements in Finland and payroll in an appropriate manner,” emphasises Kaukonen.

Currently valid terms of employment apply to all workers arriving in Finland through the VMP Group and employment-based social security is offered through a Finnish accident and pension insurance provider. Employee salaries are paid to a Finnish bank account and taxes are withheld in accordance with the Preliminary Tax Withholding Act.

“Just like we do with Finnish workers, where foreign workers are concerned we intend to work in close co-operation with trade unions. Immigrants must be seen as a resource for our society and they should be treated just like any of our own citizens. In order to ensure that this happens, there should be proper oversight,” says Kaukonen.

Further information:

Managing Director Mika Kaukonen, VMP Group, tel. +358 (0)40 757 9812,
mika.kaukonen@varamiespalvelu.fi

Jouni T. Laine, Lucia Capital Oy, tel. +358 (0)50 376 1501,
jouni.laine@luciacapital.fi