Työpuntari recommendations: Employees in the social welfare and health care sector must be closely involved in development work

Finnish Institute of Occupational Health media release 14 November 2024 

This year's theme for Työpuntari, the Finnish Institute of Occupational Health's social forum, is Voimaa soteen (“Strengthening Social Welfare and Health Care”). During the year, the theme has been addressed by publishing research and compiling guidelines for social and health care professionals, holding webinars and carrying out surveys related to social welfare and health care. The forum has received thousands of responses, especially from social welfare and health care professionals. 

The Työpuntari recommendations are published for use by wellbeing services counties and management, supervisors and developers of the social and health care sector. The recommendations are backed up with research data and accompanied by user-friendly development tools and guidelines. 

"The objective of the recommendations is to ensure that work in the wellbeing services counties is carried out safely and smoothly, which promotes work ability and increases well-being at work. This will also improve patient safety and the quality of care," emphasises Research Professor Jaana Laitinen from the Finnish Institute of Occupational Health.  

Combining the results of several research and development projects in recent years, the recommendations cover measures that would best secure attraction and retention that is vital to the social and health care sector: 

1. The impacts of changes in the social welfare and health care sector on work, well-being at work and work ability must be systematically studied and monitored.  

1. Work development methods must be reformed. Focus of development work in the social welfare and health care sector must be shifted to work development and streamlining within work units.  

1. Managing the workload and investing in recovery must be prioritized in order to improve the attraction and retention of the social welfare and health care sector.  

The justifications for the recommendations emphasize taking care of employees’ work ability in the social welfare and health care sector, where constant changes cause additional stress. Social welfare and health care sector professionals whose wellbeing is good have the best resources to reform and renew. 

The recommendations in their entirety, including justifications, development tools and guidelines, have been published on the Työpuntari website and they will be distributed to the management of wellbeing services counties, among other recipients.  

"I hope that the wellbeing services counties’ executive teams include the management and implementation of our recommendations in their annual schedule. The results of a regularly conducted, high-quality well-being survey can be used to steer operations and define development areas. The following year’s results can then help assess whether correct and sufficient measures have been carried out and whether the situation is developing in a good direction," says Laitinen. 

"Supervisors must have time for the promotion of well-being at work as part of making work run smoothly and involving the work community in this process. It is important that this is taken into account in supervisors’ job descriptions," Laitinen points out. 

Read the Työpuntari recommendations (in Finnish) 

• Työpuntari recommendations: Voimaa soteen! | The Finnish Institute of Occupational Health 

Watch the expert interview on the attraction and retention of social and health care services (in Finnish)

• Mikä sote-alalla vetää ja mikä pitää? Voimaa soteen! -studio selvittää 

Further information 

• Jaana Laitinen, Research Professor, Finnish Institute of Occupational Health, jaana.laitinen@ttl.fi, +358 30 474 6006