Goals and performance

Orion is Finland’s largest pharmaceutical employer and an international work environment for multi-talented people. Orion employs about 3,100 people. Some 600 of them work at the Group’s foreign facilities. Orion offers the chance to work in an international environment and provides versatile and challenging career opportunities for experts in different disciplines.

Our success depends on our ability to recruit professional people, develop and train their skills and keep them motivated and engaged in our goals and strategies. Orion needs a wide range of specialists in the fields of natural sciences, business, mathematics, technology, IT and the humanities. A big corporation has need and room for very different types of individuals. We want to include people from different backgrounds in our work community, because interaction between viewpoints offers fertile ground for innovation.

Orion wants to be an interesting and desirable employer. We foster our good employer image by looking after the professional development, working conditions and well-being of every Orion employee. We offer our employees a healthy and safe working environment and a smooth-operating working community. Employees are provided with opportunities for development and career advancement through career paths. We also ensure that our employees have the necessary skills to implement the Group’s strategy.

We promote equality and justice throughout the Group by ensuring, e.g., that every employee has equal opportunities for success and development in their work and that the employees treat one another fairly. These objectives are recorded in Orion’s Equal Opportunities Plan.

Orion develops its operations in an uncomplicated and open cooperation with the personnel. In employee-manager relations, we strive towards flexible, unobstructed and open interaction so that questions that require answers or solutions can be processed quickly and constructively. Cooperation is is done in a natural way in normal daily operations. The Group appreciates the work of trade unions and employee representatives and treats them with respect and openness.   

Procedures

Orion ensures responsible operations in relation to employees and working conditions by adhering to the Group's shared values, the procedures and responsibilities specified in the Corporate Governance Manual as well as the approved Group Human Resources Policy. Orion’s mission “Building well-being” reflects the Group’s view towards the personnel: mental and physical well-being at work rewards both the employer and the employee. Orion encourages the employees’ joy of accomplishment by supporting coping, development and satisfaction at work. An employee who is happy at work can in turn improve the well-being of the company and the working community.

In human resources management, Orion operates according to effective legislation, collective agreements, security regulations and other responsibilities. Orion’s Human Resources Policy emphasises equality and fairness, constructive and unobstructed interaction between personnel and management, opportunities for further occupational development, rewards for good results and creating good working conditions and atmosphere for Orion employees.

Recruitment

Orion's resource planning ensures that the organisation has the required people and skills for the tasks derived from company-level objectives and that the required deputy and backup arrangements are in place to ensure uninterrupted operations. Already existing employees with suitable skills are considered first when seeking employees for new or open positions. Job rotation is seen as a means for driving change and as an opportunity for professional development.

Equality

Members of the working community are responsible for treating everyone equally and fairly in daily operations and decision-making. Orion requires and expects that every member of our working communities and organisations acts fairly, not just those acting in a supervisory position. Everyone is responsible for maintaining and promoting a balanced working atmosphere, behaving appropriately and respecting others.  Orion’s working group for equality affairs supports and promotes all-round equality and fairness in the company.  The working group comprises representatives from all personnel groups and the employer. Both the supervisors and the employee representatives are responsible for taking action when problems are identified in this area.

Personnel empowerment

Orion considers employee opinions in the decision-making concerning human resources affairs and implementing human resources related decisions. Employee representatives principally take part in the work for preparing new practices or changes to existing ones. In addition to mandatory employer-employee forums, Orion’s management organises regular informal meetings with employees and employee representatives.

Employee representation in Group management is principally agreed with employees. There is one employee representative, nominated by the personnel groups, in Orion’s Executive Management Board. The employee representative has no operative liability for the decisions made by the Executive Management Board.

Communication

Quick communication and easily accessible information related to work and working community motivates the employees and supports them in their daily work. In internal communication, Orion uses modern, network-based communication and documentation systems in Group-wide applications shared by all employees. The objective is to offer access to all information which can assist employees in their work.

Occupational health and safety

Most of Orion’s industrial safety activities aim to prevent hazardous situations and occupational diseases and ailments. The company offers its employees more comprehensive occupational health services than those required by law. In major locations, Orion runs its own occupational health centres and in smaller facilities the health services are purchased from external service providers. 

Rewarding

Orion encourages its employees to good results and long-term commitment by means of rewarding. Rewards must be handed out fairly and according to Group-level principles. Salaries and employee benefits are country-specific and vary depending on national legislation, collective agreements, industry, location and the salary levels of each country.

Monetary incentives and other employee benefits must be of sufficient level and scope to be of interest when compared with the market salary of each position. Personal salary is determined based on the complexity of duties and individual performance. When assessing an employee’s individual performance, productivity, expertise, multiple talents, ambition to develop, initativeness and cooperation skills are considered.

Training and awareness

Orion offers its employees training and coaching based on the Group strategy, business objectives and skill requirements of each individual position. Employees are encouraged to develop themselves by providing a wide range of development opportunities from one-day seminars to long-term training programmes and supplementary training periods. Other methods of development on offer include job rotation, mentoring, on-the-job learning and career path descriptions.

Managers in particular are responsible for ensuring that each employee enhances the required skills. Supervisors are also responsible for organising sufficient induction for new employees, those starting in new roles or those returning from extended absences. Managers are also responsible for ensuring that everyone in their organisation is familiar with Orion’s strategy and objectives, the department-level objectives derived from them as well as personal objectives.

Means of developing supervisory skills include a Group-level training programme in which supervisors receive comprehensive training on the maintenance of good working atmosphere and resolving problems. Those in expert positions have their own training programme.

Performance reviews take place at least once every year. During the review, the supervisor and the subordinate agree on objectives and responsibilities and ensure that the employee has the required skills and motivation for the task. The review is also an opportunity for the employees to voice their development wishes and agree on a personal development plan where appropriate.

Orion looks after the occupational health of its employees through the Workplace Health Promotion Programme, which consists of various activities to ensure the occupational health of each employee throughout their working life.

Monitoring and follow-up

The annual Happy@Work survey is an important tool for monitoring the workplace atmosphere at both department and Group level. It helps us guide the further development of our working community and well-being at work. Everyone at Orion is invited to participate to the H@W survey. Each unit discusses the results of the survey during department or function level seminars, which also serve as an opportunity for deciding on common improvement objectives and agreeing on the best ways to reach them. In addition, the Executive Management Board defines the most important annual development targets for the entire organisation based on the survey results.

In the so-called 360-degree feedback, supervisors receive personal feedback from their subordinates, colleagues and their own supervisors. Experts receive 180-degree feedback from their supervisors and colleagues.