Social responsibility

Luke’s goal as an employer is to create a healthy, equal and non-discriminating working environment. This is measured by an annual job satisfaction survey. Luke also has a programme to promote wellbeing at work, which is implemented in cooperation with the occupational healthcare provider.

Results from the staff survey:

• Job satisfaction index 3,84/5 (3,88 in 2021)
• Supervisor index 4,12/5 (3,95 in 2021)
• The response rate to the staff survey was very good, 87.6% (83,1 % in 2021).

Luke’s performance in these areas was above the national average.

The aim of the wellbeing-at-work programme is to improve the wellbeing management approaches and practices, support employees’ sense of control and increase validating interactions. The programme started in 2021 and will run until the end of 2023. In 2022, the focus was on pilots to find effective tools to untie some of the knots in the matrix organisation.

Three pilots focused on improving process performance and distributing the workload more evenly. Workshops were held to discuss the responsibilities and duties of team leaders, unit managers, programme directors and research managers in the matrix. The theme of the supervisors’ seminar was managing wellbeing at work. The seminar began with a presentation by organisational psychologists and continued with a discussion on the use of wellbeing tools in day-to-day management. The seminar also looked at how employees aged 58 and over are coping with working life and how to extend their careers and support the transfer of their skills. To support supervisors in these areas, we have updated the guidelines for career development discussions.

For the fourth year in a row, students voted Luke the most attractive employer in the field of natural sciences in the ‘Most Attractive Employers in Finland’ survey conducted by Universum Communications. We were also ranked first by industry professionals in the 2022 survey.

We are also participating in the Science for Ukraine initiative by offering three postdoctoral positions to researchers fleeing Ukraine. Through this initiative, we recruited one Ukrainian researcher to Luke in 2022.

Between 2020 and 2021, the number of days of sick leave fell significantly at national level. Luke's 2021 sickness absence rate is in line with other large employers, government and research and education organisations.

Occupational safety

Occupational safety is an important part of working at Luke. We joined the Zero Accident Forum in July 2022  and, as a member of the Forum, we are committed to taking a targeted approach to improving safety and health at work. The aim is to introduce more proactive indicators, such as the number of safety walks, and to develop risk assessments for practical project work. We will also increase our safety induction and training activities.

In 2022, we streamlined the safety observation process by introducing a new process management system. Work process risk assessments have been updated in parallel with workplace reviews carried out by the occupational healthcare provider, and the importance of corrective action and residual risk assessment has been emphasised in the assessments. We have also improved the descriptions of responsibilities and timelines for the risk assessment process. Monitoring of corrective actions will be enhanced through process descriptions. The InfraNollis project, to be implemented in 2023, will fund targeted corrective actions to address risk factors identified in different locations of Luke.

Accident risk is monitored monthly on the basis of the accident frequency rate and the accident absence rate. The accident frequency rate is the ratio of accidents to hours worked. Similarly, the accident absence rate is the ratio of days lost due to accidents to hours worked. In 2022, the rates for the Research Infrastructure Services unit were monitored separately as the majority of the total annual accidents at Luke occur to staff working in this unit. The unit’s staff typically work in Luke’s research cattle houses, aquaculture facilities, greenhouses, research fields and other experimental research infrastructures.

Luke’s accident frequency rate (LTI1), i.e. the number of accidents per million hours worked, was 7.4 in 2022 and the accident absence rate was 128. The accident frequency rate decreased compared to the previous year, but the number of sick days due to accidents increased by 122 days compared to 2021. The number of accidents remained at the same level as in previous years.

The accident process has been updated to emphasise the importance of accident investigation and root cause analysis as a preventative measure. In addition, Luke’s occupational safety and health committee appointed a separate accident task force to develop the accident investigation and follow-up process and to disseminate general information about accidents.

Tapaturmaprosessia on päivitetty sen osalta, että tapaturmatutkinnan ja juurisyiden selvityksen merkitystä on korostettu ennaltaehkäisevänä toimena. Lisäksi Luken työsuojelutoimikunta nimesi erillisen tapaturmatyöryhmän kehittämään tutkintaa ja seurantaa ja yleistä tiedottamista tapaturmiin liittyen. 

In the table, the average male wage is subtracted from the average female wage. If the value is positive, the man is paid more, and if negative, the woman is paid more. The figures refer to the gross salary per month.