A new way of working: Geological Survey of Finland to become a pioneer in developing multilocational work and working methods in central government

The coronavirus pandemic has forced everyone to adopt new ways of working. There is no complete return to the working methods preceding the pandemic. GTK also sees this change as an opportunity, and it has launched the GTK 2.0 change programme to advance multilocational work and new ways of working through agile development and experiments.

New ways of working are being developed in four areas: working methods and culture, competence, the work environment and community, and technology.

“GTK will continue to develop its operations ambitiously. As a pioneer in central government, we want to boldly test new ways of working. Better digital tools and flexible and multilocational work offer a means to help everyone succeed in their work and thus strengthen the productivity of the work community”, says Mika Nykänen, GTK’s Director General.

The change programme started with the launch of a pilot project that aimed to find well-functioning solutions that make working easier with the personnel. The project makes use of everything learned during the pandemic and applies the best practices to the time following the pandemic. The pilot project will be carried out at GTK’s offices in Kuopio, Kokkola and Rovaniemi. Eyes can be set firmly on the future based on the results of the approximately one-year pilot project.

“The pilot project focuses on flexibility in when and where we work, a well-functioning working environment, tools that meet the requirements of work and the skills to use those tools, as well as the interaction and cooperation models required by the new way of working”, says Samu Valpola, director of the change programme.

The change programme’s partners are the Government ICT Centre Valtori, the Finnish Ministry of Finance, Senate Properties, CSC – IT Center for Science, Microsoft, Fujitsu Finland and Elisa. The aim is to find the best practices and working methods with the partners that bring diverse perspectives and skills to the change in the ways of working and to secure working methods.

“We will build productive and flexible practices and technologies to enable the smooth progress of multilocational work. We will develop new ways, using agile methods. Our goal is to build models that can be used throughout central government”, says Pasi Lehmus, CEO of Valtori.

Enabling smooth ways of working and wellbeing at work for everyone is key. The goal is that the experiences obtained from the change programme’s pilot project serve central government as a whole in the transition to future ways of working.

“GTK’s example shows that multilocational work can be expanded from what it is now. A digital working environment means that central government will shift to multilocational work in the near future”, says Juha Sarkio, Director General in the Ministry of Finance.

Further information

Mika Nykänen, Director General of GTK, and Samu Valpola, director of the change programme; interview requests through Eija Laukkanen, tel. +358 29 503 2152.

Due to the exceptional circumstances caused by the coronavirus pandemic, we have worked from home and summer cottages, and in the field. What happened when we started working remotely? GTK’s researchers can share their experiences with media representatives. Contact via GTK’s communications unit: Sanna Tuominen, sanna.tuominen@gtk.fi, tel. +358 29 503 0122.