E2 According to the study's recent report, for example, the lack of a common language can cause friction in working life between Finnish and foreign employees. The construction industry has gained a lot of experience from foreign workers working in Finland, which can now also be used in recruiting international experts for expert positions in the field.
The number of foreign workers on construction sites has grown significantly over the past couple of decades and has stabilized at about a quarter of the workforce at construction sites. Many of them have settled more permanently in Finland and become part of Finnish society.
"The construction industry already has long-term experience with the international workforce, especially with construction site tasks. About 22 percent of the workforce at construction sites are foreign workers, and we wouldn't be able to do without them. We have to make sure that in the future we will also have competent people to build a prosperous Finland", says Rakennusteollisuus RT's social relations manager Lauri Pakkanen.
In the survey of E2 Research's Future Factors of Finland project, the majority of Finns (63 percent) had a positive attitude to the fact that the number of employees from different cultural backgrounds is increasing in the workplace, and a quarter (26 percent) disagreed.
About half of the respondents believed that the increase in the number of employees from different cultural backgrounds would cause clashes in the workplace.
"Workplaces have more and more employees from different backgrounds and speaking different languages. This sometimes causes clashes related to, for example, the lack of a common language, misunderstandings, prejudices or negative attitudes. Supervisors and shop stewards play an important role in avoiding unnecessary conflicts", says the senior researcher at E2 Tuktuksi Rolle Alho.
In the construction industry, the challenges have been tackled, for example, by investing in employees' orientation in their own mother tongue. For example, the general introduction to occupational safety can be completed as an online training in ten different languages in addition to Finnish.
"I see that the construction industry plays an important role in supporting international experts to integrate in Finland. We already have good opportunities to offer versatile and interesting clerical-level expert tasks to international talent as well, but this requires a new way of thinking from employers. For example, language skills develop alongside practical work," Pakkanen says.
Background from the study
In the final publication of E2 Research's Future Factors of Finland project, the report "Encountering changes in working life in the workplace" extensively examines experiences of changes in working life, such as internationalization. The research material consists of a citizen survey and background interviews. The majority of respondents who took part in the study have a positive attitude towards employees from different cultural backgrounds.
E2 Encountering changes in working life at workplaces - report is the final publication of the Future Suomen authors - project. The research material consists of a citizen survey conducted in the summer of 2024
(N=1) and 017 research interviews. The interviewees were supervisors, shop stewards and employees, including those with a foreign background.
The research extensively examines experiences and views on working life and its direction, such as the prospects of climate action, digitalization, artificial intelligence and the internationalization of working life in one's own work, as well as the meaning of work.
Construction Industry RT is one of the financiers of the research. Other financiers are Trade Union Pro, Hyvinvointila HALI, Association of Public and Welfare Sectors JHL, Ministry of Justice, Service Sectors Trade Union PAM, STTK, Finnish Union of Trade Unions SAK, Industrial wage earners TP and Employment pension insurer Tela.
E2 Research is a multidisciplinary independent research institute that serves organizations, companies, foundations, municipalities, ministries, political decision-making and the media with information.
Elsewhere online
- E2 The study found out Finns' experiences of changes in working life: Finns have a pessimistic view of the direction of working life - the majority think that working life is divided into good and bad jobs (e2.fi)
- Download the final report from the Finnish authors of the future E2 Research website (pdf)
- More information about the Future Suomen authors project
Contact persons
Confederation of Finnish Construction Industries (CFCI), social relations manager Lauri Pakkanen, p. 050 522 7797 or firstname.surname@rt.fi
More information about the project:
E2 Research, research manager Ville Pitkänen, tel. 040 777 0869 or firstname.surname@e2.fi
More information about the research results:
E2 Research, senior researcher Rolle Alho, p. 050 5344 485 or firstname.surname@e2.fi
E2 Research, PhD researcher Aino Heikkilä b. 044 3028 727 or firstname.surname@e2.fi