The importance of partnership and community in a changing world 

Five years ago, I wrote a blog post about the trust companies place in their occupational health care partners. The years have passed quickly, and we can certainly all agree that the world has been revolutionised in many ways during this time. We have faced a global pandemic, there is war in Europe and the world’s geopolitical power struggle seems to be accelerating. Changes and the surrounding uncertainties have put people’s tolerance and sense of safety to the test, and this is inevitably also reflected in working life and people’s well-being. Sitra’s MegatrendsExternal link published in 2023 reflect the fact that the challenges to people’s well-being have grown even more. Although Finns’ physical condition has improved and their life expectancy is longer than ever, mental health challenges have grown in an unprecedented way. For these reasons, the need for a stronger sense of community and a more humane working life has also become a popular topic.

But what does this have to do with occupational health care cooperation? In my opinion, it is very relevant. For a long time, we have been thinking about health and well-being quite individually and forgotten how important a healthy work community and its support is for our well-being, especially during uncertain times. At its best, the employer can offer the individual a safe and empowering work community, high-quality leadership and supervisor work, a humane work culture and an occupational health partner that supports work ability and well-being. Similarly, the goal of the occupational health partner is to promote the prevention of work-related illnesses and accidents, the health and safety of work and the work environment, the operations of the work community and the health and functional capacity of employees at different stages of their careers in cooperation with the company. Cooperation, a systematic approach and interaction are emphasised as the prerequisites for achieving the goals set jointly for occupational health and safety (source: Finnish Institute of Occupational Health.)External link

A working partnership is based on trust

At Mehiläinen Occupational Health, we have worked for a long time to ensure that we are able to be a partner to our customer organisations and support them even in the midst of turmoil. However, a working partnership relationship cannot be created unilaterally. In addition to occupational health, it requires representatives from the customer organisation at many levels. So how can we create such a trusting partnership together?

In my opinion, the partnership is built on a spirit of confidentiality, which begins already in the sales phase when the cooperation is agreed and blossoms to full effect as the cooperation progresses. Open and honest interaction and communication on both sides is the most important thing in achieving a confidential atmosphere. Confidentiality means that even things that are not nice to talk about can be discussed with respect and understanding. Based on these more difficult discussions, the spirit of confidentiality is often highlighted.

In addition, confidential cooperation requires that both parties listen and learn from each other and are prepared to modify their operating models where appropriate in order to achieve the jointly set goals. This requires both parties to dare to challenge existing ways of doing things and develop operations based on feedback. We want to use the feedback we receive from our customer companies to develop our operations and thus be worth the service promise. We want to ensure that our customers can trust that everything we do is high-quality, ethically sustainable and in line with our values. Our role in occupational health care is clear – our role is to provide our customer companies with in-depth expertise in the challenges of occupational health and work ability at both community and individual level.

Confidential partnerships therefore require parties committed to working together. I challenge all of us to build a humane working life and value cooperation and thereby promote a more sustainable and healthy working life in Finland. Our joint task is to achieve a healthier working life.

The blog was written by Andréa Alvarez-Tarjasalo, Director, Clients & B2B Marketing at Mehiläinen Working Life Services.