Mehiläinen made progress in its sustainability goals in 2021

The 2021 Sustainability Report is Mehiläinen's second separate annual review on corporate responsibility issues. The report describes the progress of the company's corporate responsibility programme. The report follows the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) reporting framework.

“Sustainability is the foundation of all our operations. It is also a prerequisite for financially sustainable business. The year 2021 shows good progress in many areas, but our goal-oriented work to promote our sustainability goals continues in all areas,” says CEO Janne-Olli Järvenpää.

Mehiläinen's corporate responsibility programme consists of four business-critical areas: quality and customer satisfaction, innovation and financial responsibility, employee well-being and being a good employer as well as sustainable development of operations. All four areas are monitored with several indicators, the development of which is reported as part of the sustainability report.

Customer satisfaction measured by the Net Promoter Score (NPS) index, which is one of our key indicators, in both public (74) and private (89) health care services remained at an excellent level throughout the year, even by international standards. The total index of the personnel survey also remained at an excellent level of 3.9/5 despite the exceptional circumstances, showing that Mehiläinen is a good place to work. The well-being of our employees is essential to our success, and our goal is to be the most desirable workplace in the sector. This goal was also supported by a reduction in personnel turnover of almost one percentage point over the year. More and more Mehiläinen employees are also working on a permanent full-time basis.

On its website, Mehiläinen reports openly on different aspects of quality using indicators that are updated in real time. The endemic disease balance indicators monitored as part of the quality system show that patients' treatment balances have improved during the year. During the year, Mehiläinen also developed new digital treatment paths for diabetes, among other things. The company’s excellent financial performance enables continuing investment and development in digital solutions, for example.

In spring 2021, Mehiläinen concluded a new EUR 1.06 billion loan package with its financiers, with an interest margin that takes into account the realisation of Mehiläinen’s corporate responsibility goals. The indicators tied to the package are the quality index of care services for the elderly, access to non-urgent care at Mehiläinen’s public health centres (T3 time) and Mehiläinen Group’s carbon dioxide emissions. All the indicators progressed well during the year: Ambitious development efforts in services for the elderly paid off, and the quality index measuring the quality of care improved significantly from the previous year being 79.4/100. During the year, Mehiläinen health centre customers received treatment in an average of six days in accordance with the one-week treatment guarantee that will enter into force in 2023. The Group's carbon footprint relative to revenue decreased by six per cent compared to 2020. The amount of money saved due to the achievement of the goals will be used to promote the sustainability goals.

In addition to successes, Mehiläinen faced challenges, as the company’s self-monitoring turned out to be partly inadequate as a result of irregularities discovered in the unit for services for the disabled. A comprehensive internal report was commissioned under the guidance of the Chief Medical Officer. With the help of the report’s conclusions, the company will improve its self-monitoring, cooperation between authorities and training of personnel. Mehiläinen management and the professionals in our social care services are deeply committed to these measures.

Our corporate responsibility efforts were also reflected in ratings. EcoVadis, an international company providing sustainability assessments, awarded Mehiläinen a Gold level rating. EcoVadis assesses corporate responsibility in four areas: the environment and climate, labour and human rights, ethics and sustainable procurement. Only 5% of the more than 75,000 companies assessed receive the Gold rating, which indicates that Mehiläinen's operations are at a good level in international comparison.

Mehiläinen's Sustainability Report can be found on Mehiläinen's webpage:
https://www.mehilainen.fi/en/company-information/mehilainens-year-2021