Jani, as a fairly new employee, could you tell us, how your joining into the work community went, despite the distance and working remotely?

I started at Kemppi at the beginning of 2023. I had previous experience of working remotely for about three years, but at that time the office had also been located in my home town of Kuopio. When I applied for a job at Kemppi, I was of course wondering whether I would be able to work fully in my new role, working constantly remotely, and how well I would get to know my work community and get to grips with my work.

However, I got off to a good start. Kemppi's ICT delivered the computer and its accessories to me in a short timeframe and I was able to start familiarising myself with the job quickly. I worked remotely from the very first week, going through Kemppi's e-learning induction materials. Studying them, I became convinced that Kemppi really wants to invest in making sure, that the new employee is taken care of and that they get enough general information about what the employee needs. There is so much induction material, that I didn't even have time to go through it all at the beginning, but courses can be accessed at any time later. 

Your induction didn't just end with online courses, you also came to Lahti to the office, didn't you?

Yes, in the second week I was already in Lahti for a few days to see my workplace, facilities, products and people. We went through all the departments and I got to see the process of products from the design table through prototypes to production and delivery. I was impressed by what I saw. I think it's important that new employees, regardless of their jobs, get to see how Kemppi products are made.

I was briefed by my supervisor and the person who supported me in my job for a couple of months. Everything went quite smoothly, even though it took a lot of time and felt like a lot of information overload at times. The fact that I was able to gradually take on the responsibilities of my role while my colleague was still doing them.

Did working remotely make it difficult to get to know your teammates?

I've only met my colleagues face to face a couple of times, but I feel that because of the intensive way of working, I'm already quite familiar with them. The fact that we see each other less often hasn't bothered me because I can easily get in touch with anyone, even more easily than if I were physically present in the office.