Once again, VTT ranked excellently in Universum’s survey, which examined professionals' perceptions of employers. One in ten natural science professionals chose VTT as their ideal workplace. Among all natural science professionals, VTT was the fourth most attractive workplace, rising three places from 2021.
On 26 October, Universum published the results of its annual professional survey (in Finnish). The survey finds out how professionals in different fields know employers, view them as a potential workplace and choose them as their ideal workplace.
For the second year in a row, VTT improved its ranking as the ideal workplace for natural sciences professionals and rose to 4th place in this group. VTT's attractiveness also improved among all respondents – the percentage of those who chose VTT as their ideal workplace increased by three percentage points.
VTT offers a unique work environment
At VTT, science is put into practice and significant challenges are solved through applied research. In this work, VTT needs professionals in engineering and natural sciences. According to Universum's survey, VTT is well-known among these target groups.
VTT's awareness has increased especially among natural science professionals: 96% of this group knows VTT, while last year 86% of natural science professionals knew us. Awareness has also remained good among engineering professionals: 91% of this group knows VTT. IT experts also know VTT even better – 86% of this group know VTT now, compared to 84% a year ago.
"The results are delightful: our key target groups know us quite well. During the past year, we have worked systematically to develop our employer image. Active communication on our social media channels, where we have reached more than 700,000 views, has been used as a means for this. We aim to increase visibility among our different target groups even further in the future", says Anna Schoonover, Team Leader, Talent Acquisition and Employer Branding.
VTT’s friendly and appreciative work community supports the development of professionals
Universum’s survey also explored factors that were essential to the attractiveness of a workplace for professionals in different fields. The same top three elements came up in both natural sciences and engineering – a friendly work community, valuing people, and leaders who support personal development are important to both groups.
"These are all important elements for VTT, and we want to invest in developing them. For example, in 2021 all our supervisors participated in emotional agency training. The results of the training were excellent: psychological safety, the emotional skills of the work community, and positive organisational practices improved considerably, and our entire emotional climate developed in a good direction. This was also visible in last year's Navigator personnel survey, where satisfaction with one's supervisor rose from good to excellent," says Iris Lagerström, Manager, Talent Attraction and HR Digital Services.
Universum's survey was conducted between October 2021 and August 2022. A total of 9,385 professionals from 48 industries and 36 professional groups responded to it. Among the respondents were 1755 professionals in the engineering field and 344 professionals in natural sciences.
