40% business bosses for switching working language to English

More than 40 per cent of Finnish business executives have a positive view on switching the company's working language from Finnish to English, according to a survey commissioned by OP Financial Group.

Almost nine out of ten companies said that they hire employees whose native language is other than Finnish, said OP in a press release on Thursday, quoting the survey.

The Corporate Pulse survey, conducted in April–May, received responses from 100 Finnish companies with a turnover exceeding 100 million euros.

A total of 41 per cent of business executives who responded to OP's Corporate Pulse survey stated that switching the working language to English would benefit Finnish companies.

A total of 23 per cent of the respondents disagreed about the statement and 36 per cent could not take a stand on the issue.

Of the sectors, the industrial and retail sectors were particularly in favour of English as the working language, least the service sector.

A total of 87 per cent of the survey respondent companies said that they also hire employees whose native language is not Finnish.

"The number of experts whose native language is other than Finnish is constantly growing in Finnish companies. Almost nine out of ten Finnish companies already say that they also hire employees whose native language is other than Finnish. It is therefore necessary to also consider how well these employees are acknowledged in the workplace. The common language is one of the most important engagement tools affecting adaptation," said Katja Keitaanniemi, Chief Executive Officer of OP Corporate Bank.

Promotion of employment-based immigration is a key element of OP Financial Group's recruitment drive.

Last year, OP said that it will employ 300 international IT experts in Helsinki and Oulu.

At the end of 2023, OP had employees representing 41 nationalities speaking 26 different native languages.

"That companies have employees representing different nationalities and speaking different languages boosts the company's competitiveness and enhances the company's problem-solving and agility in the changing, global business environment. The customer base of Finnish companies is highly diverse and large companies, in particular, operate in international markets. For example, over 80 per cent of the net sales of OP Corporate Bank's largest customers come from outside of Finland. This also stresses the need for a new kind of lingual and cultural competencies," said Keitaanniemi.

The survey commissioned by OP Financial Group, was conducted by Taloustutkimus Oy.