UPM employees get EUR 65m incentives in 2017

Finnish forest industry company UPM paid a total of EUR 65 million as short-term incentives to its employees in 2017.

The incentives were paid for the good 2016 results. The figures are outlined in UPM's Annual Report published on Wednesday, said an official press release.

Over the last four years, the sum has been EUR 58 million per year on average.

UPM's incentive schemes brought on average an additional 7.2% of annual income globally to personnel in the 46 countries of operations.

At the end of 2017, UPM had 19,111 employees. The incentives are determined by the financial indicators, of which EBITDA (earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortization) is the most important and at least one-third of the incentive is determined by the achievement of personal or team performance targets.

“The group-wise incentive scheme ensures that the employees receive their share of good results. The bonus system is voluntary and part of goal-orientated leadership with the aim to encourage personnel. UPM's Board of Directors decides on the incentive scheme annually,” said Riitta Savonlahti, Executive Vice President, Human Resources.

For more than 10 years, all UPM employees in all professional groups and all organisations have belonged to a unified annual Short Term Incentive (STI) scheme, which is evaluated annually.