Training and education

During 2007, Wärtsilä gave particular emphasis to effective induction programmes for new employees and newly appointed managers. Learning at work, mentoring, and job assignments designed to enable the transfer of competence and skills from experienced to younger employees, are extentions to the traditional professional and general training programmes produced by Wärtsilä’s global training network.

Wärtsilä encourages its employees to develop a varied working career through internal and international job rotation, and provides opportunities for them to do this. The employees’ own short- and long-term career aspirations are discussed in annual development discussions.The company reviews regularly its successor plans for key positions in order to ensure the continued availability of the right resources for these key positions in the future. Since March 2007, there have been two ongoing 12 to 18 months graduate programs, one in Finance and the other on Information Management, for future Wärtsilä business professionals.

Critical success factors for Wärtsilä are having the correct competences at the right time, and the ability to adjust to continuous change in the business environment. Employees are given training all the time at all organizational levels: from induction training for new employees, to training for the company’s top executives. Wärtsilä employees attend on average 3.3 training days a year. The number of training days, which is altogether 52,312, indicates the broad scope of this function. Most of the training events are tailored to the specific needs of departments.