Technology is strongly perceived as a predominantly male field of industry, and the majority of Pinja’s employees are also male. This year, Pinja’s female employees started to develop common activities and team spirit. As the result, a community for Pinja’s female employees – Pinjattaret – was created. Pinjattaret promote diversity, wellbeing at work and sense of community. The network offers support and encouragement in different life situations.
– Pinjattaret was established to create a positive sense of belonging. The objective of the network is to bring together all of Pinja’s female experts working in different jobs, locations and business areas. Pinjattaret cuts across the entire organization, says Sari, employed at Pinja.
The idea of Pinjattaret has been taking shape already for years. Studies have shown that creativity and productivity flourish in a diverse workplace. Genuine diversity means that each individual has the courage to show who they really are and can find soulmates within the work community. In early autumn, Noora Valve and Sari made these ideas concrete and wrote down on paper the message and the values of Pinjattaret.
– People long for encounters in which they can share their thoughts and catch up on each other’s news. The sense of inclusion from belonging to a group is important, and for this, Pinjattaret offer an easily approachable network, Sari continues.
A target of Pinjattaret is to offer a warmhearted network to Pinja's own female experts; another target is to increase the interest towards the branch of industry and Pinja as a workplace.
– The technology industry still employs rather few women. Our long-term dream is to be able to influence the root causes of this, for example, by telling elementary school children about our work in the technology field. According to studies, girls do well in mathematics and science and are interested in these subjects at elementary school, but then the interest fades at secondary school stage at the latest. The reasons for this are surely deeply rooted in culture, Noora Valve estimates.
Jogging, hand-knit wool socks and mentoring between one another
Pinjattaret work in many different positions in Pinja’s organization comprising almost 600 employees, for example, as coding engineers, design engineers and in marketing positions. One of the central future plans of Pinjattaret is to provide mentoring to female experts of the workplace. This could also support women’s staying in the field.
– Mentors could tell their own experiences, listen to and help plan the career. Career development does not only mean career advancement but also getting to know different jobs and duties that our multi-branch organization offers, Sari explains.
– Continuous learning and opportunities offered by it are part of mentoring, she continues.
In early autumn this year, Pinjattaret already participated in the Finlandia Marathon event as a group, and other networking plans are currently under consideration. The next program will be a virtual Christmas get-together for Pinjattaret, over a cup of coffee.
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