Customer Relationship Manager Tapsa Nylander began working in the Novi team specializing in Pinja’s maintenance system solutions in the fall of 2021. There were two special features in his job when Tapsa, a veteran in process industry maintenance, started working at Pinja: he started working in a different job than he originally applied for, and the job orientation was 100% remote.
Tapsa Nylander, who lives in Turku, was up for new challenges in the summer of 2021, when his previous task in the maintenance of the processing industry and the deployment of a SAP system was completed. He knew Pinja from before through participating in a webinar, and there was an open position in the organization’s iPES team. Tapsa applied for the job and hoped to be elected.
However, it didn’t go according to plan. Pinja had a position for a smart and experienced employee, but it was in the Novi team, which focuses on maintenance system solutions. Pinja’s HR team identified that his competency profile matches Novi, and Tapsa started his work in August 2021.
- I have previously worked in several maintenance-related jobs, so the processes were familiar to me. In the position offered by Pinja, I was particularly interested in learning something new, and eager to see maintenance management at several different client companies, Tapsa says.
Remote orientation and working at home have many common features
The possibility of working from home is a popular option for many people, especially for environmental reasons and flexibility of schedules. For Tapsa Nylander, the start of the new job was exceptional in the sense that the introduction and orientation were also completely remote. It was a new experience for Tapsa, but it turned out to be a positive one.
There is plenty of self-study material available, and, for example, the staff handbook is a really convenient way for a new employee to get all the basic information they need, from HR rules to email settings.
- I think that the remote orientation went well and smoothly. The fact that I had already spent a year working remotely from home at the time of my orientation certainly contributed to this. I was able to prepare for the process beforehand and trust that both remote orientation and working at home would succeed, as long as I had a laptop and monitors”, Tapsa says.
Tapsa also feels that he has benefited from Pinja’s self-study materials, which are available for the orientation phase and for the longer term. For example, a wealth of material related to the Novi product can be found on the Pinja Academy training platform, including product videos, webinars and industry-related articles. The materials facilitate a more in-depth, self-directed familiarization with the product and the industry.
- There is plenty of self-study material available, and, for example, the staff handbook is a really convenient way for a new employee to get all the basic information they need, from HR rules to email settings. Reading about it by myself was a good way to get to grips with things, Tapsa says.
On Pinja’s side, the orientation was mainly handled by Tapsa’s supervisor Ville Vilhu, Business Director of maintenance. For Ville, the 100% remote orientation was also the first of its kind, but he also feels that it went well and according to plan.
- It was gratifying to see how well Tapsa’s remote orientation and all its aspects worked. This also gives us confidence for the future. Naturally, there is a lot of work behind it, but the orientation tools and processes we used showed their strengths. We already have all the materials we need to perform the orientation online, Ville says.
However, both also agree that, like working from home, remote orientation requires more initiative than working at the office.
- Starting work remotely requires more personal activity than a traditional orientation, but this will even out over time. In the beginning, it’s good to be particularly active and even a little more social than normally, and to ask questions about things that are not clear. You also have to have the courage to ask about the same things again if you have forgotten something along the way, says Tapsa and Ville agrees.
Close support and teamwork
In addition to getting to know the job and the employer, Pinja’s orientation sessions aim to actively support team building and give the new employee the opportunity to participate in deployments led by different project managers, for example. This helps new employees to get to know colleagues and see different ways of working. At Pinja, each employee is allowed to work in their own way and according to their personality, as long as certain common frameworks are met.
Tapsa’s closest colleagues are the other account managers in the Novi team and the technology support team. In addition to remote meetings, I have had the opportunity to get to know my colleagues by phone and through an active Slack channel.
- I have also visited the Jyväskylä office a couple of times, where most of the other team members work. I also see colleagues in person when I visit clients – and of course at Christmas parties, Tapsa says.
All in all, Tapsa says that he has really got to grips with his job as an account manager at Pinja. As the initial training period has ended, the focus of the job is shifting towards larger tasks: deploying maintenance systems and managing customer relationships.
Tapsa says that working from home is smooth and efficient. And according to Ville, the supervisor, the team members’ place of residence doesn’t make much difference to their work either.
- In fact, there are some benefits to geographical dispersion. This enables us to serve customers in different parts of Finland even more smoothly than before, Ville says.
Read more
What was it like to start working at Pinja as an experienced veteran in the IT field?
Data analyst visualizes data and promotes effective decision-making
Well-being at work during new normal
