The new premises at the center of Tampere are full of solutions that advance the employees’ wellbeing at work, including local street art by Tussitaikurit.
The premises have been designed with wellbeing at work in mind: a pleasant work environment in an open plan office design is guaranteed by sound absorbing curtains and floor materials as well as well-thought-out workstation positioning.
Pinja has grown strongly in recent years in Tampere where the company has offices in Hermia and now one also in Naulakatu street. There are already almost a hundred technology experts dressed in fuchsia in the city: nearly a fifth of the entire company personnel. The move from Sarankulma to the city center, next to the railway station in the early summer is part of the green growth strategy. The modern facilities were renovated nurturing the local spirit and humor with employees’ wellbeing and comfort in mind.
– Pinja has a long history in Tampere and so far the growth has been relatively steady with a strong focus on industrial design services. In the beginning of 2018, a strive for steady growth also set new requirements to the premises. Growth potential was seen particularly in the software business, demanding larger premises that would suit information work, to which facilities required by design services could be linked in a practical way. The growth as such requires good accessibility from the point of view of both employees and customers, explainsJuha Eloranta, Vice President of Digital Business.
New experts are constantly recruited and the COVID-19 pandemic has practically not slowed down the pace.
Pinja’s growth rate is clearly illustrated by the fact that while there were 40 Pinja employees in the Tampere region in 2018, the number of personnel now exceeds 95. Twenty-nine employees work in the Hermia office and sixty-six in Naulakatu street. Approximately one half of the increase in employment results from new recruits and the other half from company acquisitions.
New experts are constantly recruited and the COVID-19 pandemic has practically not slowed down the pace.
– We have now two offices next to the university in Tampere, one in Hermia and now this new location close to the city center. As a youthful working community, we want to support students in reconciling their work and studies, to find their own paths. Our location at the city center makes us an even more preferred employer supporting in this way our organic growth by recruiting, says Juha Eloranta.
The search for new premises started already a couple of years ago. The multi-sector business demanded premises with versatile characteristics.
– We needed office facilities of approximately 1,000 square meters mainly focused on information work. In addition, an area for testing and delivering demanding industrial systems was necessary. The power supply network had to be compatible with testing functions of industrial equipment, and more robust solutions compared to normal office premises, such as a goods lift and large door openings, were necessary in both logistics and indoor areas due to handling of relatively large devices. It was not quite so straightforward to find a combination that met all these criteria; one piece was always missing, Juha Eloranta relates.
Cooperation with the landlord Sponda has been good. A large-scale renovation was carried out during the spring and early summer in the offices and final testing facilities: all indoor surfaces were renewed and door openings were made larger to fit movable equipment, such as control cabinets.
– Sponda wants to modify the real estate to suit our needs. This required, among other things, renovation of premises for information work, building in-house data communication links and redesign of electrification. Logistics has been made appropriate for us. The planning phase of the renewal project together with Sponda’s Ari-Pekka Lehtonen was long and the result is excellent, Juha Eloranta says.
Employees’ hopes and desires were closely listened to when designing the new office. For example, employees suggested naming the meeting rooms according to local Kummeli comic characters.
– Employee wellbeing is a top priority to us. We have made big investments in this, particularly in the past few years. Therefore, it was natural to continue the same theme when designing the new premises. Particular attention has been paid to the sound world of workstations, privacy and work in small groups. Several workgroups have been assembled during the project to reflect on matters related to comfort, Juha Eloranta states.
Quietness plays a key role in office design. Open areas can be dynamically modified by sound absorbing curtains provided by Intila. The floor materials are also soundproof.
Employees are positioned in the office in different sound zones so that those who use phones most are positioned nearest to the door. In addition, there is a quiet work area and ten small areas of different sizes for small groups consisting of 2 to 12 members.
The office includes many rooms for advancing wellbeing at work, such as a soundproof, dark resting room. A welcoming dining room has a café-like atmosphere with its dark gray tile walls and textual illustrations. The coffee room isolated with glass walls offers a place for PlayStation games, for example.
Located in the ground floor, there are a gym and sauna facilities to offer a fresh start of the day for those who come to work by bike or jogging. Green thinking is also reflected by the vicinity of the railway station and good bus connections. In addition, the future tramway stop is only within a five-minute walking distance. There are several places to eat located nearby where employees can use the MyEdenred lunch benefit offered by the employer.
The workplace canteen is executed in style.
Colors and creativity have been generously used and the local art is displayed in the office. In two meeting rooms, Tussitaikurit has created comic strip art images combining employee themes with daily work. Otherwise, the general appearance has been refreshed by the color palette of the Pinja brand with different shades of fuchsia, steel gray and green.
– The visual imagery of the resting room includes padel playing, Star Wars themed adventures, mountain biking and board games. The works of art have been designed with a twinkle in one’s eye including local and youthful themes that represent our culture, Juha Eloranta comments.
Unfortunately, the corona time broke many traditions of Pinja’s employees in Tampere, such as board game nights and a regular padel time slot. However, eSports games have remained and a new thing is offered by virtual coffee breaks in a Slack channel. Pinja’s employees believe that the rest of the traditions can be soon refreshed and perhaps new ones will be invented.
– We have a youthful and innovative spirit of a software house, free of inflexibility or unnecessary rigidity, Juha Eloranta boasts.
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