Kymenlaakso seeks to avoid mass layoffs despite €20 million cuts

Kymenlaakso plans to limit job losses to a few dozen as it seeks to save about €20 million in staffing costs, while South Karelia laid off more than 300 permanent employees. Both are wellbeing services counties, organisations that provide public services. Yle reported the contrast following the end of Kymenlaakso’s staff negotiations last week.

Kymenlaakso’s chief executive, Kari Hakari, said the county hopes to meet its savings target by moving employees into other roles during the negotiations. The aim is to avoid laying off workers only to hire them again when vacancies arise, he said.

South Karelia has rehired 140 workers laid off during its negotiations last year, in both temporary and permanent roles. The county’s human resources director, Tiina Laine, said vacancies arise in its organisation of about 5,000 employees through normal staff turnover and the need for substitutes.

Laine said a major organisational restructuring made it difficult for South Karelia to predict staffing needs while the negotiations were under way. She declined to comment on whether Kymenlaakso’s goal of limiting layoffs to a few dozen was realistic.

South Karelia’s staffing, measured in person-years, has permanently fallen by 7% after job cuts and other savings measures.

Kymenlaakso’s human resources director, Marjut Nieminen, said the effects of the negotiations would be decided gradually over the rest of the year, allowing time to consider other roles for employees at risk of dismissal. The county will assess whether each vacancy can be offered to those workers, she said.

Kymenlaakso is also planning to close some health centres and centralise some services at Kotka Central Hospital. It estimates that changes will affect the work of as many as 1,200 employees, including their duties, working hours and ways of working.