Helsinki (23.07.2013 – Juhani Artto)

Outotec tops the list when it comes to labour costs per employee in Finnish companies in 2012. The list, published recently by the economics weekly Talouselämä (issue 20/2013), comprises figures from the hundred largest Finnish employers, which do not include public sector employers. The minerals and metals processing company Outotec last year paid out 81 373 euros per employee in direct and indirect labour costs.

The next company on the list, the fuel refiner and marketer, Neste Oil, ended up paying slightly less than 68 000 euros. It was marginally above the globally operating consulting company Pöyry, the Finnish broadcasting company Yle and the national airline Finnair. Coming just below the latter were Finavia (airport services), Tieto (IT services provider), Orion (pharmaceuticals) and Fujitsu Finland (ICT technology and services). Their labour costs per employee slightly exceeded 60 000 euros.

The other end of the list comprises retailers and companies that offer property maintenance services, such as cleaning. The lowest labour costs per employee were for the property services companies Contineo (24 823 euros) and Solemo (25 612 euros). Also the globally operating service providers ISS and Sodexo and the German retailer Lidl’s Finnish subsidiary Lidl Suomi are to be found among the bottom-10 companies with their less than 30 000 euros per employee labour costs.

According to Statistics Finland, direct earnings made up approximately 60 per cent and social security contributions almost 22 per cent of the total labour costs in 2008. Since then the structure of the costs has not changed significantly.

Read more:

Labour costs EUR 45,000 per employee in 2008, Statistics Finland 22 October 2010