Varma

A few years ago, Varma Mutual Pension Insurance Company started looking for a new HR solution because its existing system wasn’t able to meet all the demands of a modern business operation. “We needed a system that everyone at Varma could easily access,” says HR Manager, Raija Lehto. “We also wanted to digitize our HR processes while making them more efficient and give the supervisors an effective HR management tool.”

Since the system’s introduction in the autumn of 2008, its uses have grown continually, making it the highly versatile solution it is today. Sympa provides tools for managing staff employment data and employee performance and supporting competence development. “We have had our development discussion and job description forms in Sympa right from the start,” says Pauliina Heiskanen, HR Developer. “Our latest additions include performance target forms and competence profiles. Varma employees have also been using Sympa to enroll for trainings for a year now.”

Sympa serves the staff, the supervisors and the HR unit throughout the employment lifecycle. Information is also transferred with the employee, for instance when he or she changes departments or gets a new supervisor. “We use Sympa every day at Varma,” says Heiskanen. “We’ve found Sympa highly user-friendly. It allows us to maintain staff data in one place and to keep it up-to-date at all times. Over time, we have delegated responsibility for updating the information to the employees themselves.”

The next goal is to develop the system further and make Sympa into a centralized human resources system – its data will also be used in business systems. “The system has met our expectations exceptionally well,” says Lehto. “Because Sympa gives us fast, expert support, we can play it safe within HR management.”