The Confederation of Finnish Employers invites you to notice and recognise good employers and students who stood out with their practical activities in the academic year 1.09.2024 - 31.08.2025 and set an example for many others! Nominations for the “Best Traineeship 2025” competition are open until 30 September 2025.
What can businesses and the state do to improve Estonia's competitiveness, how to solve the deepening labour shortage crisis, and how to increase Estonia's attractiveness to investors, are the topics discussed in the "Employers ‘Hour’ programme by Tiina Käsi, Head of Nordea Estonia, Martti Kuldma, Head of Omniva, and Kristjan Kukk, Member of the Board of Telia Estonia and Council Member of the Employers" Confederation.
Amendments to the Employment Contracts Act are being debated in the Riigikogu, with the aim of adapting to the changed needs of the labour market. However, a number of misconceptions and fears have arisen as a result of the amendment. Piia Zimmermann, legal adviser to the Confederation of Employers, answers common questions.
The “Best Leader 2025” title was awarded to Neeme Tammis, Chairman of the Board of Hansa Group. In addition to his many years of experience as an entrepreneur, investor and advocate in his own field, he is a recognised supporter of culture and sport, contributes to the development of leaders and helps Ukraine.
From today, 15 May, all businesses can apply for Estonia's biggest entrepreneurship competition “Estonia's Best Companies 2025”. Anyone in Estonia can nominate outstanding companies. The aim of the competition is to recognise high-flying Estonian companies and highlight entrepreneurial spirit. The deadline for applications and nominations is 6 July, and the winners will be announced at an awards gala on 1 November.
In the debate on health care financing, we have regrettably not talked much about the fact that health care, or healthy people, is an integral part of Estonia's competitiveness.
Sirli Männiksaar, who has grown through the organisation to become the CEO of Ericsson Estonia, one of Estonia's leading exporters, says that to do great things, a leader must be ignorant in a good way and not get stuck in what has been done or the limits of what is available.
Empowering people in industrial relations is not about scaring and misleading them about change, but about informing them about their rights and opportunities and raising awareness.
Grown from a chef to a top manager, Baltic Restaurants Estonia's manager and finalist in the Best Manager competition, Aaro Lode, was such a role model when working as a chef that the chef used him as a human test to test the boundaries. They were happy with each other, but Lode has had his fair share of bad and instructive managers.
The debate on the inclusion of foreign labour in the Estonian labour market should shift the focus from the question “should we?”. “on what principles?” bringing workers here. Labour migration policy needs to establish coherent and clear principles, with short- and long-term objectives, write OSKA analysts Silja Lassur, Andres Viia and Yngve Rosenblad.
The Confederation of Estonian Employers has collected nearly 170 suggestions on how to reduce the administrative burden and bureaucracy that hampers business. The 12 proposals with the broadest impact and quickest implementation are now in the Government's Economic Cabinet and could be approved as early as this spring.
In a letter sent to the Legal Affairs Committee of the Riigikogu, major Estonian business federations support the planned amendments to the Employment Contracts Act to make working time more flexible. The unions also point out that there are a number of lies and myths circulating about the changes.
As previous promises to cut red tape have not been very fruitful and unnecessary bureaucracy has continued to proliferate, it is now possible to make history by controlling it, says Raul Aron, an advisor-analyst at the Confederation of Employers.
Neeme Tammis, the head of the Hansa Group, a decades-long entrepreneur and finalist in the Best CEO competition, has repeatedly burnt himself out in the pursuit of ambition. The last of these made him think more deeply about the life he has left and make a plan.
“Today, we are at a stage where quality immigration would raise the wages of Estonians,” stresses Risto Mäeots, head of Magnetic MRO, an aircraft maintenance company. The company, which provides a high value-added service, would like to grow strongly and employ several dozen people, but there are no employees.
The Confederation of Finnish Employers has collected 170 proposals to cut unnecessary red tape and today submitted a summary to the Chancellery and the Prime Minister's Growth Council. Of these, the 12 proposals with the greatest impact and the quickest to be resolved could reach the Cabinet of Ministers' Economic Cabinet for action as early as May.
On 22-23 April, a delegation of Estonian entrepreneurs visited Brussels at the invitation of the European Commission Representation in Estonia to discuss key issues for the future of Europe.
Making labour law more flexible is the best news in industrial relations in the last 10 years, explains Ain Käpp, a member of the Employers' Confederation council and head of the labour market working group. It will give part-time workers more security and help attract new people to the labour market.
Although recruiting from abroad is more complicated, time-consuming and expensive than recruiting from Estonia, employers have to do it for different reasons. Risto Mäeots, Head of Magnetic MRO, Erkki Keldo, Estonian Minister of Economic Affairs and Industry, and Ain Käpp, Head of the Labour Market Working Group of the Confederation of Estonian Employers, take part in the programme.
The Estonian Employers' Confederation's business meeting on 24 April focused on one of the most important issues facing both business and government today: how to increase social confidence in an era where geopolitical tensions, information warfare and international economic instability are affecting people's moods and business decisions.
Successful companies are all similar in one way - they make informed choices, invest systematically in developing innovation capacity and constantly create new value, explains Kati Rostfeldt, Innovation Advisor at the Confederation of Finnish Employers.
"My passion is hospitality, a field in which I have been active for 30 years. Working in hotels every day has given me a deep understanding of the importance of the workforce - both finding talent and retaining and developing it," says Ain Käpp, head of the Employers' Confederation's labour market working group and council member.
The European Union this week adopted a 'stop-the-clock' directive that delays the entry into force of sustainability reporting obligations for thousands of companies across Europe. BusinessEurope, including the Employers' Confederation, has been a strong and consistent voice on this issue.
If foreign workers are necessary for business and society, we need to organise labour migration in such a way that people with the necessary skills and the right cultural background are accepted, explains Ain Käpp, a member of the council of the Estonian Employers' Confederation and head of the labour market working group.
The jury selected three leaders to be chosen as the best of the year. This year's finalists are Sirli Männiksaar, Head of Ericsson Estonia, Aaro Lode, Head of Baltic Restaurants Estonia and Neeme Tammis, Chairman of the Board of Hansa Group.
The Confederation of Estonian Employers, which represents the largest employers, today proposed to the government not to go ahead with the planned amendment to the Waste Act. The effects of the reform have not been analysed and instead of bringing the necessary changes in the field, it will lead to a number of problems.
Although the state is investing heavily in increasing defence capabilities, the confidence of Estonian people and businesses is significantly lower than in the neighbouring region. That is why we are organising a business meeting on 24 April for members of the Confederation of Estonian Employers on the topic “How to increase confidence?” to discuss why this is the case and how to change it.
BusinessEurope, Europe's employers' umbrella organisation, warns that the US decision to impose additional import tariffs on EU products threatens the world's largest economy.
With the new government, things are moving in the right direction, says Jaen Uussalu, entrepreneur and member of the board of the Estonian Furniture Industry Association. “Things can only get better from here, and bold and necessary decisions have been made.”
The Confederation of Employers proposed to the Minister of Education not to oblige schools to plan vocational education curricula as a four-year curriculum, but to leave the choice between 3 and 4-year curricula.
Although the last quarter of the year surprised businesses and analysts with economic growth, businesses are cautious about counting out new growth from it. Before that can happen, confidence needs to be restored among businesses and individuals.
Neither Europe nor Estonia has the money or the capacity to continue with the current social policies, to deal with defence capacity building and to implement a largely politically driven green turnaround. We have to choose one from here, stressed entrepreneurs at the Employers' Economic Conference "Windward Flight 2025". Without a strong economy, there is no defence.
The Confederation of Estonian Employers, which represents the largest employers, stresses that we need foreign workers to help us cope with an ageing society and a shrinking working-age population. Every foreign worker who pays taxes helps to pay the salaries of teachers and doctors and to finance the defence of the country.
Looking ahead over the next decade, the Estonian labour market will be short of around 1,400 top specialists and 700 skilled workers every year, and the need for them cannot be met by Estonian graduates. The involvement of some foreign labour is inevitable, according to a recent OSKA study.
The Confederation of Finnish Employers is calling on everyone to report unnecessary red tape and bring together pointless government regulation, outdated laws and other requirements that hinder business.
The lingering economic downturn has dulled the pain of the labour shortage crisis, but it has not taken away its cause, explains Ain Käpp, head of the Confederation of Employers' Labour Market Working Group. That's why every step that brings more workers into the labour market is important.
Making labour law more flexible and modernising the recruitment of foreign workers are indispensable steps to help attract new people to the labour market, explains Ain Käpp, head of the Central Confederation of Employers' labour market working group and member of the council, on ERR's opinion pages. In addition, a more flexible law will increase the rights of part-time workers.
The Confederation of Finnish Employers supports the state's plans to make labour law more flexible, as both employers and employees expect and need this.
New leaders for several working groups were elected at the Employers' Confederation council meeting on 19 March. We thank the current leaders of the working groups for their dedicated contribution and welcome the new leaders who will take forward important focus areas for employers.
The biggest challenges facing the Estonian economy need bold ideas and decisive decision-makers. Leaders and owners of Estonia's leading companies and economic influencers will be present at the most important event of the Employers' Year, the economic conference "Windward Flight 2026", which will take place on 4 March at the Tallinn Cruise Terminal.
A radical reduction of bureaucracy is an untapped opportunity for the Estonian economy, explains Kai Realo, Vice-Chairman of the Employers' Confederation. Otherwise, we will kill all good initiatives, and only those that have managed to break through the bureaucracy and get the attention of politicians or top officials will remain or become viable.
Prime Minister Kristen Michal today announced the launch of the Efficiency and Growth Council. Representatives and members of the Confederation of Estonian Employers will also participate in its work.
“Offering internships gives young people the opportunity to integrate their creativity and modern knowledge of the field into the everyday life of the company,” says Pirkko Saar, HR Manager of Telia Eesti AS, which was awarded the title “Best Internship 2024”, and encourages company managers to bring more interns into their “inner circle” in the Education and Youth Board's “Skills for the Future” programme.
If businesses are responsible for economic growth, the state is responsible for creating a competitive economic area. Estonia's economic policy should aim to place the country among the advanced economies, says Ain Hanschmidt, head of the Employers' Confederation.
The Confederation of Estonian Employers welcomes the new coalition's plan to focus on economic development and security. Cooperation between the state and businesses will turn the economy from recession to growth, which will increase the competitiveness of the economic area.
The Best Leader 2025 competition is looking for Estonia's most outstanding top leader, who is valued within their organisation, contributes to society at large and is an inspiration to many. Nominations are open until 12 March!
The Confederation of Employers calls on businesses to point out those laws and regulatory requirements that create unnecessary costs, waste time or prevent flexible working.