Employees are a vital stakeholder group. We value their feedback on how we run our business. It is equally important that we keep them informed and consult them about changes that affect them.

Employee survey

In 2007, 44 091 employees in more than 50 countries participated in our annual employment survey, “Listening to You”. With 86% of the workforce taking part, the response rate was our highest ever. The results showed that employees are generally enthusiastic and engaged in the company. Three quarters of those surveyed said they are proud to work for Nokia, 11% more than the external global norm. Some 82% of employees see a clear link between their work and Nokia’s objectives, and 77% enjoy their day-to-day tasks (5% ahead of the external norm).

Around 63% of employees surveyed say that Nokia’s efforts in corporate responsibility have increased their overall satisfaction with working for the company. This is 20% higher than the industry norm and shows that our employees are engaged in our corporate responsibility efforts.

Employee responses to questions on specific CR issues – such as inclusion and development opportunities – are included in the relevant sections of this report.

A key finding from the 2006 survey was that Nokia could improve the process for communicating on strategy with employees. We focused on involving employees through the Nokia Jam in 2007, where we gave everyone at Nokia the opportunity to participate in a discussion of our values. This helped to improve the level of positive responses on strategy-related questions in our 2007 survey. For example, this year 10% more employees agreed that “The leadership of Nokia has communicated a vision of the future that motivates me”. This positive trend is shared across all business units and employee groups at Nokia. We are continuing to make this a priority in 2008.

Internal communications

We communicate with employees through several channels. These include:

Nokia News Hub: The News Hub is Nokia’s global intranet news service. It aims to encourage open dialogue with employees by bringing people together to discuss a wide range of topics relevant to Nokia, such as strategy, product and service launches, company values, environmental topics, organizational updates, or financial results. Readers can rate the stories and post comments, without any prior monitoring or selection. The News Hub is accessed around 150 000 times every month. The News Hub won the award for Best navigation/usability for intranet in the 2007 British Association of Communicators in Business Awards.

Environmental e-magazine: This email bulletin raises awareness of environmental issues among employees. In 2007, articles included: take back takes off; following our footprint and green housekeeping. Further environmental stories have been published on the main intranet news hub.

We also engage with employees through blogs and interactive forums on our intranet. These include:

• Jazz Café portal: a popular internal discussion site where people can discuss different topics anonymously.
• AskHR: Our online employee assistance service continually responds to employee enquiries. Questions can be posted anonymously under categories such as employment, development and career, and people management.

Employee forums and collective bargaining

Nokia recognizes the right of employees to join unions and enter collective bargaining agreements.

In Finland, statutory legislation stipulates the issues on which employees or employee representatives must be informed or consulted. In Finland, Nokia has several different employee representative bodies in accordance to applicable legislation. These bodies are informed or consulted in their respective areas on the development or changes of the business.

The Nokia EuroForum aims to strengthen dialogue with employees. Employee representatives from EU countries meet with management twice a year through the forum to discuss business issues affecting employees.

In June 2007, 24 employee representatives from six EU countries attended a EuroForum meeting. The forum focused on issues such as training for employees on production lines, supplier quality and work–life balance. Participants also discussed the new Nokia Way values statement.

The EuroForum in November 2007 was attended by 29 employee representatives from 10 EU countries. The reorganization of the company, The "Listening to You" results and Code of Conduct were the main topics at this meeting.

Information on the EuroForum and its activity is available to employees through our intranet.