Finnish companies are the best in Europe – Next step: increase the level of detail

By Timmy Fredriksson

The websites of the 50 largest companies in Finland have been ranked to see how well they meet the demands of the capital market and jobseekers. Finnish companies outperform the rest of Europe on all sections with the main difference in IR and Governance, which Finnish companies are very good at. Sustainability has increased since last year whilst career sections still struggle to fulfil stakeholder demands.

Comparing the results of the 20 largest companies in each of 13 countries listed in the summary, Finland places at number one with a score of 66.5 (out of 100). The runner up is Germany with an average score of 59.8. The average for the whole of Europe is 56.9.

See what Kauppalehti writes about the results.

Insider transactions must not be forgotten

With a great 74% stakeholder fulfilment when it comes to governance, Finnish companies are miles ahead of the European average of 46%. Finnish companies excel at presenting AGM information, governance reports (91% compared to 34% in Europe) and remuneration policies and figures.

Regarding its insiders, Finnish companies are still way above the European average when it comes to disclosing their names, but a decrease in companies presenting the insiders recent transactions. By providing details on the actual transactions, covering when and how much, transparency regarding governance can be increased. Valmet provides all the wanted information in a searchable archive.

Sustainability is becoming more important both for stakeholders and companies

Sustainability has been on upwards ladder since 2013 for Finnish companies. On average, they fulfil 52% of the stakeholder needs in this section compared to 37% in 2013. Sustainability as a general topic has increased in need when it comes to both jobseekers and the capital market audience, so Finnish companies are on the right track.

Give credibility to sustainability strategies with data

While 90% of Finnish companies has a sustainability strategy in place, they face the same issues at a similar level as the rest of Europe: presenting sustainability data in numbers, both environmental and social. Less than half of the companies address one environmental area with data in numbers and less regarding social data. By presenting these numbers in different formats to serve different stakeholder groups, a lot is to gain. A strategy and the description on how to reach fulfil this strategy will be given credibility with numbers as it is a direct and transparent measure point on what work is being done under the strategy. As the only Finnish company to get a full score on this, Wärtsilä provides a wealthy section including strategy and data.

Providing for jobseekers – more than presenting culture and values

Both active and passive jobseekers aged between 24 and 54 agreed that information about what it is like to work for a potential employer is important. Jobseekers still prefer to find this information on the corporate website (70%), although the popularity of LinkedIn for this purpose has increased to 34% (from 20% last year). There is a big reason to keep the career section of the corporate website up-to-date.

Diversity wanted in numbers

Finnish companies are on par with the rest of Europe when it comes to presenting policies on diversity and equal opportunity statements, 73% compared to 48% in Europe. What is missing here are the actual numbers. Around half of the Finnish companies provides data on this matter. By backing up statements and policies with actual numbers, companies can show that they keep their promises. A good example here is Sampo. By providing both policies and data in graphs on the same page, they purvey a clear message about their statements.

Provide content on LinkedIn to capture your future talents

Finnish companies are overall good at explaining what it is like to work for a potential employer. 87% has a company introduction tailored for jobseekers and 65% explains their culture and values. Both numbers above European standard. But seeing a rise in LinkedIn, Finnish companies would benefit from presenting this information in posts as well. Although a better score than the European average, there’s room for improvement: only 48% has posts about what it’s like to work at the company.

Wärtsilä takes the lead once again

For the second year in a row, Wärtsilä comes out on top amongst the Finnish companies with a score of 92.5. Closely followed by the runner up Kesko, which has a score of 90.3. In third place their highest notation to date is Valmet. The award for this year’s climber in the Finnish list goes to DNA. Their incredible increase of 60.9 points since last year can be explained by the translation of all their web site content from Finnish to English.

“As a high-tech company, Wärtsilä takes pride in a strong digital presence. A clear and intuitive corporate website is an important element of our global brand building”, states Atte Palomäki, Executive Vice President, Communications & Branding for Wärtsilä.

“This recognition is a result of our continuous work for perfecting our website. We strive to serve our stakeholders online in the best possible way”, continues Johan Bäckman, Manager for External online channels at Wärtsilä.

See the full list of the 52 Finnish companies

Read more about how we select companies  |  More about Webranking 2018-2019

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