Employment and Growth Services and Pirha are jointly developing an operating model for proactive recruitment. This means that the need for workforce and new competencies is not assessed only when staff shortages have already arisen, but is anticipated well in advance. This enables more effective preparation for situations such as retirements, normal career mobility, and changing service needs.
The foresight work also takes into account what kind of new skills will be required as social and healthcare services evolve. For example, the increasing use of remote and AI-based care services is increasing additional training needs among staff. The aim is to identify these changes early and ensure that the required skills develop alongside changing work.
The objective is to build an operating model that helps to:
At the same time, the model will be developed in a way that allows it to be later applied to other key sectors within the Tampere Region Employment Area, including industry, construction, cleaning and property services, IT, retail, HoReCa, and early childhood education.
– A key strategic objective of Employment and Growth Services is to strengthen regional growth and vitality. Our operations are based on a demand-driven approach, meaning we want to better understand both current and future workforce and skills needs in the labour market. This is why we also seek close cooperation with companies and organisations. The foresight work carried out with Pirha is a good example of how shared strategic commitment enables long-term collaboration. It allows us to jointly direct our activities to meet the identified workforce and skills needs of the labour market, says Service Director Sari Oksanen from Employment and Growth Services.
The work will progress in phases. In the first phase, the entire Pirha organisation will be examined across three service areas, with a particular focus on the future needs in three professional groups:
The work combines statistical data with expert insights gathered through foresight workshops. The aim is to build a shared understanding of the development trends of key care and support service professions in Pirkanmaa up to 2035.
– At the wellbeing services county, we want to prepare for the future, and it is great that we can do this together with experts from Employment and Growth Services. At the moment, the labour market situation is favourable for us as an employer, but statistics indicate a significant change in the coming years. Also competence development is a highly important priority for personnel and residents in the wellbeing services county, to ensure that we continue to succeed in our tasks in the future, says Aija Tuimala, HR Director of the Wellbeing Services County of Pirkanmaa.
Foresight work is carried out in close cooperation with various actors of the region. In addition to experts from Employment and Growth Services and the Wellbeing Services County of Pirkanmaa, the work includes social and health education institutions, as well as the Western Pirkanmaa Employment Area, where some of Pirha’s municipalities are located. Other regional stakeholders, such as the Economic Development Centre of Inland Finland, Business Tampere, and the Council of Tampere Region, will also be invited to participate.
The information to be collected can be used, for example, to develop education pathways in the right direction, strengthen cooperation with educational institutions, and target employment services more effectively.
The project is implemented within the City of Tampere’s Employment and Growth Services as part of employer and development services and the services of International House Tampere. Practical execution is carried out by the city’s experts in cooperation with experts from the Wellbeing Services County of Pirkanmaa.
The first phase of the project will continue until the end of 2026. Planning with Pirha has already begun in December 2025, and the project is part of longer-term cooperation throughout Pirha’s strategy period 2026–2030.
Both quantitative and qualitative data are utilised in the work. In addition to statistical and data materials, future-oriented and scenario-based work will be conducted. Experts will examine how work is changing, what kinds of skills will be needed in the future, and which phenomena, trends, and changes will affect care and support service professions in Pirkanmaa.
The work also utilises the expertise of the City’s IT services, as well as various analysis and foresight tools.
