SOL Palvelut assessment on employee rights has been completed

SOL Palvelut has commissioned an independent assessment following the public discussion that began last autumn to evaluate and prevent labour exploitation. Based on the results, SOL Palvelut has launched an action programme to ensure employee rights and wellbeing.

The independent assessment examined key employment processes such as onboarding and training, payroll practices and the company’s channels for reporting misconduct. The assessment was carried out between October and December 2025. A survey on working-life practices at SOL Palvelut was sent to employees and white-collar staff, interviews were conducted with employees and representatives of administration, and relevant documentation was reviewed. The anonymous survey was sent to 5,212 SOL Palvelut employees, of whom 31%—a total of 1,618 employees—responded. In addition, targeted spot checks were performed to assess compliance with guidelines. The assessment was conducted by Code of Conduct Company.

The assessment identified four key findings: administrative structures do not sufficiently prevent the risks of labour exploitation; supervisors’ broad decision-making authority regarding work shifts, assignments and payroll increases the risk of exploitation and misconduct; reporting practices for misconduct have previously been partly inadequate; and specific characteristics related to the multicultural workforce have not been sufficiently considered across different processes.

As corrective actions linked to these main findings, SOL Palvelut will, among other measures, renew its HR systems and processes and develop digital tools to ensure information is shared equally and centrally with employees. Supervisors will receive additional training on working in a multicultural environment, preventing labour exploitation and understanding employee rights. Elements of social responsibility will also be included in supervisors’ incentive schemes. The range of languages used in employee training and instructions will be expanded. Reporting practices for misconduct will be improved, communication about reporting channels will be increased and the language options for the whistleblowing channel will be expanded. The multicultural development group, which has operated at SOL for 18 years, will also be further developed.

The assessment examined the occurrence of the illegal employment-related facilitation fee practices (“kynnysraha”) within SOL Palvelut. In the survey, 21 employees reported that they had been asked to pay money in exchange for obtaining or keeping a job at SOL. Six employees (0.4% of respondents) reported having paid or currently owing money related to a job at SOL. Respondents had paid either a SOL employee or an external party, most often less than 1,000 euros. Six employees also reported having paid another employer for a previous job, usually less than 1,000 euros.

SOL always takes immediate action if it receives substantiated suspicion of facilitation fees or other criminal activity. In 2025, the company referred two cases to the police, in which evidence of facilitation fees was found. Last autumn, the company decided that it will not, for the time being, participate in the first residence permit applications of employees. Since last autumn, all recruitments have been centralised within the HR team and are conducted through an electronic system. Additional control points have been added to the process to determine whether a jobseeker has been required to make illegal payments. SOL has previously communicated in onboarding and in its policies that charging facilitation fees is illegal. Communication, training, controls and cooperation with authorities and NGOs to eliminate facilitation fee practices will continue.

The assessment also examined employees’ experiences of their rights and wellbeing. Of the responding employees (n=1618), 83% reported feeling well at work, 96% said they understand their tasks and responsibilities, and 91% reported understanding their rights. A total of 72% of respondents know to whom and how they can raise concerns and feel they can express their opinions freely at work without fear of consequences. Additionally, 75% felt they can raise concerns at the workplace and 73% felt that concerns are taken seriously and that inappropriate behaviour is addressed.

The survey also included questions on work shifts and pay. Among the respondents, 86% felt they had received the work shifts as agreed, and 81% reported being paid correctly for the hours worked or in accordance with their contract. A total of 13% of employees reported challenges related to payroll: the employee does not know how their pay is determined or does not understand the payslip; the pay has not matched the agreed number of hours or hourly rate; or the employee reported having worked more hours than those paid.

SOL Palvelut has undertaken extensive measures in recent years to ensure the accuracy of payroll. At present, 99.2% of wages are paid correctly on the first attempt. SOL will continue to further improve payroll reliability through electronic time-tracking systems, additional supervisor training and enhanced employee onboarding on how pay is determined, as well as by addressing the root causes of payroll errors.

SOL has compiled the measures to prevent labour exploitation into an action programme, the progress of which will be monitored. The programme forms part of SOL’s human rights due diligence.

Further information about the assessment

Marja Innanen, Director of Communications and Sustainability, SOLEMO marja.innanen@sol.fi, tel. +358 400 477717

Hugo Nurmi, General Counsel, SOLEMO hugo.nurmi@sol.fi, tel. +358 401 424377