VALA has won Finland’s Great Place to Work competition in the category for medium-sized companies. This is a huge recognition for us, but above all, it’s proof that long-term work towards a thriving, empathetic, and meaningful work community bears fruit.  

Why did we win? Because for us, employee well-being and an exceptionally warm culture are not just goals, but actually part of our culture and way of operating.

“Congratulations VALA, Finland’s Best Workplace! VALA’s superpower of empathy is strongly evident as a success factor in our research as well. At VALA, people are met as individuals, and everyone can be themselves. VALA employees are implementing the strategy together and are highly engaged in their work. Employees describe their empathetic and gentle culture as completely exceptional. VALA’s results even exceed the average of Europe’s best workplaces,” says Kirsi Ilmasti, CEO of Great Place To Work Finland, enthusiastically.

How to Build Finland’s Best Workplace?

At VALA, an exceptional employee experience is not a project or a goal – it’s our way of thinking and acting every day.  

For over a decade, we have been building a workplace where people enjoy themselves, feel well, can be themselves, and experience their work as meaningful.  

In Finland’s Great Place to Work survey, our strongest areas were:

✅ Community – We encourage everyone to be boldly themselves, which creates a natural and authentic community. 

✅ Equality – At our company, employees are treated equally, and everyone gets their voice heard regardless of their role, and decisions are made together.  

✅ Belonging – At VALA, everyone can be themselves and thus belong to the group in their own way.

✅ Credibility – Leading a self-directed organization is difficult, but we have succeeded in this quite well. As a result, VALA employees feel heard and able to influence.

✅ Communication – Openness, transparency, and trust are a given for us. Transparency in all possible (even negative) matters increases trust and a sense of security.

Empathetic Culture and Meaningful Work

VALA is known for genuinely caring about people. Our culture is empathetic and warm – this doesn’t just mean a nice atmosphere, but also that we take care of each other and support everyone’s personal and professional growth.  

At our company, encounters with people are particularly important and enjoyable moments.  

But a warm culture alone is not enough. It needs to be accompanied by meaningful and challenging tasks. As a leading software quality expert company, we can offer our employees the most interesting projects where they can grow and develop. This combination of a warm community and professional growth makes VALA a unique place to work.

What Does the Victory Mean to Us?

“This victory is not just a nice title, but a confirmation that we have built something genuinely special in the long term. At VALA, people have always been at the heart of everything, and this award shows that it is also visible and felt by our employees. The world of work is changing, and I believe that companies need to invest more in how people are doing and how their work is valued. With this victory, we want to show that a workplace can be both thriving and successful.” – Marcus Mattila, CEO, VALA  

“At VALA, determined work has been done for years to ensure that people can feel good and that we can genuinely enjoy ourselves. This victory is proof for us that we have done the right things – but at the same time, it reminds us that a good culture cannot be taken for granted. We continue to develop and want to remain an example that VALA can be both warm and empathetic, as well as ambitious and competent.” – Ada Ikäheimonen, Head of People, VALA 

The Work Continues

We don’t pursue awards for their own sake. We strive for the best possible workplace, and now we have concrete proof that we are on the right track. However, this victory doesn’t change anything, but our work continues, if possible, with even greater determination. We want to continue to develop and challenge ourselves so that we can make working life even better – not just for us, but also for the entire software quality industry.  

We are VALA – Finland’s best workplace. 💙

(By the way, we have open positions😉)

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