The seven principles of responsible employment at Castrén & Snellman

Castrén & Snellman is a member of the Responsible Workplace community led by Oikotie. The community consists of approximately 400 organisations. We strive to develop ourselves as a responsible employer. Each employer in the community is committed to building a more responsible working life in Finland together. We are committed to developing the seven principles of the Responsible Workplace community:    

1. We respect the candidate. We put personal effort into every applicant. We make applying for a job as easy as possible, and we handle recruiting processes without unnecessary delays. Our communications are on time and informative throughout the process. We provide applicants with a comprehensive picture of the position and recruiting process and provide the opportunity to ask for additional information. We are transparent in our choices and justifications and provide constructive criticism to every applicant who asks for it.

2. We provide a proper orientation to the job. It is important to us that every C&S employee gets a good start, which is why we have a comprehensive orientation programme for each new employee. We also have an orientation programme that is tailored specifically for trainees. All employees can participate in internal training, which is provided regularly. In the training sessions our teams describe their work and discuss current matters. Trainees also take part in lunch events that enable them to learn more about a specific case or practice.

3. Our supervisors exist for the employees. We invest in the implementation and development of a coaching leadership style. Based on our personnel’s expectations, we established shared leadership promises for the firm, which help us ensure that supervisor work is uniform and high-quality in every personnel group and team. We measure the success of supervisor work and the realisation of our leadership promises annually through 360 feedback surveys and develop our leadership skills through coaching and training for supervisors.

4. We provide meaningful work that fosters development. Every day, we work toward shared targets and behave according to our shared values: the Spark, Respect, Courage and Responsibility.  We communicate and discuss our targets together. Personal development and target discussions are used to ensure that everyone is able to make use of their strengths and develop their skills. We help each other develop by fostering an environment of open feedback and by sharing our expertise with each other. We offer a variety of opportunities for employees to develop their expertise, for example, through secondments, mentoring and training.

5. We address unequal treatment right away. We treat everyone equally and provide equal opportunities to everyone. We do not tolerate any kind of discrimination. We do not discriminate against people based on gender, age, nationality, religion, sexual orientation or other factors. We support opportunities to work and develop for people in different stages in life and seek to increase diversity in our firm by implementing various measures.

6. We take care of employee wellbeing. We continually develop ways to support work-life balance, for example, opportunities for remote work and various flexible working time solutions. We support our employees by investing in wellbeing, occupational health and a sense of community. We also support employees in balancing family life and work, for example, by offering mentoring to employees returning from parental leave and providing solutions to ease the day-to-day life of families with small children, such as care services for sick children.

   The Benefit Bucket offers a wide selection of benefits for our employees to support wellbeing at work and a good work-life balance in all situations and stages of life. The Benefit Bucket was born out of a desire to create something brand new – a benefits package in which our experts can influence the benefits they choose. New benefits are constantly entering the market, and what works for some might not work for others. We wanted to create a package of benefits where everyone can choose the benefits best suited to their circumstances and preferences.

7. We pay a fair salary. Our compensation is consistent and is based on clear principles and rules. We assess the requirements of positions to ensure that our compensation is competitive and corresponds as consistently as possible to different positions across the firm. We regularly benchmark our compensation practices and salary levels against different sectors, industries and operators. As regards the salary for newly graduated lawyers, we comply with the recommendation of the Association of Finnish Lawyers. We have a bonus and incentive scheme, and we also recognise successes with other kinds of rewards.