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At Valio, the employees are truly at the heart of the strategy
Valio is a Finnish food company that produces dairy products and plant-based products. The company recently turned 120 years old and has production facilities in more than ten locations in Finland. Valio also has subsidiaries in Estonia, Sweden, China and the United States.
Working at Valio combines both production and specialist work, making work ability management a diverse entity. According to Teija Koivu, Valio’s Wellbeing Manager, employees are a key part of the company’s strategy.
"Our strategy mentions committed and competent Valio employees. The people are truly at the heart of the strategy," Koivu says.
Cooperation with Mehiläinen is built around the coordinating occupational health care team at Group level, and practical measures are implemented at the clinics with local occupational health teams. Several operating models have been developed in cooperation to support work ability. For example, the way in which workplace surveys are carried out has been revised to make them even more useful in the development of workplaces.
"Previously, workplace surveys were carried out in conjunction with risk assessments, which did not serve either process in the best possible way. Now, workplace surveys are carried out less frequently but larger in scale, which gives us a better overall picture of the situation at the operating locations," says Development Manager Taru Salakka.
Valio and Mehiläinen have also developed practices for temporary work arrangements adapted to work ability. Their significance has been examined from the perspective of the employee, the work community and the employer.
"We have come to the conclusion that all parties benefit from work arrangements that can be adapted according to work ability. It’s truly a win-win situation," says Salakka.
For example, the Pregnancy Protection Regulation, renewed in 2024, led Valio to specify the hazard identification practices, particularly for pregnant employees, those who have recently given birth and those who are breastfeeding.
According to Koivu, the key factors for successful occupational health partnership are openness, the willingness to develop and the ability to look to the future together.
"Anticipation is really important these days. We need to be able to identify future needs and plan actions well in advance," she says.
Long-term cooperation builds mutual trust.
"A sign of a good partnership is that even difficult matters can be discussed directly. We’ve been most successful when we haven’t thought of ourselves as the customer and the service provider, but rather as everyone being in the same boat."
See Valio’s customer reference. Reference published 6/2026.
