Personnel transfer

I wish to respond to an important issue that has been raised spontaneously.

It has been enquired as to why all personnel are not directly transferred to Aalto’s new career systems already this year, as is done with permanent professors.

I understand the situation, but it is highly important that we have adequate time to examine each person’s work situation before the transfer. This requires individual development discussions with the supervisor. We wish to ensure that supervisors are up to date with the essentials of the new career system and we are therefore organizing management-level trainings this fall to discuss the essentials of the career system and the Aalto University strategy.

The first draft of the strategy has been completed, and the schools must be given the opportunity to discuss it. According to my estimation, the planning of school- and department-specific strategies cannot begin until at the turn of the year. A key element to this work are the results of the research evaluation, which were finalized a couple weeks ago.

The transfer of professors is the only thing that can be done immediately. Professors are already in the Tenure track and have been evaluated within the new career system. We still need instructions that determine on what grounds other personnel will be transferred to the new career system. Similarly, we need school- and department-specific strategies that can be utilized in the relocation of personnel.

One of the most important aims of the career system is that the university commits to the development of its personnel and thus breaks away from the cycle of continuous fixed-term employment contracts. Unfortunately, implementing this change requires so much time that we will not be able to complete it before the end of the year. After that, we can prioritize transfers so that the work situation of those on fixed-term contracts can be handled first.

So to clarify: although we do not have the time to transfer all personnel to new career systems by the end of the year, all employment contracts will be transferred to Aalto with the existing terms. So we are not planning to implement any “trial periods” or give notices in any personnel group.

Best regards,
Tuula