Service supervisor Janica Hirvonen

On a mission to motivate others

Together with her team, Service Supervisor Janica Hirvonen is responsible for the outdoor areas and shunting facilities at Olkiluoto 3. Originally from Savonlinna, Hirvonen is quite a one-woman dynamo, whose efficient attitude has also not been left unnoticed at RTK-Palvelu.

– My team has seven employees. They take care of both outdoor areas and so-called shoe boundary areas at the plant. The latter refers to taking care of the special equipment, or the protective white clothing, used at the plant.

Janica’s career at RTK-Palvelu has been in a steady upward climb. After getting hired by the company, she spent only a few months as a construction cleaner and then a few months as a case manager before getting promoted as a team leader. And it only took a few months since her previous promotion until Janica became a service supervisor.

– I am a go-getter by nature. I think they also noticed that here in the company, and that’s why they’ve been giving me a lot of responsibility right from the start. I started working as a service supervisor at Olkiluoto 3, but I also briefly had a management job with the same title in the cleaning services at Olkiluoto 1 and 2 at that time, Janica, who has returned to working at Olkiluoto 3, looks back on her career.

Safety and coworkers close to her heart

In her job, Janica particularly enjoys developing safety aspects and training her employees. Indeed, proper orientation and training are vital when you work in nuclear safety. Janica has good things to say about her employer for its harmonious operating approaches and instructions.

– Taking safety aspects into consideration is highly motivating. I enjoy being able to develop my job and come up with new ideas at RTK-Palvelu. I hope that I get to give even more training courses in the future. I am interested in disseminating information about safety and spending time with people.

In September 2018, hardworking Janica started working alongside her studies for a specialist vocational qualification in the cleaning and property sector. The competence she is acquiring through the training programme will also be visible in the daily practice of other employees.

– As part of my studies, I am developing a plan that will allow us to motivate employees even better than before. We have a great team and I want the people around me to feel well, Janica says.

Taking care of the wellbeing of other employees is also apparent in Janica’s job in another way. As she noticed that the workload was not evenly distributed between all supervisors, she took on new tasks from others.

– The way I am is that I get frustrated if I don’t have enough things to do. I also cannot stand the idea that others are at risk of being overwhelmed by their work if there is something that I can do about it. With these arrangements, everybody wins, Janica laughs.

Finding her thing in Rauma

Janica has previous qualifications as a youth and leisure time instructor. Her career has included working as a personal assistant in Savonllinna and as a benefits officer at a social welfare office in Tampere. Her previous employment relationships have taught her accuracy and the importance of taking others into consideration.

Janica initially ended up moving to Rauma for love. She immediately felt at home in the town by the sea and was thankful for finding work with RTK-Palvelu as a construction cleaner at Olkiluoto.

– I made a jump from wearing heels at work to working at a construction site in Rauma. I loved being able to be physically active at work and moving around with my vacuum cleaner. I was excited about nearly everything new that I learned and was swept away by the industry. That’s where I ended up, Janica laughs.

Janica regrets that many have incorrect assumptions of the cleaning sector, and cannot properly understand the potential and career opportunities in the industry.

– My mission is that there will be a change to this in the future. This is a great and versatile customer service job, Janica says.