Heljä Karvonen started at NHG as a trainee in 2019 and has now worked at the company for more than three years. She decided to apply for our trainee programme when she was first introduced to NHG through her studies in health economics. When Heljä was looking for materials for her bachelor’s thesis, a publication written by NHG came to her attention, through which she became interested in NHG and got to know the company better.
“I decided to apply for a job at NHG towards the end of my studies. After a three-month trainee period, I was allowed to continue with an hourly contract alongside my studies until I was promoted to analyst after graduation,” tells Heljä.
Heljä now works in one of our management consulting teams, where she gets to focus on a wide range of social and healthcare-related projects. During the past year, she has been involved mainly in projects regarding elderly services and hospital design, whereas recently she has focused on disability services as well as implementation of the health and social services reform.
“I have also been actively involved in our benchmarking products, as I started with the surgery and neurosurgery products in my first year and recently with the emergency care product as well. I enjoy working with benchmarking products as it gives you a broad insight into a particular field. Working with the product teams has also been great,” mentions Heljä.
The benchmarking products are a part of our Solutions business, and they allow service providers to analyze and compare their operations with each other. The aim is to identify the areas for improvement and share best practices among the providers to improve the performance of units.
For Heljä, the most memorable project at NHG has been the productivity programme focused on basic social security. She was responsible for both the quantitative and qualitative side of the analysis and was personally involved in presenting the analysis she had compiled to the municipal council of basic social security. The project gave a concrete example of what the data is used for, and you could read about the outcomes from the local newspaper afterward.
What inspires Heljä about her work is the active feedback and praise she receives. At NHG, successes are made visible among colleagues, but you also get feedback on your own work, which helps you to improve. In addition, working together both with the project team and clients is a real plus for Heljä. As NHG is still a relatively small company with 200 experts, you really get to know your colleagues.
“We don’t have to work alone. You’re able to share both the difficult situations as well as successes with your colleagues,” she says. “Besides, you’ll find people you want to hang out with also in your free time.”
Heljä has participated in both hiking trips organized by NHG; in 2020 the weekend was spent in Repovesi National Park and in 2021 the destination was Teijo National Park. At NHG, you can suggest ideas about what you would like to do as a team, gather an interested group, and put your ideas into practice. For example, it could be a group hike or trying out some interesting new sports, which is a big plus for Heljä, who is passionate about exercising.
Heljä also appreciates the possibility of separating work and free time – she can leave work matters out of her mind when she turns off the computer. Heljä describes the working community as youthful and supportive. As a trainee, you get to grow your own responsibility at a pace that suits you, and you’ll always get your voice heard no matter the subject. It is easy to give ideas for development and they are responded to. In addition, sharing expertise, knowledge and skills among colleagues is an important part of NHG for Heljä.
“Someone once said that NHG is like a university of social and health care, and that’s indeed a valid description,” Heljä laughs.