Over nine decades, Finnair has grown from a small Finnish airline to an international airline focused on Europe-Asia traffic. Finnair is undergoing the fastest growth phase of its history. The organisation of 5,500 employees expects to recruit another 1,000 employees over the next few years and needs a strong HR system to support its ambitious plans.

Recognising the importance of the employee experience as part of its strategy and growth plans, Finnair chose to partner with Workday to embark on its "People & Culture" digital HR transformation journey.

Key reasons for selecting Workday included

• the look and feel of the system, which is designed for the end user, is fully integrated with the Finnair internal HR portal, and encourages and enables transparency
• the engaging, consumer-grade experience ensures that staff and managers can easily access information and perform tasks on the go from a mobile device, which is critical with a mobile workforce, many of whom work on the airlines
• the ability to get faster time to value and easier upgrades with a cloud-based HR system

Finnair went live with Workday HCM in early 2017, including a rollout of compensation, absence, and benefits to 5,500 employees based largely in Finland, but with staff located in over twenty countries. Adoption has been high across the business, with the self-service nature and agility of the system well received. Phase two will include Workday Talent and Advanced Compensation, and the adoption roadmap for the near future includes Workday Recruiting. Performance Management is currently going live, and it is expected to drive greater uptake across the workforce in the coming months.

"We are a growing organisation, and a strong focus on the employee experience is key to our expansion," said Johanna Hulkko, head of HR services, Finnair. "Working with Workday enables us to centralise many activities in one system that employees can use via self-service. Workday takes HR to the next level and will help us to support the business better."

"Finnair is an extremely well-respected brand in the Nordics and across the globe. It is critical that its strong heritage is preserved as the organisation grows, and employee experience is at the heart of this," commented Mattias Bolander, regional director, Nordics, Workday. "We are excited to be working with Finnair as it follows a path to digital transformation underpinned by a single HCM system that empowers employees and business leaders to make better-informed decisions."