To what extent are new and younger employees "empowered" in Nokia IT group?

I cannot really comment on the IT group side of things, but I can comment in general on behalf of young professionals in Nokia.

This depends from country to country. In many fast developing technical hub countries like India, Poland and Philippines, the younger population is very well presented and makes up a big part of the entire employee base. However in many countries in western europe and US, the younger professionals are a smaller population and here there is a bigger gap of way of working between the generations. We have a lot of good groups like Nokia Young Professionals who support younger employees with mentoring, networking and making them feel at home in Nokia culture. The other great thing that Nokia has going for it is that we are super flexible and international which is a big pull factor for younger employees.

However indeed taking the needs of the younger generation into focus is something that Nokia struggles with, we want to be attractive employer to young talent in the tech industry, especially when massive "millenial-friendly" employers like Google, Facebook and Salesforce and fighting over the same talent. We have some work to do there

Andrejs B. Being part of IT, could you please share your point of view?

What I've experienced across Nokia IT is that there is tremendous respect for every colleague, be it an intern combining work with studies or someone who has been working in the company for over 20 years.

This mix of people and mutual respect is exactly what makes Nokia such a diverse place to work and "empowers" employees to act. We need experienced people who know our processes really well and are able to tell what has worked in the past. At the same time, new or young people are able to look at these same processes with a fresh perspective and find what can be done differently or improved. Very often such small changes to existing practices is what makes the biggest difference.

I think in Nokia the "empowerment" is fully in the hands of the employee and is limited only by the proactiveness, enthusiasm and sometimes people skills of the individual. As Anni shared, we have a lot of good groups to support with the latter (skill development, networking and mentoring), but the energy for that should come from within.

@Monika M., @Dharmendra S., @András L. : Please join this discussion

Although I am not directly part of the IT group, I can proudly say that one of Nokia’s core values—what we call the Nokia Essentials—is empowerment. It is a deeply rooted part of our culture and is practiced consistently across our global locations and across all age groups, including our younger employees.

As someone who has been with Nokia for more than 25 years, I can share how we bring this to life. The first step is to build trust between leadership and team members. Based on each person’s responsibilities and level of accountability, we ensure the right level of empowerment. Employees are free to take risks and make their own decisions, while leaders periodically check in to see if they need any support. They also discuss overall timelines and progress, and leaders help remove any obstacles that may hinder advancement.

There is no micromanagement, and employees have the autonomy they need to work effectively in their respective domains, including IT.

I hope this clarifies.