SSG No 10 - Shipgaz

SHIPPING AND SHIP MANAGEMENT
Kadri Land with the multinational team of her office.
ship sails under. This is where the crews are
employed.
We are a sales office and our primary
goal is to fill the ships with passengers in
Sweden. An additional function of the
office is to man the vessels under the Swedish
flag.”
Are the passengers using your lines the
same or different?
“Our customers choose voyages for different
purposes. For instance, those travelling
to Turku are mostly interested in the seagoing
experience: the views of the islands,
nice restaurant meals and the other onboard
entertainment. They do not actually disembark
in Turku and simply return the same
way. On the other hand, the people who
travel to Riga tend to be interested in the
destination. The voyage itself is fun as well,
of course, otherwise they would fly.”
You used to be the director of Tallink
AB and you were entrusted with the task
of merging the two Stockholm offices.
What was the most difficult aspect of
doing so?
“We suddenly, and inevitably, had two
of everybody: two secretaries, two marketing
managers, and double the number of
lots of other employees. The problem was
that Swedish legislation in such instances
favours those who have been with the
company longer and dismissals therefore
affect newcomers first and foremost. Silja
employees therefore enjoyed a clear advantage
as Tallink had operated in Sweden for
a much shorter period.
Dismissals are always painful but I
believe the decision should be made at
once, without delay, not two workers one
month and another couple the next. Procrastination
creates more insecurity and
people are no longer motivated to perform.
When you have no choice but to amputate,
you do it all in one go.”
So in essence this finetuned
system protects those
who to some degree lack
initiative or are lazy.
Have any dismissed employees
expressed their frustration through acts
of discontent?
“No, they left in a dignified manner.
Naturally they were sad to leave the company
where they had worked for many
years. In some cases it has actually proved
to be a useful experience for them, serving
as a wake-up call of sorts, liberation from
a routine that had lasted for up to twenty
years. Having found themselves in a new
situation, they had to review their abilities
and possibilities. Quite a few of them actually
got better jobs, something they would
have never searched for had they stayed
with our company.
In that sense our dismissals came at
the right time, since they coincided with
a time of great flexibility on the Swedish
labour market. I have not heard of a former
employee who has not found another job.
When we later needed to recruit new staff
and tried to invite some of the former
employees to return to the company, we
were too late, as they had found new jobs
and were satisfied with them. But the period
of dismissals was still a bitter experience.”
You are a Swedish employer and therefore
surely have a lot of dealings with the
trade union. Has it ever been the case
that you were forced to dismiss someone
you needed and kept someone you were
told to retain?
“It has never been that drastic. Some
employees had to go because, for instance,
the new structure had other language
requirements for the position. Certainly
the trade union has played an important
part. You need to meet trade union representatives
not once, but two, three, as many
as ten times to iron out all of the details.
The reality is that the employers usually
get what they want. You have to be able to
argue your points well, explain the reasons.
It is great that someone is there to support
employees: one day we are employers,
the next we could be employees ourselves.
We like it when our interests are protected.
But you’ve got to draw the line somewhere.
Adopting a rigid stance can in fact damage
your company.
When we are obliged to favour those
employees who have been with the company
for many years, some of them will
invariably be those who are not likely to
be employed anywhere else or couldn’t be
bothered going elsewhere. So in essence
this fine-tuned system protects those who
42 SCANDINAVIAN SHIPPING GAZETTE • MAY 16, 2008