Toni Karvonen, HR Coordinator

Toni enjoys working at Servica, as the job always presents new challenges

What is your job title and what are your responsibilities?

I’m an HR coordinator and work as an HR specialist. My duties include managing the employment life cycle and interpreting and instructing on matters related to the Working Hours Act and five collective agreements. We also provide training for managers and employees as needed. For new managers, we hold induction training courses on general matters and on different systems. You can always reach out to me if you have any questions.

How long have you been working at Servica?

I’ve been at Servica since the very beginning, and before that I was working at Kuopion Ateria since 2007 or 2008.

What jobs have you held?

I started as a temporary substitute. I walked around schools and day care centres and worked as a kitchen assistant. After a couple of years, I moved to Kuopion Klassillinen lukio high school as a chef and, at some point, I started learning the tasks of an assistant restaurant manager. Then I was able to work as a substitute restaurant manager, first in my own unit and then in other schools in Kuopio. I worked as a substitute for a couple of years.

In 2015, I started as an area manager in the multi-service area. There was both food service and facility cleaning in my area. I worked as an area manager in Kuopio, and my area included Päiväranta, Julkula, the city centre, Puijonlaakso and Kelloniemi.

The first time I worked in HR was in 2019. It was a fixed term job of about 18 months, working as a project manager for the HR shift system tender. When the project ended, I returned to the business area as a regional officer for about a year, until I started as a project worker in the business area. Then I noticed that there was a vacancy in HR that I decided to apply for.

How did you come to work for Servica?

I worked part-time in the private restaurant industry alongside my studies and continued there for the first year after graduation. However, working hours were evening- and weekend-oriented and did not match the rest of life. My neighbour at the time was working at Kuopion Ateria. He knew I was working in the restaurant industry and recommended me to that I should apply.

What did you study?

I have a qualification in restaurant and catering services. When I worked as an assistant restaurant manager and a restaurant manager, I went on to obtain a specialist vocational qualification in first-level management in the hotel and catering sector. In 2016, I started my Bachelor of Business Administration studies at a University of Applied Sciences, but I have not yet completed my studies.

What’s the best thing about your job and Servica?

One of the reasons I’ve enjoyed working here for a long time is that there have always been new challenges. The work has remained interesting. In addition, there is a good balance between working time and free time. I’ve been able to balance work and leisure well. For example, when I was working in the kitchen, I couldn’t influence the start and end times of my work shifts, but I could influence whether I would apply for a unit where I would only work on weekdays or also on weekends.

Now that I have changed roles within Servica, I can influence what time I start and stop working thanks to the flexible working hours. It really helps with balancing work and leisure time. Plus, our holiday benefits are really good.

What would you like to say to someone who is considering Servica as an employer?

Servica has a lot of different tasks. You can apply for a specific field and within a specific field you can then quite easily apply to different locations around North Savo. So you don’t necessarily have to commit to one area. For example, if you want to move within North Savo to another region, you do not need to change employers. It’s also possible to apply for jobs in different sectors within Servica. We also have some people who have trained through apprenticeships for jobs in other sectors. And if you’re interested, you can move forward in your career.