Sampo CEO Wahlroos opposes union representatives on corporate boards
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Björn Wahlroos, CEO of the Sampo Group financial services company, has sharply criticised the practice among Swedish parent companies to appoint representatives of trade unions to their boards of directors.
Speaking on Monday at a seminar in Espoo on competitiveness and ownership questions of Finnish and Swedish companies, Wahlroos said that the Swedish model, of automatically appointing a union representative to the board, does not work.
The speech was an exceptional moment of discord in the seminar, which otherwise focused on applauding how well Finnish and Swedish companies work together. Even questions of possible differences in management culture between the two countries were glossed over with humour.
The seminar brought together 250 Finnish and Swedish corporate managers and key decision makers, who generally saw cooperation between the two Nordic countries as a key to international success.
However, Wahlroos pointed out that boards of Swedish parent companies can contain as many as three or four personnel representatives.
He observed that one of the tasks of a board of directors is to supervise the activities of the CEO.
"Supervision does not work if half of the members of the board are subordinates of the CEO."
Wahlroos was not completely opposed to having personnel representatives on boards of directors, adding that in Finland the system works quite well. "In Finland most union representatives are on the boards of directors of subsidiaries, where the work is closer to the practical level, and where personnel have more to contribute", he told Helsingin Sanomat soon after his speech.
The speech was well received by the audience.
Timo Poutanen, managing director of the Finnish Forest Industries’ Federation, said that boards of directors nowadays have considerable responsibility, and he felt that it was wrong for anyone to have an automatic entitlement to a seat.
Vesa Vainio, Chairman of the Board of the paper manufacturer UPM, said that personnel representatives can find themselves in an awkward position when they have to decide on questions where the interests of the company conflict with those of the personnel.
However, Social Democratic Party secretary Eero Heinäluoma said that Wahlroos does not see the positive aspects that personnel representation can have. "I know of no instances where a personnel representative would have worked against the best interests of a company."
A panel discussion touched upon areas where cooperation might be improved. These include research and energy.
Michael Treschow, the Chairman of the Board of the Confederation of Swedish Enterprise, expressed concern that companies do not know how to take advantage of Nordic research resources in their product development. He said that much work is duplicated.
Speaking on Monday at a seminar in Espoo on competitiveness and ownership questions of Finnish and Swedish companies, Wahlroos said that the Swedish model, of automatically appointing a union representative to the board, does not work.
The speech was an exceptional moment of discord in the seminar, which otherwise focused on applauding how well Finnish and Swedish companies work together. Even questions of possible differences in management culture between the two countries were glossed over with humour.
The seminar brought together 250 Finnish and Swedish corporate managers and key decision makers, who generally saw cooperation between the two Nordic countries as a key to international success.
However, Wahlroos pointed out that boards of Swedish parent companies can contain as many as three or four personnel representatives.
He observed that one of the tasks of a board of directors is to supervise the activities of the CEO.
"Supervision does not work if half of the members of the board are subordinates of the CEO."
Wahlroos was not completely opposed to having personnel representatives on boards of directors, adding that in Finland the system works quite well. "In Finland most union representatives are on the boards of directors of subsidiaries, where the work is closer to the practical level, and where personnel have more to contribute", he told Helsingin Sanomat soon after his speech.
The speech was well received by the audience.
Timo Poutanen, managing director of the Finnish Forest Industries’ Federation, said that boards of directors nowadays have considerable responsibility, and he felt that it was wrong for anyone to have an automatic entitlement to a seat.
Vesa Vainio, Chairman of the Board of the paper manufacturer UPM, said that personnel representatives can find themselves in an awkward position when they have to decide on questions where the interests of the company conflict with those of the personnel.
However, Social Democratic Party secretary Eero Heinäluoma said that Wahlroos does not see the positive aspects that personnel representation can have. "I know of no instances where a personnel representative would have worked against the best interests of a company."
A panel discussion touched upon areas where cooperation might be improved. These include research and energy.
Michael Treschow, the Chairman of the Board of the Confederation of Swedish Enterprise, expressed concern that companies do not know how to take advantage of Nordic research resources in their product development. He said that much work is duplicated.
Helsingin Sanomat