For the past 20 years I have been working at Finland’s public employment services. Some forty years ago public employment service was based on a card index – jobseekers had their own cards where employment advisor  would write for example ”some experience in welding”, ”often arrives drunk” which might help them and colleagues decide what kind of work to offer this person. When I started in 2002 client files were already in a national database that the staff used to access client and job vacancy information. Some year later the clients were able to access their own files online. They see the same information the employee does, and can request us to remove information that they consider dated or irrelevant. Nowadays, when a person registers as a jobseeker online, the AI often automatically decides whether they are eligible for unemployment benefit, suggests job vacancies which match their profile, or study programmes which the client may need in order to find employment. Online service is transparent, quick, available for use at home whenever convenient. Still, many clients prefer to visit the employment services in person. The website must be further developed to be more user friendly. It should not be too difficult to filter the information to find what is relevant for you in your own particular situation. And it is important to keep the option of walking in and asking for advice. Even if majority of us know how to read and write Finnish or English, have online bank account codes to identify ourselves, and own a devise that has an access to the Internet, not everyone does. 

Staff, on the other hand, will not be excused from digital services. Gone are the days when a deparment of secretaries helped us to keep track of our working hours, reserved our train tickets for work trips, searched the archives for lost documents and taught us to use a new applications. Archives are no longer rooms in the basement – documents are stored digitally for the required time and then disappear. We no longer need to travel to work related meetings or studies as these are held via TEAMS or given in recorded lectures that you can listen to when you choose. At the moment employment services staff is still required to be in Finland while working but this could change in the future. The jobseekers are no longer required to be in Finland while receiving unemployment benefit from Finland – they can spend the winter in Thailand as long as they are able and willing to accept full time work in Finland within short notice, and show up if invited to visit the employment office. People who move to Finland are increasingly able to continue remotely in their old jobs, or find new work on platforms such as Upwork. Covid-19 forced us to develop new ways of working which seem to have become quite popular. Even if it is nice to meet colleagues face to face few of us are eager to return to commuting to work place every day. 

Data protection has always been extremely important at my work. Paper documents must be locked away, computer files with confidential information must be stored in an eletronic case processing system for a certain time and then destroyed. Clients’ information cannot be shared with anyone except in cases specifically stated in legislation.  GDPR did not greatly change the way we work. In my personal life I think I should now be more confident that my personal data is better protected. However, the recent cases where clients’ and students’ information was stolen in information security breaches have made me more confident that hackers will continue to succeed in the future. Digital security breaches are just example of the risks in open digital society. We must also keep me mind those who cannot utilise digital services. There’s a risk also in allowing some people feel that they have been left out and forgotten. 

I believe I need more information on the various platforms which offer opportunities of remote work – marketing, writing, programming etc. I found some of the orientation material a bit dated although the subject matter was interesting and covered a lot of areas.  It is also interesting to read about the digitalization in other bloggers’ texts; for example, how teachers’ and nurses’ work has changed in this regard. I commented on the interesting blogs of Roosa Huttunen and Mirja Malmberg.