Itella Estonia is much more than just parcel lockers

Whenever anyone says ‘Itella’, most people think of parcel lockers. Everyone recognises the blue and white Smartpost lockers, and the majority of people in Estonia have probably had cause to use them. But Itella is much more than vans zooming around the country delivering online purchases to their rightful owners.

What Itella is, in fact, is a major logistics company involved in both warehouse logistics and national and international sea, air and road transport. It also forms part of the Finnish firm Posti, which is owned by the Finnish state. The company offers well-established B2B, B2C and C2C services with a wide network of couriers and parcel lockers. It is one of Finland, Sweden and the Baltic region’s leading logistics firms, ensuring that its clients’ day-to-day lives and business activities are as worry-free as possible by offering a broad range of postal, logistics and e-commerce services.

But what, you may be wondering, does warehouse logistics entail? The simplest way of picturing it is goods come in, goods go out,” she smiles. “But there are lots of interim steps between those two stages, and they all need dealing with. For example, we provide some of our clients with an all-inclusive sales prep service that starts with quality control and goes all the way through to putting price tags and security elements on the items and, if needed, translating their user manuals. So when the goods reach the client, they’re immediately ready to be stacked on the shelves. Warehouse logistics is a big part of what we do, actually, and there are some really interesting aspects to it that people aren’t aware of.

An office in the city centre

It may also come as a surprise to learn that Itella Estonia has a service centre right in the heart of Tallinn. Since the company forms part of the international Posti Group, the service centre offers a group IT solution service, finance and accounting services and customer service for Finnish business clients. As such, it’s fair to say the company doesn’t only provide work to logistics specialists and couriers, but to representatives of very different fields.

An open and encouraging environment

The working environment and organisational culture in Itella are best characterised by the core values of the Posti Group, which aims to be reliable, respectful and progressive in all things. Reducing a mission statement to three words may seem limiting, but those qualities perfectly describe the attitude Itella takes to its staff, work, customers and colleagues. They’re all qualities that are easy to weave into everything we do, both in the company and outside of it.

It is as gratifying as it clear to see how staff have adopted these values. The key, she says, is everyone being capable of making the values their own – something the company has promoted through a series of in-house workshops.

The fact that people of 11 nationalities work side by side in Itella Estonia (and that the group as a whole employees people from as many as 90 different national backgrounds) shows just how pleasant and respectful a working environment it has managed to create. Moreover, differences in language, ethnicity, beliefs or skin colour have never posed problems – on the contrary, everyone treats everyone else just as you’d expect them to based on the company’s core values.

Development opportunities both vertically and horizontally

Itella is also an ideal platform for growth and development, since movement in any direction in the company is always welcomed. Helpfully, careers in the company aren’t viewed so much as a ladder to be climbed than as a space in which to freely circulate according to your strengths and what you want out of your working life.

There are plenty of people who land in a role that’s not quite right for them or which they’re not entirely happy with when they first join us. In that case we always try to find roles that are better suited to them. For instance, we’ve had staff who have moved from production to sales, and from there into IT. And in some cases we’ve seen how switching departments transforms them into totally new people.

It is worth mentioning, too, that since Itella is an international concern, it offers more room for movement and growth than a lot of other companies.

Now hiring hard-working types with a healthy disregard for routine!

Working in logistics means no two days are ever the same and brings its fair share of surprises and situations – some positive, some not so much. It’s the kind of work that’s ideally suited to those who are happy working to a less-than-set routine and are open to new challenges. In return, Itella offers a warm and supportive working environment, friendly colleagues and a good employer who contributes to their staff and to the field as a whole.

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