Amiko Group

Over the past six years, Amiko has established its position in the Finnish staffing agency market.

Since January 2020, Amiko has been the 19th largest company on the Private Employment Agencies Association’s list of companies operating in the sector in Finland.

“We have our team members, managers and agency workers to thank for this achievement. We are happy that we are an HR partner that our customer companies can rely on,” says CEO Jari Parkkinen.

Despite the COVID-19 pandemic, Amiko grew by about 10% in 2020.

In June 2020, Amiko Group gained a new subsidiary, Nordic Sea Office (NSO), which specialises in personnel services for the maritime industry.

Three new offices opened during the COVID-19 pandemic:

Amiko started operations in Kotka, Vaasa and Seinäjoki. At the beginning of July, Amiko bought Thomas International’s operations in Finland.

Amiko Analysis is part of Thomas International’s partnership network, which offers support in decision-making to managers in 32,000 companies in 56 languages and in 60 countries across the world.

Another change that took place was the separation of Työkykypalvelut, which offers work ability services, into its own company.

“For a couple of years, we had accumulated experience of collaboration with pension and insurance companies.

When we found the right party to take over, we decided to establish a separate company.

During the pandemic, we have taken a different route from many other companies and after a quiet start to the year, our growth has reached double digits,” says Parkkinen.

By the end of 2020, Amiko had operations in several locations in Finland: Lahti, Pori, Helsinki, Tampere, Kouvola, Oulu, Seinäjoki, Vaasa, Kotka and Turku.

In 2019, Amiko signed roughly 4,500 employment contracts.

HPL records the development in turnover of the 20 largest employment agencies.

A monthly summary,TOP 20 turnover survey,is published in connection with the trend survey by the Confederation of Finnish Industries.

In 2021, Amiko will open 1–2 new offices in Finland.

In 2021, the company concluded a deal with a collaboration partner in the Philippines.

The goal is to recruit metal, concrete and construction workers as well as nurses and doctors from the Philippines to work in Finland.

“In 2021, we will recruit professionals from various fields. Our collaboration partner is one of the largest companies in the labour market in the Philippines.”

According to Parkkinen, the use of agency workers and work-based migration will increase over the next few years.

“It is impossible to find workers for all fields from the Finnish labour market, but the work still needs to be done. There are certain sectors that are severely affected by a workforce shortage.”

Amiko has an office in Poland, where local staff interview potential agency workers for Finnish companies.

“The staff in Poland have previously worked in Finland for several years. They know the Finnish work culture and are able to hire employees who will do well in the work market in Finland.”

For its Polish recruitment operations, Amiko has hired a professional who helps workers arriving from Poland to settle in Finland to ensure that they can focus on making the most of their professional skills.

This employee offers particular assistance with matters related to starting work and also supports the worker and the customer company later on.

“This solution makes it extremely easy for our customer companies and employees.”

The accountancy and financial administration firm Verkkotilit has been part of Amiko Group since May 2018.

“We want to offer a comprehensive range of services in our sector. We realised that our customers were struggling to find good accountants. Wanting to offer a solution to this problem, we ended up acquiring the accountancy firm we used. We continuously develop our accounting services further. Companies also like to receive guidance from their accountants. Now Verkkotilit offers excellent and cost-efficient accounting services to our customers.”

During that same summer, the software company Panasoft, which specialises in software solutions for the maritime industry, joined Amiko Group.

Amiko decided to acquire Panasoft after collaborating with the company for a couple for months.

“Software offers great potential in Finland and abroad alike. In this area, Amiko decided to acquire a company to which we had originally outsourced our payroll management.”

Established in 1982, Panasoft has extensive experience in the production of software and related services for various sectors.

Panasoft became part of Amiko Group in June 2018.

We began operations in Lahti, Vantaa and Pori in January 2015. In April 2015, Amiko expanded its operations to Kouvola.

“We began our operations from scratch in Lahti, Kouvola and Vantaa. In Pori, the business of an established operator was transferred to us. I had got to know an owner of a staffing agency there, who wanted to retire.” explains CEO Jari Parkkinen.

In 2016, the company’s operations were expanded to Oulu in North Ostrobothnia. Next, the company opened an office in Tampere. In August 2019, Turku got its own office.

Amiko was established by its CEO, Jari Parkkinen.

The word Amiko comes from Esperanto, and it means a friend or a partner.

“Because we want to be the best partner to our customers in personnel matters, our operating philosophy is built on partnerships. When I was thinking of a name for the company, I wanted it to be among the first in alphabetical order.”

Parkkinen explains that Amiko is like a family, with all the key people committed to the company.

“It is important that the key employees feel that they are also working for themselves.”

Before founding Amiko, Parkkinen had accumulated experience of HR and staffing services.

“I have always wanted to work with people.”