Sustainability Programme: Social Responsibility

Our social responsibility efforts were particularly evident in 2025 through investments in safety, expertise and community engagement. Ahola’s 70th anniversary year brought together staff, families, drivers, customers and partners to celebrate a shared journey and values. Social responsibility themes took centre stage alongside environmental sustainability.

 

A people-oriented attitude and entrepreneurial spirit have always been at the heart of our operations, and these values continue to guide our path forward. In the future, we will make use of our strong digitalisation expertise and industry knowledge to achieve overall environmental efficiency. In practice, this means, for example, providing further training for our already skilled personnel, and monitoring and measuring actual emissions, and reporting them to our customers. We want to be an industry pioneer guided by strong values in the future too. Ahola’s focus has always been and will always be on the drivers, because they are the ones who keep the goods moving and the wheels turning. We will continue to develop our business and strive to be the obvious choice for customers, partners and potential employees in the future as well.

 

Ahola’s societal role was particularly evident in the traffic safety work carried out in schools in Kokkola and Naantali, in regional responsibility partnerships, as well as in donations and charitable activities. Among the highlights of the year was Ahola’s 70th-anniversary celebration, which brought together our staff and their families, drivers, customers and partners to celebrate our shared journey and values.

 

The collaboration with Ahola’s brand ambassador, Finland’s strongest man Mika Törrö, continues. Inspired by Mika’s personal story, the ‘Vahvat ei kiusaa’ (The Strong Do Not Bully) campaign promotes anti-bullying initiatives. Despite his difficult past, Mika is now a top athlete who works closely with various educational institutions to end bullying in schools. Mika’s story is an inspiring example of how we all have the power to change our life’s direction through our own efforts.

 

An employee satisfaction survey is conducted twice a year within the Group to measure the commitment of our employees to their work and their employer. The latest overall score was 7.8 on a scale of one to ten. The most recent survey, conducted in October 2025, had an impressive response rate of 82.9% and showed that nice colleagues, job security, suitable working hours and a corporate culture with good values are what our employees value most.

 

We also measured employee satisfaction with the Employer Net Promoter Score (eNPS). On a scale of -100 to +100, we received a respectable 25.5 points, which is a very good result and indicates a positive employee experience.

 

Competence and quality

 

In 2025, we invested in the safety and information security expertise of our employees. The Group’s IT services trained the entire staff by organising regular induction and training sessions on topics such as AI and information security, in addition to which employees developed their competence in accordance with their personal training plans.

Staff and stakeholder expertise was developed further through participation in climate and Scope 3 training, university collaborations and industry events. We continued our Ahola Driver Certificate programme, which helps us develop our drivers’ skills in economical driving and customer service. Real-time feedback and support for drivers to improve their driving habits have a direct effect on fuel consumption and thus also on emission levels.

 

Our Code of Conduct, Ahola Way, also supports the training of employees on our values, policies and ways of working. Ahola Way is part of the induction and continuous training for our employees to maintain knowledge about business ethics and human rights.

 

To promote safety, various vehicle-related training sessions have been organised for drivers. The safety topics in the Driver’s Guide have also been updated. Training is particularly important for large transports in the special transport sector, as well as load-securing training, which is organised regularly for drivers in our Group.

To make it easier for new drivers to enter the industry, we have developed the Ahola Academy training programme. The necessary regulatory permits for launching the programme were obtained in 2023, and in 2025, the first driver completed our in-house training programme, which will continue in the coming years.

 

The concept allows us to offer a targeted fast-track training route into the industry. The participants complete the training programme in accordance with their personal competence development plan, and they are assigned a driver mentor who supports them also during the first steps of their careers. Ahola Academy is also part of the Group’s long-term HR strategy, which aims to ensure the availability of skilled labour, support personnel’s commitment and promote sustainable careers in the transport industry.

 

Occupational health and safety

 

We aim to ensure our employees’ safety, health and work ability, drawing on an ISO 45001 occupational health and safety management system for support. According to our work environment policy, Ahola Group must be a good and safe workplace where injuries, occupational illnesses and infectious diseases are prevented. Occupational health and safety work is carried out in compliance with current work environment and occupational safety legislation and requirements. Systematic risk management also encompasses infectious diseases. We also have occupational health services to help our employees maintain their health and good work ergonomics. Our occupational health and safety system covers our entire personnel.

 

The company’s management and supervisors are responsible for occupational health and safety. They expect employees to follow the applicable rules and instructions in accordance with established processes and work practices. Each employee must also take personal responsibility for their daily work environment and health, actively participate in the identification, reporting and elimination of risks, and work to continuously improve their work environment. Instructions regarding work safety must always be followed at all the company’s locations. When visiting customers, the customer’s rules and instructions must always be followed. We have an infection risk management method, MyCare, in place to help fight infection risks in all our operations.

 

Employee engagement

 

Ahola Group provides its employees with statutory health and safety services, in addition to which employees have the possibility to influence health and safety management by reporting incidents and making improvement suggestions, and by participating in the activities of occupational health and safety forums and committees.

 

Ahola also encourages employees to lead a physically active lifestyle. One way to do this is through fitness campaigns, such as enabling participation in the bicycle competition Kilometrikisa, where the participants registered the kilometres they cycled during the summer. We also offer our permanent employees in Finland a bicycle benefit, which means they can buy a bicycle tax-free. Epassi is one of our most valued employee benefits. Epassi gives employees the opportunity to foster their well-being during their leisure time according to their own preferences, using, for example, sports, culture and well-being services.

 

Supporting our drivers’ well-being is an obvious choice for us. The drivers are the backbone of our operations, and responsible logistics would not be possible without them. That is precisely why we want to make multiple efforts to improve their well-being, professional skills and competence. We also want to engage drivers in decision-making concerning them and their working conditions. We continued to focus on supporting the well-being of drivers in 2025. We built highly exceptional staff facilities for drivers in Naantali during 2023. The Trucker’s Village area now features, in addition to the outdoor gym opened in 2022, the Trucker’s Spa and Service, which offers drivers modern and clean shower facilities, a campfire site, laundry facilities, and a Post Pick Up machine for parcels. In 2024, we added a barbecue area to the area. Additionally, drivers can now book an appointment and visit the barbershop at the Trucker’s Village. In 2025, drivers also had the opportunity to submit improvement suggestions using the feedback board available at each location.

 

Ahola Transport’s personnel also strive to schedule in regular meetings with drivers to ensure straightforward and smooth co-operation. The Trucker’s Evening organised every autumn at the Naantali location offers a shared opportunity to discuss current topics and meet people in a relaxed atmosphere, enjoying good food, music and activities. The Trucker’s Evening was organised in 2025 for the eleventh time.

 

The well-being of our employees remained a focus for Ahola also in 2025. The occupational well-being forum established in 2022 was active and improved employees’ opportunities to participate in activities promoting good health. Family days were organised for employees and their families in Kokkola and Naantali, where the company’s 70th anniversary was celebrated with good food, company and entertainment. The occupational well-being events are another example of activities aimed at promoting health at the workplace.

 

Risk management

 

We carry out risk assessments to address issues arising from the work environment and to reduce work-related accidents and occupational illness. In our standard risk assessment procedure, we identify the possible causes of injury, examine whether the hazard can be eliminated, and if not, what preventive or protective measures are available to mitigate such hazards. The health and safety risk assessment is carried out every two years and is organised by the occupational health and safety director. All segments and locations have their own occupational health and safety committees, which are responsible for assessing the working environment, identifying disturbances and proposing improvements.

 

Initiatives concerning the working environment and safety aim to actively prevent accidents and develop new solutions. The assessments also cover the equality of employees and fitness possibilities. The committees meet four times a year.

 

Human rights

 

Ahola strives to make a positive difference in society by supporting human rights, combatting all kinds of discrimination and actively participating in social debate. Our Code of Conduct is based on the UN Declaration on Human Rights, and the ILO Declaration on Fundamental Principles and Rights at Work. Our policies prohibit forced labour and the use of child labour and promote freedom of association and the right to collective bargaining. All employees are treated equally, regardless of gender, age, origin, religion, belief, opinions, state of health or disability. All forms of harassment, discrimination and menacing behaviour at the workplace are forbidden, and each individual’s human dignity, integrity and rights shall be respected. Ahola has policies in place to protect the human rights of employees and other stakeholders.

 

The working hours and remuneration of our employees follow national legislation. In a modern society like Finland, where human rights are also protected by national legislation, the risk of human rights violations is low. The management of human rights issues at Ahola is based on national laws and the ethics laid down in the declarations of the United Nations and the International Labour Organization. Ahola Group has a whistleblowing system in line with the EU directive, and we draw up an equality and non-discrimination plan based on the Act on Equality Between Women and Men and the Non-Discrimination Act every two years. The plan was last updated in 2025.

 

Finland is considered one of the most equal countries in the world, but work is still being done in all sectors to offer everyone equal opportunities in working life regardless of the background of the applicant. Anonymous whistleblowing lowers the threshold for reporting serious breaches of employee rights and human rights.

 

Our policies are intended to prevent human rights violations, and our annual risk assessments are part of that prevention system. No cases of harassment or discrimination were reported last year.

 

Our subcontractors’ ethics and respect for human rights are assessed before signing a delivery contract and subsequently in annual discussions. The ethics of our subcontractors must match ours for our business relationship to begin or continue.

 

Although Mika Törrö is the strongest man in Finland, it was agreed that no one can be as strong as Pippi Longstocking.

 

Community

 

We are aware that our activities have direct impacts on the surrounding society. As a Group, we can offer job opportunities in all our operating areas and with hundreds of subcontractors in the Nordic, Baltic and central European countries. We offer financial aid to those in need and to local associations and junior sports. Our sponsorship forum addresses all sponsorship requests to ensure that decisions are recorded appropriately and that decision-making is transparent. The war that began in Ukraine in 2022 still affects many people. Ahola has offered humanitarian aid to the area in the form of transports by, for example, delivering food products, clothes and other commodities collected by charities to Ukraine.

 

Ahola Group has a natural interest in promoting traffic safety and bears responsibility for traffic safety education. As the autumn nights began to grow darker, we donated reflectors to primary and secondary schools in Naantali and Kokkola. The Ahola Traffic Safety Days concept dating back many years will be continued in the coming years. We provide traffic education to children of different ages in Kokkola, Naantali and Nykvarn. The events gave preschoolers and first-year pupils the opportunity to experience for themselves how the truck driver sees pedestrians and other road users from behind the wheel. The children were also taught how to behave and move near heavy vehicles.

 

Ahola’s sustainability work aims not only to help Ahola become more sustainable but also to find ways to make the surrounding community more sustainable. Ahola works with universities and companies, lecturing and discussing climate issues, sustainable development, and our data-driven management solutions. Our aim for these events is to raise awareness about sustainable business as well as the role of logistics in the green transition. We believe that joint development work will help us find modern solutions to future challenges together. The external impact of sustainability work is largely based on the power of example: through pilot projects, investments and development work, Ahola shares its experiences with customers, partners and stakeholders, promoting the adoption of more sustainable logistics solutions. This supports the Group’s goal of being an active and responsible player in the transformation of the transport industry.

 

For example, Ahola Special’s transports allow the installation of more wind power plants in Finland. The software solutions and emissions reporting created by Ahola Digital help not only Ahola’s own business segments, but also other companies report actual transport emissions. Our research and development function FutureLab conducts research, develops and innovates modern solutions that drive the entire industry forward.

 

Customers

 

We believe in co-operation. Openness in our customer relationships is an essential part of our customer experience. We want to make our customers feel safe when working with us. We also strive to minimise any adverse factors by means of ongoing communication, continuous improvements and appropriate information security.

 

During the reporting period, our Group received three substantiated complaints related to data protection or loss of customer data. We take our customers’ data protection seriously and have taken effective measures in response to the incidents. We want to offer our customers the best information security in logistics systems. Information security is one of the most important development targets in digital logistics.