Vallox has an active entertainment committee that organizes recreational and cultural events for the staff. Marika Rantanen, the chairman of the entertainment committee, is already like a professional in organizing events because she has been a member of the committee for so long.
The entertainment committee has existed at Vallox for decades and dozens of events and excursions have been organized during these years. Thanks to Marika Rantanen and other committee members the rest of the Vallox staff can concentrate enjoying the results of their work.
-Usually about 20–50 people take part in these leisure trips and events organized by the entertainment committee, says Marika.
The Vallox employee can usually bring a companion as well, and some of the events are for the whole family. Vallox Oy supports the events, but in all events and excursions organized by the entertainment committee, part of the participation fee is paid by the employee her-/himself. However, the goal is to keep the costs reasonable to attract as many participants as possible.
Organizing events and excursions with years of experience
Marika has worked at Vallox since 1989. For a long time she worked in financial administration, but now she works as a production assistant.
-I have been fortunate to experience two different jobs in the service of the same employer, Marika points out.
Marika is systematic and precise in nature, and these qualities have been needed in both of her jobs. The same qualities are needed in organizing events and excursions, so that everything goes as planned and everyone has a good time.
-The entertainment committee has brought a lot of colour and variability to my work. It has been really great to organize various events, and also participate in these trips myself, Marika says happily.
The entertainment committee consists of 4-6 members, and the aim of the committee is to organize various types of events, so that every Vallox employee would have something suitable to take part during the year.
-In recent years, we have inquired in advance what everyone would like to be organized by the entertainment committee, and we have then tried to fulfill these wishes as much as possible.
Sports as a spectator and as an exerciser in appropriate proportion
Over the years, the entertainment committee has organized trips especially to many different sporting events.
-In 2001, we were watching the World Ski Championships in Lahti on the spot, on the same day as this much-talked-about doping scandal happened. That trip was a memorable event! Marika recalls.
The entertainment committee has also made an excursion to the Helsinki European Athletics Championships in 1994 and the World Championships in 2005. Also, hockey matches have always been popular excursion destinations. Vallox sponsored biathlete Kaisa Mäkäräinen for many years, and a group of Vallox employees set out to encourage her to the Kontiolahti Biathlon World Championships in March 2015. The following year, the most enthusiastic supporters set out to encourage her all the way to Holmenkollen in Norway.
The entertainment committee has also organized its own sporting events on a large scale.
There has been e.g., fishing competitions, curling, cycling and canoeing trips as well as Finnish baseball games, Marika lists.
Excursions and trips get people on the go
Various concert and theatre trips are also popular annual events. Sometimes the entertainment committee organizes a theatre trip somewhere a little further away from Loimaa where attendees travel as a group. Sometimes everyone can go to the nearby summer theatres on their own time.
Many employees take part for excursions organized in Finland: excursions have been made e.g. to Turku archipelago and lake Päijänne in Tampere.
Due to the coronavirus pandemic, events and excursions have practically been on a break, as it has not been possible to gather with a larger group. Despite the pandemic, however, the committee has been able to organize live-streaming-events to the theatre and even abroad.
In March 2021, employees were able to take part in a virtual trip to Italy from their own sofas. The Finnish guide, who lives in Rome, introduced participants to well-known sights via video-streaming, and gave up-to-date information on Rome’s current corona restrictions.
-If you had got pizza and other Italian delicacies for the evening, you definitely got a good travel mood, Marika laughs.
Christmas parties organized by the entertainment committee are always popular events
Vallox as a company organizes an annual Christmas lunch for the staff and the Vallox seniors, while the entertainment committee has taken responsibility for organizing a fun Christmas party.
-You can say that it is already a tradition to organize the Christmas party in Loimaa or nearby every other year, and every other year we go on a cruise somewhere.
Cruises to Tallinn Estonia in particular, have been popular among Vallox employees. Various Christmas Shows in Tampere or Turku, for example, also get people on the go and to celebrate Christmas in advance with co-workers.
Vallox means a lot to Marika, because it has been part of her life for more than half of her age.
-I like working in Vallox and we have a good atmosphere. I am grateful for my long-term employer.
Hopefully, despite the corona pandemic, Marika and the other members of the entertainment committee, will once again be able to organize various excursions – and of course that long-awaited Christmas party!