Espoo City to axe 140 employees to cut costs

The City of Espoo will reduce 80 employees as a part of its austerity measures to save 10 million euros, said the City in a press release on Monday.

Earlier, on 10 August 2026, the City Board decided to initiate cooperation negotiations concerning all city employees as part of the city’s budget-balancing efforts. The negotiations ended without an agreement on 14 October 2026. 

As a result of the negotiations, the employer estimates that the EUR 10 million in personnel cost savings set as a target by the City Board on 10 August will be achieved.

Following the conclusion of the negotiations on 14 October, the authority estimated that the total reduction will be 140 person-years, with 80 employees to be made redundant.

In addition to the redundancies, 60 positions would be eliminated at the City of Espoo by 2029 through retirements, the expiry of fixed-term contracts and the elimination of vacant positions.

The final number of employees to be made redundant may still decrease once it has been determined whether at least some of them can be offered alternative employment instead of redundancy. 

The decisions will be implemented in stages over the coming months, starting no earlier than 27 October, and may involve a range of measures.

The City Board will take note of the negotiation results at its meeting on 26 October. Any amendments to the administrative regulations will be considered by the City Board on 9 November and decided upon by the City Council on 16 November 2026.

Changes to the organisational structure are expected to take effect on 1 January 2027. 

Earlier in August, Trade Union for the Public and Welfare Sectors- JHL expressed profound concern over the moves taken by the cities of Espoo and Vantaa to cut a massive number of jobs and said that reduction of employees will put services at risk.