Work Help Finland mobile application helps to combat human trafficking

To prevent labor exploitation and human trafficking, foreign workers need to have access to information in their native language about working in Finland.

The Work Help Finland mobile application, produced for foreign workers coming to Finland and residing in Finland, provides information about employee rights and responsibilities and the key parties that provide help in Finland. The application includes an information package and key contact details in a total of 26 languages.

The Work Help Finland application was developed in the project on planned management of multi-authority action last year. The project was part of the Government’s Action plan for tackling the grey economy and economic crime in 2020–2023.

The idea for the application came up on the basis of feedback received on supervision by the authorities. Foreign workers hoped that information about employee rights and responsibilities would be easily available via a mobile phone application.

“Providing information is key in preventing and combating labor exploitation,” says Juha Tuovinen, Chief Superintendent at the Ministry of the Interior.

Multi-authority cooperation brings results

The Police University College carried out a communication project aimed at making the application better known. An extensive cooperation network of public authorities was associated with the project. Descriptions of various user groups’ service paths were prepared for the authorities to utilize in the planning of preventive action. Communication needs were specified in a separate survey.

“In the project, we produced a toolkit to support the authorities’ practical communication, including materials for use in customer service and on supervision visits, for example. As soon as the application gains more general visibility, not only the authorities, but members of the general public as well will be able to identify their possibilities for sharing information about this subject area,” says Terhi Kankaanranta, Senior Researcher at Polamk.

The Mobile communication project was financed by the Action plan for tackling the grey economy and economic crime, and steered by the Ministry of the Interior. 

Further information:
Juha Tuovinen, Chief Superintendent, Police Department, Ministry of the Interior, tel. +358 0295 488 364, firstname.lastname@gov.fi 
Terhi Kankaanranta, Senior Researcher, Police University College, tel. +358 295 483 811, firstname.lastname@poliisi.fi