History – the story of Eezy

Eezy’s business operations began in 1988 when Mauno and Riitta Savolainen set up Varamiespalvelu and opened the first office in Turku. Initially, the company provided staff leasing services mainly for the construction sector and related industries.

The business grows and a successful franchise concept is created

The use of leased staff began to increase strongly in the mid-1990s, and Varamiespalvelu was the first company in its field to create a franchise concept to manage the expansion. The first agencies, managed by franchisee entrepreneurs, were opened in Jyväskylä, Lahti, Vantaa, Espoo and Oulu in 1997. The operations then expanded rapidly to other cities in Finland. Since 2003, a franchise entrepreneur of the Varamiespalvelu chain has been named the best franchisee in Finland four times.

In 2005, the Finnish Franchising Association selected the Varamiespalvelu chain as the best franchise chain in Finland. The operations were expanded to Sweden through a takeover in 2008.

Brand reform brings the company into the 2010s

In 2010, the VMP brand was introduced. In 2012, VMP’s strategy was reformed. The reformed strategy focused on growth, profitability, risk management and facilitating a more comprehensive service offering. The company started expanding its service offering from staff leasing to other staffing services.

The staff leasing franchise model was expanded during 2014–2015. The number of our own units was reduced to three in Finland and the aim was a more local approach by operating through franchisee entrepreneurs.

Expansion of the service portfolio through corporate acquisitions

In line with its new strategy, VMP focused on expanding its service portfolio and started recruiting foreign labour in 2010 and providing care services in 2013. In 2014, VMP extended its service portfolio to include recruitment services. In 2015, the company acquired the majority share of the light entrepreneur service company Eezy Osk, from which the Group’s current name is also derived. In 2016, the company expanded its direct recruitment and personal assessment services by purchasing Personnel.

Capital investor accelerates growth

In October 2017, funds managed by the capital investor Sentica Partners acquired a majority stake in VMP. With the support of the new majority owner, VMP continued to execute its growth strategy by acquiring Staff Plus, a company specialising in staff leasing for the restaurant sector, and Arja Raukola, a company specialising in office work.

VMP was listed on First North in June 2018. After the listing, the company continued to actively develop the Group through acquisitions, purchasing Voima, Extraajat and Enjoy for its staffing services as well as Corporate Spirit Oy, a company that specialises in the development of personnel experience. The company discontinued its care services by selling Alina in the spring of 2019.

Eezy sees the light of day

In late summer 2019, VMP merged with Smile Henkilöstöpalvelut. In November 2019, the new company decided to combine all of its business operations under the Eezy brand and the name of the parent company was changed to Eezy Plc.

Towards growth in the 2020s

The integration of VMP and Smile was completed in 2020 and Eezy was listed on the Helsinki Stock Exchange in the autumn of 2020. The COVID-19 pandemic had a strong impact on Eezy’s business, especially in the spring of 2020, when society was closed down. Eezy strengthened its position in the recruitment, executive search and relocation markets by acquiring the business operations of Jaakko Lehto Executive Search and ProMotive, and in the change management market by acquiring Flow Consulting. Eezy also withdrew from Sweden by selling its local company.

In the spring of 2021, business started to grow again as vaccinations progressed and society began to open up. The competence and resources for recruiting foreign workers were strengthened by purchasing Triton Henkilöstöpalvelut. With the acquisition of Valmennuskeskus in November, the scope of public administration labour coaching and entrance examinations and upper secondary school student coaching aimed at young people was extended.

Today, Eezy is the most diverse staffing services company in Finland. Eezy understands working life from Hanko to Utsjoki and finds employment for about 30,000 people every year.

Eezy is a pioneer of the human resources sector