ABB business service center opened in Tallinn to create up to 400 jobs
Global industrial group ABB, which opened a new business service center in Tallinn on Tuesday, will bring up to 400 new jobs to Estonia over the next few years. Employees of the new service center will begin serving Northern European clients as well as the group's business units worldwide.
The service center has already hired 150 new employees in Estonia, and according to ABB Baltic CEO Bo Henriksson another 250 jobs will be filled by the end of next year, reported ETV's nightly news broadcast "Aktuaalne kaamera."
Depending on the position, ABB will be hiring both those with secondary and those with higher education. Knowledge of foreign languages, however, will be of primary importance, as service center employees will begin offering support services primarily to ABB's Northern European clients.
"Some global services will be coming which will be in English as well, meaning that knowledge of any other languages won't be necessary, however in principle [clients will be in] Northern European countries such as Nordic countries, England, Ireland, Russia and the Baltics," explained Henriksson.
ABB is establishing a total of six business service centers worldwide — in Poland, India, China, the US and Mexico in addition to the newly opened center in Estonia. With these new service centers, ABB will be consolidating support services previously offered in a total of 68 different countries.
Combined with the projected addition of 400 new jobs total at its Tallinn business service center, ABB will employ a total of 1,600 people in Estonia.
While industrial enterprises have traditionally been attracted to Estonia by low wage levels, wages have in fact been increasing recently. Henriksson admitted that this factor has sparked debate at ABB as well regarding whether the number of employees in some departments should be adjusted.
"We currently have so many fields that labor costs do not particularly affect the price of our service or what we offer," explained the ABB Baltic CEO.
ABB, which is currently represented in approximately 100 countries worldwide, has been active in Estonia for more than 20 years. ABB AS was founded in December 1991 and has since done business in the energetics and automation sectors. Its Estonian headquarters are located just south of Tallinn in the town of Jüri, where the company's ABB One Campus is located (see image). ABB's Estonian unit focuses on the manufacturing and sale of energy technology, including wind and diesel generators, frequency changers, and renewable energy equipment.
Editor: Editor: Aili Sarapik
