Sofia Sturesson of Welcome House Skellefteå. "We made a quick decision to step up our levels of support."
Welcome House Skellefteå, run by Skellefteå municipality, is an important resource for newcomers. It's the first port of call for newcomers to town, helping them settle in to Skellefteå life, through a variety of information resources and activities. It's now become even more important in light of Northvolt's 1,000 layoffs.
When talking to Sofie Sturesson, Welcome House's communicator, it becomes clear that the offshoot of the municipality moved very quickly indeed to provide support to those affected by the job cuts.
– The Northvolt situation is tough. But we in Skellefteå want to help, says Sturesson.
– We made a quick decision to step up our levels of support. Sometimes the municipality can be like a start-up and adapt quickly to new circumstances. And that’s exactly what we’ve done by immediately extending our opening hours from 8am-5pm, Monday to Friday. If there’s enough demand we’ll even open on weekends. We’ll see, but we can adapt quickly.
Welcome House Skellefteå has also reacted to the lay-offs by preparing for increased demand by staffing up and creating a Q&A document to address common questions asked by those who've lost their jobs.
– We've developed an online FAQ to help them with questions about such areas as work visas, finding a new job, social security and accommodation, says Sturesson.
– We cover a lot with this FAQ. We can also personally guide them on where they need to go, which Swedish agencies to contact, what steps they take. They're in shock. It's a horrible situation, and we can help them with whatever steps they need to take next.
But Welcome House Skellefteå will still run their usual events.
– There was One Country, One Evening - Pakistan, recently, and we’ll also have more Spouse Days, and we’ll have our big Moving In Day in spring time next year - that’s always our biggest event of the year.
For now, however, those about to be laid-off by Northvolt are foremost in the thoughts of the staff of Welcome House Skellefteå.