Rudolf Walden's eldest son, Juuso Walden, M.Sc. Econ., was appointed Managing Director of United Paper Mills Ltd in April 1940. In January, SAK (Central Organisation of Finnish Trade Unions) and STK (Confederation of Finnish Industries) had created the basis for a common agreement, and in August, the employers' confederation of Finnish wood processing industries announced its readiness to negotiate on employment issues with SAK member unions. Locally, the company took care of assisting workers who had returned from the front. Invalids, war widows and orphans were provided with jobs, aid and pensions. All company employees who had been to war and families of the fallen were given plots for building their own houses for the nominal price of one markka. Veterans' associations set up during the interim peace worked in close co-operation with the company.

After the war, employment and community relations were fostered under totally changed circumstances. The change took place both in national and local politics. Many laws to improve the position of employees were introduced in the latter half of the 1940s. There were frequent wage rises, which in turn fed inflation.

Managing Director Juuso Walden and the superintendents watched the events in mill villages and towns closely. Outwardly the most visible was the company housing policy. The company built multi-storey apartment blocks for its workers in town centres, and sold cheap building plots in areas it had set aside and passed plans for development. The company still took responsibility for construction of water supplies and sewage systems in its residential areas in the 1950s and 60s.

The company paid for investments and undertook duties that in many other mill towns had already been passed over to the local authority. This way, the company was able to develop its communities in the desired way. Opinions were modified through its own local newspapers. On central issues, Juuso Walden and the factory superintendent negotiated with municipal decision-makers. In Jämsänkoski Council, the company was represented by Superintendent Lauri Tiilikka. Election of the most important candidates from the company point of view was ensured by directing clerical staff votes for them.

The era of paternalistic direction came to an end with the retirement of Juuso Walden and the long-serving Superintendent at Jämsänkoski, Lauri Tiilikka, at the end of the 1960s. In the 1970s, company thinking became more results-oriented, and many ancillary activities were abandoned. The social function concentrated on providing housing and developing holiday services for employees.


On national level, United Paper Mills was prominent in connection with numerous state visits. Managing Director Juuso Walden had a close relationship with President Urho Kekkonen. Walden was also well-known as a skilled and hospitable host. From the 1950s, important state visitors were brought to tour the company mills. The visitors came particularly from countries with which the company had trade relations. The most important of them was the Soviet Union. In 1957, Nikita Khrushchev, First Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union, and Prime Minister Nikolai Bulganin visited Kaipola and Jämsänkoski. Over the decades, many important factory visits took place. In 1992, Princess Anne and her party from Great Britain visited Kaipola mills.