The default and most common contract type in Finland; employment continues until terminated by either party with notice and, after any probation period, on statutory grounds (redundancy or a proper/objective reason related to the employee).
Fixed-term contracts require a justified, objective ground (e.g. a specific project, seasonal work, substitution, internship, or the employee's own request) — without one, the contract is deemed indefinite by law. Each renewal must independently satisfy this justification requirement. Fixed-term employees accrue holiday and other benefits the same as indefinite employees.
Standard statutory maximum under the Working Hours Act is 8 hours/day and 40 hours/week (often reduced to 37.5 hrs/week by CBA). Overtime is generally paid at +50% for the first 2 hours/day and +100% thereafter; Sunday/holiday work typically +100%.
Maximum statutory trial period is 6 months for indefinite contracts; for fixed-term contracts it cannot exceed half the contract's duration (never more than 6 months). Either party may terminate during probation without notice period and without stating statutory grounds, provided the reason is not discriminatory.
Finland does not mandate a 13th or 14th salary by statute. However, a holiday bonus (lomaraha), typically ~50% of regular holiday pay, is widespread practice mandated by most CBAs (though not universal or required by law itself).
None — Finland does not statutorily regulate job titles for private-sector employment contracts.
Approximate total employer social security burden ~27-28% of gross salary: TyEL earnings-related pension ~24.4% (2026 average, varies by company payroll size), unemployment insurance ~0.31% of payroll up to ~EUR 2.5M (1.23% above), health insurance contribution ~1.87-1.91%, statutory accident insurance plus group life insurance combined roughly 0.7-0.8% (varies by industry risk class).
Approximately 8.2% of gross salary: TyEL pension contribution 7.30% (unified rate ages 17-68 from 2026) plus unemployment insurance contribution ~0.89% (ages 18-64). This is in addition to progressive income tax (state, municipal, and church tax where applicable).
In addition to statutory leave, employees are entitled to the following statutory benefits:
Finnish social security is funded jointly by employers and employees through several statutory schemes administered by pension insurance companies (e.g. Varma, Ilmarinen), the Employment Fund, and Kela.
Finland requires employers to carry statutory occupational accident and occupational disease insurance (covering work accidents, commuting accidents, and occupational illnesses) for essentially all employees, financed entirely by the employer at a rate varying by industry risk class.
This insurance covers medical costs, loss of earnings, disability, and death benefits arising from a covered work-related accident or occupational disease, alongside the employee's normal health insurance and Kela sickness allowance entitlements.
Finland has no general statutory severance pay requirement beyond the employee's entitlement to salary during their statutory notice period. An employee whose contract is terminated is owed wages and accrued/unused holiday pay through the end of the notice period.
Exceptions exist: collective redundancies of long-serving employees may trigger a statutory 'change security' package; individual contracts or CBAs can voluntarily provide additional severance-type payments; unlawful/unjustified dismissal can result in court-ordered compensation (distinct from severance).
There is no statutory requirement in Finland for a 13th (or 14th) month salary payment.
However, it is common practice — driven by CBAs rather than law — for employees to receive a holiday bonus (lomaraha), usually ~50% of normal holiday pay, paid alongside or shortly after summer annual leave. Check the applicable CBA to confirm.
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Your employee's hours, time off, holidays, bonuses, and commissions are automatically calculated into payroll. RemoFirst will invoice you in either US Dollars (USD), Euros (EUR), British Pounds (GBP), Canadian Dollars (CAD), Australian Dollars (AUD), or Singapore Dollars (SGD) around the 15th of each month to make sure your employees are paid on time. To make it even easier, you can summarize your entire global team's salaries to aggregate them into one payment (instead of many individual payments).
Unlike full-time employees, contractors work on projects with multiple companies at a given time and are technically self-employed. Full-time employees are solely focused on their employer and usually receive benefits (such as health insurance, equity or stock options, and time off) as an additional form of compensation. While it can be cheaper to work with international contractors instead of paying benefits to a full-time employee, you run the risk of misclassification. It's recommended to work with an EOR for contractor onboarding and payments, so you can know that your international contractors are paid compliantly and on time.
Whenever the employee or employer has a question about, or anything else related to international employment, they can speak with our customer support team to get answers from our team of experts.
