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After a long Finnish winter, summer and the summer holiday season are finally here! In Finland, July is the most popular holiday month, but the summer holiday season has already started on the first of May and will last until end of the September. These are the most frequently asked questions among our clients and employees about Finnish holiday practices.
What is a holiday season in Finland?
The employee is entitled to have their accrued holidays during the holiday season. If the employee has accrued full 5 weeks of holiday, four weeks of it are usually used as a summer holiday during the summer holiday season, 1.5.2024-30.9.2024. The holiday can be divided into parts or it can be held as one period, depending on the work arrangements.
To lighten the long and dark wintertime, one week of holiday is usually left to be used as a so called winter holiday before the end of the whole holiday season, 30.4.2025. If nothing else has been agreed, the employee can carry over some of the unused days to the new holiday season next year, starting on 1.5.2025.
- the holiday season is 1.5.2024 – 30.4.2025
- of which the summer holiday season is 1.5.2024-30.9.2024.
How does the employee earn the holiday in Finland?
During the first year of the employment, the employee accrues holiday 2 days per working month. The accrual increases to 2,5 days per month after the employee has fulfilled one year of employment during the holiday season. The holidays are accrued during the accrual period which ends on Spring, before the new holiday season starts. Depending on the collective agreement, but usually the full accrual is 30 days which equals to 5 weeks as Saturdays are calculated too.
- The current holiday season’s holidays have been accrued during the latest accrual period,1.4.2023-31.3.2024.
- Now, 1.4.2024-31.3.2025 the employees accure holidays to be used in the next holiday season.
For monthly paid employees, the salary during the holiday equals to the regular salary and it is called holiday pay or holiday salary. In addition, some employees are entitled to holiday bonus according to the applicable collective agreement. The holiday bonus is 50% of the holiday pay. The holiday bonus is paid usually when having holiday, but one typical agreement is also to pay the whole year’s holiday bonus with June’s or July’s salary.
Safe to say that the holiday matter is one of the most frequently asked among our clients and employees. When using Econia’s services, both the client and the employee will have one individual contact person that they can turn into with any questions. And we are happy to help!