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Employment contract requirements in Finland: a guide for employers
The contract itself has no mandatory content: the written statement of key terms does. Sixteen items on two deadlines, plus probation, fixed terms and variable hours.
- The written statement of key terms is mandatory even when the contract itself is oral; items 1–8 are due within seven days of the first day of work, items 9–15 within one month.
- Probation runs up to six months on an indefinite contract, but on a fixed-term contract it is capped at half the contract’s length.
- A fixed-term contract needs a justified reason unless one of two routes introduced on 1 June 2026 applies, both capped at one year.
- The written statement obligation covers nearly everyone; the only exemption is someone averaging three hours a week or less over four weeks.
- Any change to a term — a pay rise, a new title, a move to another site — needs an updated written statement no later than the day the change takes effect.
- A variable-hours contract needs an unprompted review of the minimum hours at least every twelve months.
Strictly, nothing: the contract itself has no mandatory content. What you cannot skip is the written statement of the key terms of work: sixteen items, on two deadlines, and in practice that ends up being the same document.
The contract can be oral, written or electronic (Employment Contracts Act, ECA, 1:3). But you must separately hand over a written statement of the key terms unless those terms already appear in a written contract (ECA 2:4(1)). Which is why most employers write the list straight into the contract and deal with it once.
Two recent changes matter. The statement grew and its deadlines tightened on 1 August 2022, when Act 744/2022 implemented EU directive 2019/1152. The fixed-term rules then changed on 1 June 2026, under Act 412/2026.
What has to be in the statement?
Sixteen items (ECA 2:4(3)). You may record more, never less.
| # | Information | Deadline |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | The employer, the employee, and their home or business domicile | 7 days |
| 2 | The date on which work starts | 7 days |
| 3 | For a fixed term, the end date or estimated end date and the ground — or a statement that it is made without a justified reason under ECA 1:3(3), or with a long-term unemployed person under ECA 1:3 a | 7 days |
| 4 | The probationary period | 7 days |
| 5 | The place of work, or the principles governing work at different sites | 7 days |
| 6 | The main duties | 7 days |
| 7 | The grounds on which pay is determined, and the pay period | 7 days |
| 8 | The working time to be applied | 7 days |
| 9 | For variable working hours: when and to what extent a need for labour arises, and the days and times work may be required without separate consent | 1 month |
| 10 | In agency work: the user undertaking, the reason for and duration of the assignment, and an estimate of other equivalent duties | 1 month |
| 11 | Any right to employer-provided training | 1 month |
| 12 | How annual leave is determined | 1 month |
| 13 | The period of notice, or how it is determined | 1 month |
| 14 | The collective agreement applicable to the work | 1 month |
| 15 | The pension and occupational accident insurance institution | 1 month |
| 16 | For work abroad lasting at least a month: countries, duration, currency, allowances, repatriation terms, and for a posted worker pay, travel, accommodation and meal allowances | Before departure |
Two clocks run at once: items 1–8 within seven days of the first day of work; items 9–15 within one month (ECA 2:4(4)). That is easy to miss when the paperwork is treated as a single “first month” task: the seven-day group is already late by then.
The same subsection saves you typing. For items 4, 7, 8 and 11–15 you may point at the act or the collective agreement instead of writing the terms out. So “annual leave is determined under the Annual Holidays Act” satisfies item 12, and the template survives the next change in the law.
The authority publishes a ready-made template: Statement of the key terms of work (PDF, in Finnish).
Next: check that item 14 on your template names a real collective agreement. That line sets your pay floor — see Generally binding collective agreements in Finland.
Who is exempt, and when must it be updated?
Almost nobody is exempt. There is one exception: someone averaging no more than three hours a week across four consecutive weeks (ECA 2:4(2)). Hours they work for another company in your group count towards that average.
This is where out-of-date guidance goes wrong. Before 1 August 2022 the exemption turned on how long the job lasted — nothing under a month needed a statement. Act 744/2022 replaced that with the hours threshold, which pulled short full-time jobs inside the obligation:
- Two weeks of full-time summer work: a statement is required
- A one-day event gig: required if the four-week average exceeds 3 h/week
- An occasional 2 h/week side job: exempt — unless the same person also does 2 h/week for another group company
For someone who comes back repeatedly, you give the statement once rather than for every stint, unless the terms change.
Updates are due no later than the day the change takes effect (ECA 2:4(5)). There is no grace period afterwards. A pay rise, a new job title, a move to another site, a change of hours — all need a written document on or before the day they start. The only exception is a change coming from the law or the collective agreement itself.
Older contracts are not grandfathered forever: the moment any term of a pre-2022 contract changes, the full 2:4 obligation wakes up.
Next: check your payroll change log for the last term change on any pre-2022 contract, and confirm a written statement was issued the same day.
How long can probation be?
Six months, maximum — and only if you actually agree it (ECA 1:4(1)). It never arises on its own, and it starts on the first day of work, not the day the contract is signed.
| Situation | Maximum probationary period |
|---|---|
| Indefinite contract | 6 months |
| Fixed-term contract | No more than ½ the contract’s duration, extensions included, capped at 6 months |
| 12-month fixed term | 6 months |
| 4-month fixed term | 2 months |
| 3-month fixed term | 1.5 months |
| Agency worker hired by the user undertaking for the same or similar duties | Time on assignment is deducted from the maximum |
| Absence through incapacity for work or family leave | Extend by one month per 30 calendar days; notice before the period ends |
The right to extend is narrow: sickness and family leave only, one month per 30 calendar days, and notice before the period ends. Miss that and probation expires on its original date, however many absences you add up afterwards.
If your collective agreement has its own probation clause, you must tell the employee you are applying it when the contract is concluded (ECA 1:4(3)). That is disclosure, not a substitute for agreeing the period.
Either side may cancel during probation without justifying the reason — but not on discriminatory grounds or grounds unrelated to what probation is for (ECA 1:4(4)). “No reason required” is not “any reason will do”.
Next: check whether your template applies a flat six months regardless of contract length. On a three-month contract that is four and a half months too long.
When can you use a fixed term?
Normally you need a justified reason, because every contract is permanent unless one makes it fixed-term (ECA 1:3(2)). You also cannot stack fixed terms: if the number of contracts, their combined length or the overall pattern shows your need for the work is permanent, the chain is unlawful.
Since 1 June 2026 there are two ways round the justified-reason test, both capped at a year:
| Ground | Justified reason required? | Maximum |
|---|---|---|
| The general rule | Yes | No cap in the Act |
| First employment relationship between the parties in the preceding 5 years (ECA 1:3(3)) | No | 1 year |
| Person continuously unemployed and seeking work for 12 months (ECA 1:3 a) | No | 1 year, renewable twice inside it |
Get it wrong and the contract becomes permanent — automatically, with no court order needed (ECA 1:3(5)).
Skipping the justified reason does not make the contract lighter to run. A 1:3(3) contract adds three obligations:
- The statement must record explicitly that it was made without a justified reason.
- You owe a reasoned account of whether the job can continue, before the fixed term ends (ECA 2:5(3)).
- For a period equal to one third of the ended job, the person has a right to be offered work — you must answer within two weeks (ECA 6:1).
A fixed term ends without notice on its end date. You cannot give notice partway through, with two exceptions — a term longer than five years can be ended after five years, and so can a 1:3(3) contract once it has run six months.
Next: check your fixed-term register for any chain of contracts with the same person that might read as one continuous need, before you sign the next renewal.
How does pay work, and what about variable hours?
Finland has no statutory minimum wage, but that does not mean you can pay what you like. The floor comes from your sector’s generally binding collective agreement. Pay below it and the term you wrote is void, replaced by the agreement’s rate (ECA 2:7(2)). The employee agreeing to less does not save you.
You must also give a pay slip with every payment, showing the amount and how it was worked out (ECA 2:16(2)).
A zero-hours or “0–37.5 h” contract is a variable-working-hours arrangement (ECA 1:11), and it comes with a review you must run every 12 months whether or not anyone asks:
- You cannot propose variable hours if the work is actually steady, and you cannot set the minimum lower than the work requires.
- If the minimum could be higher, you must offer to amend the contract within one month of the review. Tell the employee the review date, and give a written account of the result if asked.
- Stop offering work and, on request, you owe a written explanation.
Next: check the review date on file for each variable-hours contract against today’s date, and run the review if twelve months have passed.
What happens if you fail to comply?
A criminal fine. Skip the statement wilfully or through negligence and you — or whoever acts for you — can be sentenced to a fine for an Employment Contracts Act violation (ECA 13:11). Refusing a requested pay slip is the same offence.
Do not confuse this with the laiminlyöntimaksu, the administrative negligence payment of EUR 1,000–10,000. That attaches only to failing to file a local agreement with the authority (ECA 2:7 a), not to the statement.
In practice the fine is the smaller risk. The bigger one is proof: if you never wrote the terms down, you will struggle to show what was agreed when someone disputes it.
Next: check that every written statement you have issued is filed and dated, before a dispute forces you to reconstruct one from memory.
What are the most common mistakes?
- “An employment contract has to be in writing.” It does not. A written statement is mandatory — a different obligation.
- Using the old one-month rule. The only exemption now is ≤ 3 h/week over four weeks.
- Using one deadline instead of two. Items 1–8 are due in seven days, not a month.
- A six-month probation in a short fixed term. The cap is half the contract length.
- Assuming probation arises automatically or from the collective agreement. It must be agreed, and a CBA provision must be notified at conclusion.
- Notifying a probation extension too late. Notice must come before the period ends.
- Reading the new fixed-term exemption too broadly. It covers the first relationship in five years and no more than one year.
- Not documenting changes to terms. Due no later than the day the change takes effect.
- Waiting for a request before reviewing variable hours. The review is on your own initiative, at least every 12 months.
- Writing everything out unnecessarily. Items 4, 7, 8 and 11–15 may refer to the act or agreement.
Next: run your own contract template against this list before the next hire, not after a dispute surfaces the gap.
How does Taito.ai help with this?
Taito.ai sets up the written statement of key terms for each employee — the sixteen items on their two deadlines — and keeps it maintained as probation periods, pay and other terms change. Every version stays on record, dated.
Sources
- Employment Contracts Act 55/2001
- Act 744/2022
- Act 412/2026
- tyosuojelu.fi — statement of key terms
- tyosuojelu.fi — probationary period
- tyosuojelu.fi — duration of the contract
Finlex publishes this act in Finnish and Swedish only. There is no citable official English translation, so every rule here is paraphrased rather than quoted.
Disclaimer
Taito.ai does not provide legal, tax or accounting advice. This article is general information about the law as it stood on the date above, not advice on your situation, and it is not a substitute for it. Rates and thresholds change. Check with a qualified adviser before acting on anything here.
