Instructions and support⁠

I want to develop the skills and wellbeing of my staff

A capable and prosperous work community is a prerequisite for organisational success. Learn how to improve the skills and wellbeing of your work community.

Information about the situation

The expertise of personnel affects the functioning and success of an organisation. Developing the knowledge and skills of your employees will benefit the entire work community and you as an employer.

There are many ways to broaden the competence of your employees. As an employer, you can offer your employees various courses or training and coaching sessions. You can also support employees' own studies. Job rotation also offers an opportunity to develop the expertise of your staff. It means that the employee is transferred to work on other tasks within the organisation for a fixed period. In addition to learning new tasks, the employee's knowledge of the organisation's activities is expanded.

For your organisation to succeed, it is essential that you encourage your employees to learn new things. Encouraging your employees to have discussions together and share their experiences improves their sense of belonging there and they can learn from each other as well. As an employer, you can create an atmosphere that encourages everyone to learn new things.

Joint purchase training

You can get help with improving your staff’s expertise from employment services. Joint purchase training enables you to train your current or new employees in cooperation with employment services. Employment services provide help in organising training, and as an employer, you participate in funding the training and student admissions. New or current entrepreneurs as well as temporary agency workers working in the company can also participate in the training.

You can contact your local employment authority and get help with different aspects of being an employer through the Business E-services section of Job Market Finland.

You can find the employment authority's services for employers and entrepreneurs in the Business E-services.

Read more about joint purchase training on the ELY Centre’s website.

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The responsibility for work wellbeing is shared between everyone in the workplace. Having healthy, capable and motivated personnel is also very beneficial for the employer.

Are people feeling well in your work community? The values and operating environment of the organisation and its management affect the wellbeing of the work community and individual employees.

As an employer, it is your responsibility to take care of occupational safety. To ensure employee wellbeing at your workplace, anticipate potential problems, set clear goals, and build trust. Also make sure that management works, and that you treat employees equally. When you manage them fairly, openly, and with encouragement, you improve the wellbeing of your work community, and your employees can succeed better in their work.

What can you do as an employer?

  • Be flexible whenever possible.   
  • Make clear agreements with your employees on objectives and roles.  
  • Provide your employees opportunities for developing their expertise, and encourage them to learn new things.
  • Make sure that your work community follows the instructions and that it is easy and safe for your employees to report faults and deficiencies.
  • Treat each of your employees equally.

You can ask the Occupational Safety and Health Administration for advice and instructions on matters related to health, safety, and terms of employment in the workplace. In addition to this, you must notify occupational health and safety of certain dangerous jobs, confirmed occupational diseases and serious work accidents.

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Maintaining work ability at the workplace

Taking care of your employees' working ability is a prerequisite for ensuring wellbeing in your work community. There are different methods and practices for maintaining working ability. As an employer, you also have an obligation to take assigned measures.

You can have an early support conversation with your employee to find solutions to support their work ability. It is a good idea to continue discussing the situation in the occupational health discussions, which will be carried out together with occupational health care. If you notice reductions in work performance that you cannot fix by your own means at the workplace, you can guide your employee not only to the occupational health discussions but also to an assessment of their ability to work.

Occupational health care works in cooperation with your organisation to promote the health and work ability of your employees at all stages of their careers. Support for work ability is based on the practices agreed upon in your work community. The practices agreed between management, HR management, employees and occupational health care services are recorded in the workplace's work ability support model.

Työkyvyn tuki (ttl.fi, in Finnish)⁠

If your employee's illness or disability prevents them from working, you can make adjustments at your workplace. Adjustments refer to changes at work in which the job description is modified to better correspond to and support your employee's expertise and work ability.

Ways of adapting work for the employer

If your new or current employee has a disability or illness and coping with work tasks requires, for example, the purchase of tools or changes made at the workplace, you can apply for a subsidy for arranging working conditions from the employment official.

Subsidy for arranging working conditions

As an employer, you are obliged to provide at least preventive occupational health care services for each employee in an employment or public service relationship. You can purchase these services from a public or private service provider or arrange them yourself. It is also recommended that you get occupational health care when you are an entrepreneur, even if it is not compulsory.

Rehabilitation may help your employee when the disability or illness complicates their work or coping at different stages of life.

If you notice that your employee's work ability has deteriorated or the sick leave limit (more than 90 days) is exceeded, it is your responsibility to raise the issue and discuss it with your employee.

Sairauspoissaolokäytännöt työkyvyn tukena (ttl.fi, in Finnish)⁠

From working life to family leave and back

‘From working life to family leave and back – family leave guide for employers’ contains information that you can use as an employer to facilitate the reconciliation of work and family in your work community and to promote the wellbeing of the entire work community.

The guide summarizes the key issues regarding family leave, the law regarding which was renewed on August 1, 2022. It tells you what you should consider before the employee's family leave, during it, and when the employee returns to work from the leave.

Do you have a job on offer that requires rare or otherwise special skills?

When you are looking for special skills for your organisation, finding the right employee can be difficult. Take your time to think about what kind of skills are necessary for success at work and what skills you can be flexible about if necessary. Make a job posting carefully to ensure the best possible recruitment. Be prepared to not find a suitable employee in an instant. Instead of expertise, you can emphasise a readiness to learn and acquire new skills in the recruitment.

The following tips may be useful when recruiting people with special skills:

  • Keep the list of requirements at an appropriate length. Too long a list can drive away good applicants. In a large group of candidates, you are most likely to find a skilled and committed employee.
  • Ensure that the recruitment process is a smooth and pleasant experience for the candidates. A lengthy process can deter good applicants. Currently, in some sectors, there is a labour shortage, which has made the recruitment process speedier in general.
  • Also see the potential in younger job seekers. You may find an employee among them who is willing to develop their professional skills.

You can search for a specialist in a particular field when you log in to Job Market Finland. In the Business E-services section of Job Market Finland, you can publish a job posting and get suggestions for suitable candidates. You can also browse jobseeker profiles without publishing a job posting.

You can find the employment authority's services for employers and entrepreneurs in the Business E-services.

If you cannot find a suitable employee, you can, for example, train a specialist to meet the needs of your organisation, commission work from an entrepreneur, or look for a suitable person abroad.

Conflicts may arise in the work community. As an employer, you must identify the challenges in the work community and try to solve problems.

Your employees will certainly have different views on how to do their work. If different opinions cannot be discussed in the work community, disagreements may arise. Listen to and consider your employees' thoughts to help you improve your organization's performance. Try to make your work community a place where everyone can have a natural and constructive discussion.

Conflicts may also be based on discrimination or other inappropriateness. Create an atmosphere in the work community so that your employees can easily report bullying at the workplace, for example. As an employer, you must intervene in discrimination or bullying.

  • Encourage your employees to be open and tell you if they encounter discrimination, bullying, or violence at the workplace.
  • When resolving conflicts, listen to all parties.
  • Try to find a solution that is acceptable to everyone together with your work community.
  • Find out where the conflict arose. Consider what changes you can make to prevent the problem from recurring.
  • Together with your work community, establish an operating model for conflict situations, if one does not already exist.

The Centre for Occupational Safety offers comprehensive guidelines for dealing with conflicts in a work community. You should familiarise yourself with them so that you know how to act in difficult situations.

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As an employer, you are tasked with supporting your diverse work community and different employees.

There is diversity in every work community, so treat your staff equally. Make diversity an asset and a competitive advantage for your organisation. Fair and equal treatment affects your employees' motivation and wellbeing at work.

Remember equality in all situations. You must treat everyone equally when you recruit, provide orientation, distribute tasks, and promote or terminate employees.

Ensure that your employees treat each other with respect as well. If conflicts arise, intervene as early as possible. Discuss equality and possible discrimination with your work community. Make sure that your entire work community is aware of the prohibited grounds for discrimination under the Equality Act and the Non-Discrimination Act. In one-to-one development discussions, you have a good opportunity to find out if there are any equality-related problems in the work community.

If you have at least 30 employees, you must draw up an equality plan at least once every two years with representatives appointed by the staff. They must have a genuine opportunity to influence the content of the plan. Among other things, the equality plan should address recruitment, pay, performance assessment, influencing opportunities, and well-being at work. A plan alone is not enough; as an employer, you must ensure that the issues presented in the equality plan become part of the work community's practices. Also remember to update the plan and make sure that your employees familiarise themselves with it.

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By showing your appreciation to your personnel, you can create a positive employer image.

One way you as an employer can tell your staff that their contribution is important is to remember them on different important days. For example, birthdays, the winter holidays, or important milestones of service are good opportunities to commemorate an employee with a gift.

Offer gifts or benefits equally to all employees, regardless of their position or performance. A gift can be an object, an entry ticket, a service, or an individualised gift card.

Make sure to find out how gifts and employee benefits should be considered in taxation.

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Services

Jointly acquired training is labour market training organised jointly by the employment authority and a company.

Target Group

Businesses and non-government organizations

Jointly acquired training is labour market training that the employment authority can organise together with the employer, the commissioner of the person intending to become an entrepreneur or the company transferring its business rights so that they participate in the funding of the training.

As an employer, you can organise labour market training to increase the professional competence and capabilities of current or future personnel. You can arrange jointly acquired training when the training is targeted at employees in your service or temporary agency workers, persons hired for your service or persons laid off or dismissed from your service.

Jointly acquired training may also be aimed at you as an entrepreneur when you are starting a business.

To whom and on what terms

The employment authority will investigate whether the prerequisites for the training are met and whether there is a need for training.

If the training is targeted at persons to be employed by the employer, the employer’s contribution to the total price of the training without value added tax is 30 per cent and the employment authority’s contribution 70 per cent. 

If the training is targeted at persons laid off or dismissed from the employer’s service, the employer’s contribution to the total price of the training without value added tax is 20 per cent and the employment authority’s contribution 80 per cent.

If the jointly acquired training is intended for employees or temporary agency workers employed by the employer or temporary agency workers whose purpose is to continue working for the employer, the employer’s contribution to the total price of the training without value added tax is 30–50 per cent. The contributions from the total price of the training, excluding VAT, are determined on the basis of the number of employees employed by the employer and the employer’s annual turnover or balance sheet.

Jointly acquired training is not to be used for the financing of regular orientation and personnel training for which the employer is the cost bearer or of training that employers must organise in order to comply with the national training standards.

If you intend to become an entrepreneur, you can organise jointly acquired training to increase your entrepreneurial capabilities if you have few commissioners as an entrepreneur or if you intend to acquire entrepreneurship rights from another company. 

Do the following

Contact the employment authority of your area and submit a proposal for jointly acquired training.

The handler of your proposal will contact you to assess training needs and draw up a preliminary training plan.

The Job Market Finland's regional pages contain contact information provided by employment officials.

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You can find more detailed information and instructions in the service description published by the employment authority in your area.

You can apply for a subsidy for arranging working conditions if your employee’s disability or illness requires new tools or alterations at work.

Target Group

Businesses and non-government organizations

As an employer, you can receive support for arranging working conditions if the disability or illness of a person you are going to employ or who is already employed by you requires

  • new tools or furniture
  • alterations to be made at the workplace or
  • assistance provided by another employee.

The subsidy improves the chances of people with demand-specific work ability 
to find suitable employment or to keep their job in the open labour market.

To whom and on what terms

The subsidy for arranging working conditions is discretionary. The employment authority assesses the appropriateness of the subsidy. The assessment will take into account your employee’s needs and the financial position of your organisation. You must deliver to the employment authority sufficient information for the assessment of the need for the subsidy.

A prerequisite for granting the arrangement subsidy for procurements or alterations due to a disability or an illness of an employee is that you, as the employer, participate in covering the costs with a reasonable sum.

The maximum amount of subsidy for the procurement of work equipment or making alterations is €4,000 per person. The employment authority may grant the subsidy to be paid completely or partially in advance.

The employment authority can grant the subsidy as compensation for the assistance by another employee for a maximum of 20 working hours per month for a period of up to 18 months. The amount of the subsidy is €20 per hour, and it is paid on the basis of the realised time spent for providing assistance. A maximum of €400 per month is paid to compensate for the support provided by another employee.

Subsidy for arranging working conditions is primarily used to eliminate or reduce the harm caused by a disability or illness in recruitment situations. The subsidy may also be granted to support the preservation of the work of an employed person. The subsidy will not be granted for adaptation needs arising from the entrepreneur’s own disability or illness.

Subsidy for arranging working conditions for economic activities is granted in accordance with the General Block Exemption Regulation on State aid.

Do the following

You can only apply for the subsidy using an electronic form. The employment authority will check the conditions for granting the aid and, if necessary, request additional information before the decision.

Apply for the subsidy for arranging working conditions for an alternation or the procurement of work equipment or furniture within a month from the performance of the alteration or the procurement of the equipment or furniture.

The subsidy for arranging working conditions to compensate for assistance provided by another employee is paid monthly and retrospectively. Submit the payment application concerning the subsidy to the employment authority within two months of the end of the payment period.

Apply for subsidy and its payment in the e-service

Apply for subsidy and its payment using an electronic form in the e-service. Log into the service with your personal banking IDs, a mobile certificate or a certificate card.

Complete the application in the service and attach the required documents. The service’s internal instructions will help you fill in the application. In the e-service, you can submit an application, respond to requests for supplementary information concerning the application, supplement your application and receive decisions concerning your case.

In the e-service, the application can be submitted by an authorised person. Persons without separate authorisation can act on behalf of an organisation if they have an existing mandate for transactions or a right based on register data. The e-service checks the person’s right to use e-services when logging in.

The mandate theme used for the subsidy is called “Applying for subsidies for employment, environment, business and transport” (TYPO).

In addition to the mandate, organisations need a business ID to use the e-services.

The Job Market Finland's regional pages contain contact information provided by employment officials.

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You can find more detailed information and instructions in the service description published by the employment authority in your area.