When you are looking for a new employee, you should first go through your own networks, as well as those of your acquaintances and employees. The right person can be easily found this way. However, a person with the required skills is not always found in these networks, and this is when you should publicly announce the vacancy.

Nowadays, there are a lot of different job search and job posting sites online that allow you to easily search for new employees. Also publish the vacancy on your own website. Make sure to submit your job posting to Job Market Finland.

As an employer, you should also utilise social media. For example, LinkedIn has a wide range of experts from various fields who are looking for a new job. In addition to this, Facebook and Instagram can be used to find suitable employees. With paid marketing, you get more visibility for your job postings on social media. Job postings are also still published in newspapers.

A recruitment event is a good way to find employees quickly, easily and efficiently. When you want to organise a recruitment event, you can use the premises of the TE Office or its partners. You can also get free expert assistance on event planning. Contact the TE Office and arrange an event.

If an employee cannot be found regardless of efforts, you can apply for support from the TE Office or the municipal employment services.

If you would like to recruit a young employee or skilled labour from abroad, please refer to our related content.

Financial support for recruitment and services for training a new employee

The employment subsidies granted by the TE Office and local government pilots, i.e. the pay subsidy, employment subsidy for those aged 55 or over and the subsidy for arranging working conditions, are based on the needs of both the job seeker and the employer. A job seeker needs help in finding a job and, as an employer, you need to find a skilled person for the job. A new suitable employee may be found in a job seeker whose job seeking is supported. A person who is partially able to work, has been unemployed for a long time, or is young, can also have useful skills and the right attitude to work and learn new things. You should also find out if your municipality offers employment bonuses.

You may also know a person that you would like to hire for your service but who does not have the skills required for the job. You can train employees in your organisation through an apprenticeship, Recruitment Training, vocational labour market training, or pay subsidy. In some situations, you can test a person's suitability for work by means of a work try-out. 

Working ability coordinator in support of the employer

The task of the working ability coordinator is to create practices and a procedure to promote the situation of job seekers and employees with partial working ability. The coordinator cooperates with employers and other regional networks in a goal-oriented and developmental manner.

The working ability coordinator helps you find solutions to your organization's labour shortage and offers hiring job seekers with partial working ability as an alternative. The coordinator will help you to understand the possibilities of employing job seekers with partial working ability and the appropriate tasks for them.

The working ability coordinator will also guide you in finding the right solutions for your already existing staff with partial working ability.

In addition to this, the working ability coordinator informs employers about various support services related to the employment of people with partial working ability.

Paying your employees is not the only obligation that applies to you as an employer. You must also provide occupational health care, take care of occupational safety and health, take out an insurance for your employees, and draw up an equality plan. To ensure that working is as safe as possible, observe the working environment, working spaces and working methods. Remember to also take care of salary-based and other notifications to be sent to different authorities. If there is a valid collective agreement for your sector, the terms of employment must comply with it.

Occupational health care improves the work ability of your employees

As an employer, the Occupational Health Care Act obliges you to arrange occupational health care for your personnel when there is at least one employee. All your employees have the right to occupational health care regardless of their working hours or the length of their employment relationships. The objective of occupational health care is to promote the healthy and safe working conditions of your employees, to support their ability to work throughout their careers, and to prevent work-related illnesses and accidents.

Occupational safety ensures safe working conditions

The aim of occupational safety is to create a safe, healthy, and productive workplace. As an employer, you are obliged to draw up an occupational safety and health policy. Additionally, it is your responsibility to assess and mitigate potential hazards and failures.

Insurances provide cover for accidents

An insurance will provide you with security if your employee is injured in an accident at work, on the way to or from work, or becomes ill with an occupational disease. You can take out an insurance from your preferred non-life insurance company. Different insurance companies have different practices, so the exact prices of insurances vary. If you wish, you can tender for insurance companies. 

Compulsory insurance policies for employees include earnings-related pension insurance, occupational accident and disease insurance, group life insurance, unemployment insurance premiums, and health insurance premiums. If you wish, you can also take out voluntary insurances.

Impact of disability pensions of a person with partial work ability on the employment pension contributions of large employers

If you are a large employer, your employment pension contributions are determined by comparing your disability risk with the average risk. The calculation compares the amount of disability pensions previously granted to the average amount of employment pension contributions.

At the beginning of an employment relationship, a customer of TE Office or a municipal trial who is finding employment with partial work ability must request a certificate from TE Office or a municipal trial stating that they have been entered in TE Services' customer register as a jobseeker with partial work ability. After this, they must deliver the certificate to you. As an employer, you must keep the certificate.

If a person with partial work ability becomes incapable of work during the first five years of employment, you must submit the certificate of partial work capacity received from the employee to your employment pension insurance company, in which case the employee's disability pension will not affect your employment pension contributions category.

When your employee requests a certificate of their partial work ability at the beginning of the employment relationship and delivers it to you, you will avoid the effects that your employee's possible retirement on disability pension would have on your employment pension contributions. This may, for its part, encourage the hiring of an employee with partial work ability.

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.

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.

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.

If you notice that your employee’s work ability has deteriorated or the amount of their sickness absence exceeds the sickness absence limit (more than 90 days), it is your responsibility to raise the matter with your employee. Your employee may also raise the matter if they cannot perform their current tasks in the same way as before.

Early support discussions, occupational health discussions and assessment of work ability

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 carried out as part of occupational health care.

The Occupational Health Discussion – Solutions for Work learning programme at the Finnish Institute of Occupational Health has sections for employees, supervisors and occupational health care providers which provide support for conducting occupational health discussions. Please also refer to the Occupational Health Discussion Guide of the Finnish Institute of Occupational Health, which contains instructions for preparing for an occupational health discussion, information on livelihoods, and examples of work adaptation.

In addition to occupational health discussions, you can refer your employee for an assessment of work ability if they experience difficulties in their work performance that you cannot resolve by your own means at the workplace. This involves assessing their ability to perform their current tasks, the development of their functional and work abilities, and their capacity to function in working life. Your occupational health physician is often the best expert for assessing work ability, as they have information about the conditions in the workplace.

Plan the adjustments

Agree with your employee on the necessary job changes and adjustments. You should also make a written agreement on them. In addition, agree when the situation will be re-evaluated together with the employee and occupational health care provider.