Main / The Government as Employer / Terms and conditions of employment relationships / Working time
In the government sector there are three main forms of working time that have been agreed on the Collective Agreement on working time. The agencies may also have other agency-specific arrangements for working time. The Working Hours Act usually applies to the government civil servants and employees as well. However, some of the personnel, for example the judges in the judicial system, are totally excluded from the working time regulation.
A system of working hours bank may be used in all forms of working time. In the system the hours worked by an employee or civil servant in excess of his or her regular working hours based on a particular order by the employer may be saved up for later use in the form of compensatory free time. The introduction and the details of the system are agreed in the Ministry or Agency in question. The use of the bank is optional and further agreed between the individual and the employer.
The Collective Agreement on working time along with the Working Hours Act offers possibilities to balance working hours and resting time and hence to make working hours more flexible taking into consideration of the needs of both the employer and the civil servant or employee in question.
Office work is the working time form applied in the Ministries as well as for expert and administrative duties in the Agencies. The regular working hours are 7 hours and 15 minutes per day and 36 hours and 15 minutes per week. Working time corresponds usually the office hours, which is from 8 to 16.15 from Monday to Friday. Systems for flexible working hours are also in use in the Government workplaces. In the system the personnel may in certain limits decide for themselves on the beginning and ending of a working day.
Weekly work form is used for the other professional duties in the Agencies. The regular daily working time varies from 6 hours 15 minutes to 8 hours in a way that sums up to 38 hours 15 minutes per week.
Period-based work form is used for the tasks that require round-the-clock work on all days of the week, for example in the police forces. The regular working time for the period-based work is agreed to be 114 hours 45 minutes in three weeks. Daily and weekly working times are defined more accurately in the shift rosters of the workplace.
Ministry of Finance P.O BOX 28 FIN-00023 GOVERNMENT Tel. +358 295 16001 E-mail: valtiovarainministerio@vm.fi