Are you doing unpaid overtime? Stop immediately!
When the workload is too heavy and there’s not enough time to recover, your mind won’t cope. This is not just an individual problem but a societal one. Mental health disorders have been the most common reason for disability pensions since 2020.
Did you know that the purpose of flexible working hours is to benefit the employee, not the employer? You should not accumulate flexitime balance in situations where you constantly have so much work that you cannot finish it during an eight-hour workday or when you are asked by your employer or client to work longer days.
If you find yourself in such a situation, agree in advance with your supervisor that you can record the extra hours as overtime. If your supervisor does not agree, they must organize the work so that normal working hours are sufficient to complete your tasks.
You receive higher monetary or time compensation for overtime than for regular working hours.
Overtime is more expensive for the employer – and that’s how it should be. The cost of overtime is meant to prevent excessive workload. So make sure you record all your working hours and that your balance does not grow so much that the cut-off removes them.
If it is not common at your workplace to record all hours worked, or if recording overtime is categorically prohibited, it is understandable that an individual employee cannot easily change this. If working time practices and overtime compensation are not in order at your workplace, discuss the matter with your employee representatives, such as the shop steward or occupational safety representative.
If necessary, you can get support from Union of Professional Engineers in Finland, who can even contact your employer. Read the article “Time is the most valuable thing we have.”
Guidelines for agreeing on on-call duty
Recently, we have received many questions about on-call duty, and sometimes it has become clear that on-call work has been done under poor conditions. The purpose of this article is to clarify what on-call duty means and what you should consider as an employee when agreeing on it. Please read the article before making an agreement related to on-call duty.
Is it time to elect employee representatives at your workplace?
Employee representatives such as shop stewards/employee representatives and occupational safety representatives are usually elected in the autumn for two-year terms. A shop steward should be a member of Tietoala ry or one of the YTN unions.
If elections are coming up at your workplace, consider whether you could run as a candidate. Acting as a shop steward/employee representative can bring a whole new sense of purpose to your work, and you will learn a lot about the rules of working life. You will get to know your colleagues better and network with representatives from other companies in the same sector.
A shop steward represents all employees, not just members of their own union. Shop stewards are trained for their duties in training organized by YTN. General guidelines for electing shop stewards/employee representatives can be found on YTN’s website. You can also contact our sector experts. If you have been elected as an employee representative, remember to report it both to us and to the asiointi.ytn.fi service so you can receive information and training to support your work.
Do you know which collective agreement applies at your workplace?
The IT service sector collective agreement ceased to be generally binding a few years ago. General binding requires that more than half of the employees in the sector work for companies that are members of Technology Industry Employers of Finland, which negotiates the national collective agreement with us. The national collective agreement is now normally binding, meaning it only applies to employees of organized companies in the sector.
Do you know your collective agreement? There are several options:
- If your employer belongs to Technology Industry Employers of Finland (list of companies here), you follow the collective agreement of the IT service sector.
- If your employer has made a connection agreement to the collective agreement of the IT service sector, you follow it even if you are not a contracting party.
- If your workplace has its own collective agreement, you follow that.
If none of the above applies, check your employment contract to see if it specifies which collective agreement is followed, or ask your employee representative or HR how your workplace terms have been agreed.
Collective agreements include many significant terms such as salary increases, holiday bonuses, overtime compensation, reimbursement of travel expenses and domestic travel time, all paid parental leaves including care for a sick child, salary for sick leave over nine days, a 7.5-hour workday instead of eight hours, and much more.
Museum Visit at Vapriikki!
Our first event of the year is a family museum day at Vapriikki in Tampere. The event, held on Saturday, January 10, 2026, includes access to all exhibitions, a guided tour of the Superheroes exhibition, and restaurant vouchers. Get your discounted tickets now—places are limited!