Exchanging holiday bonus/ holiday bonus pay for time off
Updated: 15.02.2022
Holiday bonus/ holiday bonus pay have been agreed in the collective agreements. It has also been agreed where and how this money can be exchanged for time off. If there is no mention of this in a collective agreement, the money cannot be exchanged for time off.
When agreeing to exchange, you should follow the instructions below. If, however, the collective agreement for the sector contains some other arrangements for this, the steps in the collective agreement are to be followed.
- Exchange to be agreed between employer and employee
- Agreement to be made in writing. It is advisable to use the ready-made forms, links to these below
- What has to be agreed:
1. How holiday bonus/holiday bonus pay is converted into time off.
One calculation method is to divide the agreed portion of the holiday bonus/holiday bonus pay by the hourly wage. This gives the amount of time off in hours. If using this calculation method, time off is taken Mon-Fri.
Another calculation method is that the number of holiday bonus days off is half of the number of holiday days under the Annual Holidays Act. For example, converting the holiday bonus of 24 holiday days into time off makes 12 days off. This means 2 weeks, because working days (Mon-Sat) are counted as holiday bonus days off.
2. that a calendar week contains an amount of time off equivalent to the hours in the employment contract
3. the dates of the time off
4. that time off is equivalent to time at work in respect of the rules on days off, and in earning annual days off and annual holidays as well as in calculating extra hours and overtime and the payments for these
5. that in cases of incapacity for work the provisions of the Annual Holidays Act apply.
Links to forms (in Finnish)
Form for exchanging holiday bonus for time off in the retail sector
Form for exchanging holiday bonus pay for time off in the hospitality sector
Form for exchanging holiday bonus / holiday bonus pay for time off in other sectors
Check key provisions of collective agreements here (in Finnish).