Transition security

Transition security is a concept for improving the situation of dismissed workers and supporting their re-employment. Transition security is for people who have been dismissed on financial and production-related grounds or due to restructuring of their employer’s activities. The parties in transition security are the employer, the employee and the employment authority. 

The purpose of transition security is to help and support employees whose employment is terminated for financial or production reasons in the company or due to restructuring by the employer. The parties in change security are the employer, the employee and the employment services. 

Transition security means that the employee has many rights and the employer many responsibilities. These include time off during the notice period, training paid for by the employer, occupational healthcare and increased unemployment security. Employees’ rights are described in more detail below.

Right to time off for re-employment during the notice period 

Dismissed employees are entitled to 5–20 days of paid time off for re-employment during the notice period. The length of the time off is determined by the length of the notice period.  

You can get time off for re-employment to prepare an employment plan for the TE Office and for job-searching or participation in employment-promoting measures, either on your own initiative or required by the TE. Full wages are paid for time off for re-employment in accordance with the working hours schedule.

The time off can also be taken as part-days. Your employer must be notified of this as early as possible, and if requested you must provide a report. As a rule, time off must be given during the time indicated by the employee unless being away at that time causes considerable inconvenience to the employer.

Right to coaching or training paid for by the employer 

Employers must offer their dismissed employees the opportunity to participate in employment-promoting coaching or training paid for by the employer, if the company regularly employs at least 30 persons and the employees have been employed by the employer for at least 5 years without interruption before the end of the employment relationship.

A company’s human resources and training plan must contain rules for the employer to provide, if necessary, employment-promoting coaching or training for their employees. The employer must, however, take employees’ requirements into account in the coaching or training plan. It can be arranged either as a personal or a group service.

The value of the coaching or training must correspond to at least the dismissed employee’s notional pay for one month or the average monthly earnings of an employee at the same workplace, whichever is higher.

Better and other terms for the value of coaching or training can also be agreed locally. Coaching or training must be organised within 2 months after the end of the notice period, or can also be organised later for a compelling reason.

If an employee neglects to organise coaching or training, they must pay the employee one-off compensation equivalent to the value of the training or coaching either in full or in part, depending on the neglected portion.

Right to occupational healthcare 

An employer must provide occupational healthcare services for dismissed employees for 6 months from the end of the obligation to work in accordance with the occupational health agreement, if the employer regularly employs at least 30 persons and the employee has been employed by the employer for at least 5 years without interruption before the end of the employment relationship.

The right to occupational healthcare does not continue if a dismissed employee transfers to another employer in a permanent employment relationship or a fixed-term contract least at least 6 months.   

Right to increased unemployment security 

Dismissed employees are entitled to receive increased unemployment security, i.e. the increased earnings share of unemployment allowance for the period of the employment plan or the measures in the plan substituting it. You can get increased unemployment security for a maximum of 200 days.

New transition security for employees aged 55 or over (from 1.1.2023)

The new transition security is aimed at dismissed workers aged over 55 who have worked for the same employer for at least five years. It is designed to improve employment and coping at work for those aged 55 or over.

Transition security allowance, transition security training and other benefits are available for those aged over 55 as follows:

• right to transition security training through the TE Office equivalent to two months’ pay;
• right to transition security allowance equivalent to one month’s pay;
• right to extended time off to find employment during the notice period, i.e. right to 5, 15 or 25 days off to find employment;
• right to reduced working hours if you have worked for the same employer for at least 3 years. 

If you are dismissed, you can get transition security training through the TE Office worth the equivalent of a maximum of two months’ pay. The training can begin during the notice period on days off to find employment or no later than within three months from the end of employment. The purpose of the training is to improve dismissed employees’ professional skills or self-employment skills. The training, therefore, is to update skills and is not intended to replace training leading to a qualification.  The training is agreed in the employment plan. 

You can get the transition security allowance through your unemployment fund or Kela. It doesn’t affect unemployment daily allowances in any way, so it doesn’t reduce unemployment allowances or postpone the starting date of these. The only condition is that the transition security allowance must be claimed within three months from the end of employment.

For over-55s, time off to find employment has been extended to a maximum of 25 days, whereas for those below that age it is a maximum of 20 days. Days off to find employment are determined in the same way as with transition security for younger age groups, i.e. according to the notice period. The idea in giving more days off to find employment for older age groups is to ensure that they can start transition security training or do a skills and working capacity assessment.

The right to reduced working hours is designed to improve the ability of older workers to cope at work. This right is not subjective, so ultimately the employer decides whether the employment can be made part-time. Employees going on part-time sick leave, early old-age pension or partial disability pension can also move to reduced working hours. 

To benefit from the new transition security, unemployed persons must register with the TE Office as unemployed jobseekers within 60 days of termination of employment. 

You can find more information on change security in PAM’s guide for activists (in Finnish).