Holiday pay and bonus

The holiday bonus is an additional bonus that is 50% of your annual holiday pay. It is paid in addition to the normal holiday pay either after the annual leave, before it or in two installments before and after the leave. At some workplaces, holiday bonus can be changed for time off. In the past, holiday bonus required the employee to return to work after the holiday. This holiday bonus was originally called the ‘holiday return bonus’.

The holiday bonus is on a collective agreement, employment contract or workplace practice. The Finnish law mentions only that an employee is entitled to paid leave, which  means that employee’s regular salary, including fringe benefits, will be paid during a holiday period. Legislation does not thus oblige the employer to pay a holiday bonus, which is a benefit negotiated by trade unions.

Your holiday pay is based on how long you have worked in your current employment. Use the following formula to assess your holiday pay:

[Average monthly salary ] / 25 x  [amount of holiday days] = holiday pay

The amount of your holiday days depends on how long you have worked for the same employer. 

A) If your employment has lasted more than a year, you accrue 2.5 holiday days for every month during which you have worked for at least 14 days or 35 hours. This means 30 holidays if you work full-time and your employment has lasted over one year,

B) If your employment has lasted less than a year, you accrue 2 holiday days per month (provided that your monthly work amounts to least 14 days or 35 hours.

Holiday pay is paid according to how much you earn per month in average, it is not based on whether you are paid a monthly salary. Also a part-time employee can use the formula above to check the approximate amount of the holiday pay. However, if your salary is paid based on completed hours or working days, it may be calculated differently. 
More information can be found in Annual Holidays Act (section 3).