Eurofound's EU PolicyWatch collates information on the responses of government and social partners to the COVID-19 crisis, the war in Ukraine, rising inflation, as well as gathering examples of company practices aimed at mitigating the social and economic impacts.
Factsheet for measure FI-2020-15/1311 – measures in Finland
| Country |
Finland
, applies locally
|
| Time period | Temporary, 10 April 2020 – 05 September 2023 |
| Context | COVID-19 |
| Type | Company practices |
| Category |
Ensuring business continuity and support for essential services
– Smoothing frictions or reallocation of workers |
| Author | Vera Lindström (Oxford Research) and Eurofound |
| Measure added | 23 October 2020 (updated 09 January 2025) |
As a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, Finnish passenger airline Finnair has had to cut down the number of flights. The company has temporarily laid-off large parts of its employees. In Finland, it is possible for temporarily laid-off employees to work for another employer. Usually it is up to the employee to seek for new employment but Finnair partnered up with private healthcare providers Mehiläinen and Attendo in order to facilitate temporary re-employment of its employees.
Many of the employees of Finnair have previously worked in the long-term care sector or have an education related to this sector. This sector in Finland suffers from a labour shortage, especially in the capital area. Therefore, Finnair has coordinated transfer of employees to some of the largest private healthcare providers in Finland. The transfer is voluntary.
Depending on their background, the transferred employees work as practical nurses, personal care assistants, or in digital services.
For the employees, this is an opportunity to learn something new and get meaningful things to do during the lay-off. In addition, it makes it easier for the laid-off employees to make ends meet as they continue to receive a normal salary instead of an unemployment allowance.
After the lay-offs, employment at with Finnair will continue.
No information available regarding the number of employees borrowed to the social-and healthcare sector. In April 2020, in total 67 employees had announced their interest for such transfer.
| Workers | Businesses | Citizens |
|---|---|---|
|
Particular professions
|
Does not apply to businesses | Does not apply to citizens |
| Actors | Funding |
|---|---|
|
Company / Companies
|
Companies
|
Social partners' role in designing the measure and form of involvement:
| Trade unions | Employers' organisations | |
|---|---|---|
| Role | No involvement | No involvement as case not in social partner domain |
| Form | Not applicable | Not applicable |
Social partners' role in the implementation, monitoring and assessment phase:
No information available.
No information available.
This case is sector-specific (only private sector)
| Economic area | Sector (NACE level 2) |
|---|---|
| H - Transportation And Storage | H51 Air transport |
| Q - Human Health And Social Work Activities | Q86 Human health activities |
| Q87 Residential care activities |
This case is occupation-specific
| Occupation (ISCO level 2) |
|---|
| Personal service workers |
| Personal care workers |
Citation
Eurofound (2020), Temporarily laid-off employees of passenger airline Finland given an opportunity to work for private healthcare providers, measure FI-2020-15/1311 (measures in Finland), EU PolicyWatch, Dublin, https://static.eurofound.europa.eu/covid19db/cases/FI-2020-15_1311.html
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Disclaimer: This information has not been subject to the full Eurofound evaluation, editorial and publication process.