Human resources formalities

This page will contain our various HR peculiarities, but not replace official HR information.

Official HR info: https://www.aalto.fi/en/services/hr-services

There are two types of working hour systems used on our team: “regular working hours” (track all your time, work a certain amount per day) or “total working hours” (academic system, work a certain number of hours per year and no one looks at the distribution). For our team (and what is on this page) it doesn’t matter much, but is good to keep in mind when talking to others.

The Workday system is used to request vacation time. It is important that vacation is properly requested, especially for certain funded projects for which the funder does not pay vacation time. Workday tracks by-day. It is also the general HR information system.

The Tiima system is used to record daily working time - by hour. As your balance goes up/down, you can transfer a bit to vacation days (to workday) - this is the relation between the system. Some people use Tiima exactly, some don’t at all. Officially, people with the “regular working hours” system should use it. In practice, You should use it unless you choose to forgo the balance-tracking system and handle only things by day.

Vacations

As an academic, you were probably use to working all the time and not fully taking vacations. That should not be necessary here, but since we have highly motivated people it sometimes happens. However this should be your own choice, not someone else’s choice. That means:

  • You should say no if you are getting too much work (and constantly be aware of this possibility).

  • Not make promises that can’t be reasonably accomplished during non-vacation worktime (this also means being aware of the risk in discussions and planning what happens if the risk happens).

  • Never promise customers that you or someone is guaranteed to be available on vacations.

  • Use the team. If projects do ever require require standby or on-call work during vacations to, coordinate with others on the team to cover you (for example by having multiple people on the project from the start, or onboarding someone to cover during your vacations).

Our team’s general practice is that anyone can take vacation whenever they want (but this is not a promise that this stays in the future). We usually have someone around, and if there is every a critical staffing shortage, we will figure out what to do then.

Typical vacation/absence practices:

  • Think for yourself if a time is OK for a (existing commitments, talk to customers if needed, see team schedule, etc.)

  • State your absence in the #science-it channel, absences topic.

  • Mark your calendar as being out of office (if vacation) or busy (work trip etc.)

  • Email auto-reply (if relevant)

  • Request vacation in Workday (formality but keeps stuff organized).

Work abroad

Because of various tax laws etc, you are required to be in Finland when working. But you can get permission to do two weeks per year in another country: remote work info. Sometimes people “volunteer” by doing work-related stuff while they are on vacation. We don’t encourage this but won’t stop you. Note that in principle you shouldn’t bring work devices when you go on personal vacations.

Possibly unexpected things

If you have a long history of working in Finland, these things may be obvious, but it’s good to write them down. These are not specific to ASC but they are relevant to us and it may be hard to see the official information.

Vacation days

The regular working hours system is optimized for a steady-state, not for people joining. You won’t get any holidays in the first year or so, and they start appearing the following spring. You can ask for unpaid leave, but don’t take too much in any given month (ask around for the amount), or it can affect your next year’s vacation allocation. This isn’t a problem in the total working hours system. If you read this early enough, try to negotiate any necessary holidays before starting.

You “have to” (according to Finnish law) take two continuous weeks of vacation in the summer.

Previous work

Within the first month or so, you can declare past work experience for “years of work” for holiday allocations. This will allow you to reach X years of seniority to get a greater holiday allocation sooner. This can only be done when starting, so read the info, ask around for advice, and do it. Try searching “previous work history” if the link is broken.

Occupational health care

There is “Occupational health care”, but this is different from “health insurance”. Primary health care/insurance is via your municipality and Kela. Thus, Aalto doesn’t have “health insurance” as other countries does. Occupational health care is like a shortcut for basic things which is free for you. For large enough issues, you’ll need to go the main public health care (or private health care). Info