Collective agreement for workers in the property services sector

Wages will increase in a front-loaded manner, meaning that the raises are larger during the first two years of the agreement period:

• From 1 August 2025: personal wages and pay-scale wages increase by 2.7%
• From 1 August 2026: personal wages and pay-scale wages increase by 2.7%
• From 1 July 2027: personal wages and pay-scale wages increase by 2.4%

No increases will be made to working time supplements during the agreement period.

The public holiday system, which has caused long-standing challenges for employees in the property services sector, will be replaced by an annual leave system that guarantees equal access to paid leave for all employees.

The new system will be introduced on 1 January 2027 to give time for both parties to prepare and provide training. Until the end of 2026, the current public holiday system will remain in place.

Annual leave is accrued through hours worked, release time for union representative and OSH representative, and trade union training covered by employer support. As in other sectors, annual leave does not accrue during annual holidays or sick leave.

Annual leave accrues as follows as of 1 January 2027:

Example 1: Full-time employee (37.5 h/week) has worked 1,762.5 hours during a calendar year. So, they get 9 full days of annual leave. Annual leave should be granted during the accrual year, or no later than by the end of April the following year. Annual leave must be given as full days off one work shift at a time and cannot be scheduled during annual holiday or other days off. It must be included in the work schedule, and no shifts or on-call duties may be scheduled on the same calendar day.

Example 2: Part-time employee (25 h/week) has worked 1,175 hours during the year and get 6 full annual leave days (45 hours). If an annual leave day is granted as shorter than 7.5 hours (e.g. 5 hours), the remaining 2.5 hours are paid as monetary compensation. The employee and the employer can agree that instead of compensation the hours are later granted as time off. In this case the number of annual leave days may be greater than in the table above.

Annual leave is accrued per calendar year. Accrual begins after the employment relationship has lasted 6 months.

Work on public holidays will continue to be compensated by wages increased by 100% also after the new annual leave system has been introduced.

Work done on the Saturdays of New Year’s Day, Epiphany, May Day, Ascension Day, Independence Day weeks, and Easter Saturday will continue to be compensated by wages increased by 50 percent.

When a working hours adjustment period is used, the employer must provide a plan showing the weekly working hours during the adjustment period. It must be given to the employee at least one week before it takes effect and must include the start and end dates and total hours.

Changes as of 1 January 2027:

• The adjustment period can be extended to 12 weeks (currently 8 weeks).
• Work schedules can include a maximum of 9 consecutive working days.
• A longer period of up to 12 consecutive days can be agreed upon with the union representative (luottamusmies).

From 1 November to 31 March, the employer may change the work schedule of snow workers unilaterally if there is a significant change in weather conditions affecting snow work that could not have been predicted during planning of the work schedule. A change in the work schedule due to weather can take effect at the earliest 2 calendar days later and may occur only once per week for each employee.

Example: If the need for a change is identified on Tuesday, the earliest it may apply is the work shift on Friday.

A snow worker is defined as an employee in property maintenance who regularly performs snow clearing or gritting during winter as part of their core duties.

If an employee’s child under the age of 10 falls ill suddenly, the employee is entitled to paid leave for 1–3 calendar days. Absence must be reported immediately. If the workplace does not use self-reporting, a nurse’s certificate must be submitted.

The employer may require a doctor’s certificate if there is a justified reason.

PAM and the Real Estate Employers recommend that employers support the learning of the local language by employees with an immigrant background—for example, by scheduling work shifts in a way that enables participation in language studies—and that language development is promoted through language learning that takes place at work.

In layoffs lasting no more than 90 days, the employer’s obligation to offer work or provide training applies only within the same commuting area, defined as up to 80 km from the company office.

Exception for Kainuu, Northern Ostrobothnia and Lapland: If the main place of work is more than 80 km from the company office, the commuting area is defined from the main place of work instead.

PAM and the Real Estate Employers recognised the need to develop the pay system in response to changing work tasks and increasing skills requirements in the sector.

The parties have committed to joint salary system working group to improve the incentive structure and attractiveness of the sector. Employee representatives and companies will be consulted.

PAM and Real Estate Employers have agreed on practices that must be followed in the workplace when the employer plans to dismiss an employee based on grounds to do with the employee. Going forward, support for union members is strengthened.  

The collective agreement states that the employee has the right to have the elected union representative present at the hearing regarding the dismissal, or if there isn’t one, a trade union official or union branch representative. The consultation must be arranged in such a way that the employee has an effective opportunity to attend and prepared for it.

PAM carefully reviews dismissals, takes unclear cases to court if necessary, and communicates how they are progressing.

Employee rights

• proper time for preparation before the hearing
• sufficient information about the facts on which the decision is based
• an effective opportunity to present one’s own view on the matter.

The employer must

• inform the employee of his/her right to use an assistant. At the employee’s request, the assistant can be a union representative or if none has been elected, a trade union official or union branch representative.
• assess the conditions for continuing the employment at the hearing.

If there is no elected union representative (luottamusmies) at the workplace, a workplace group may be formed as a party to local agreements. If a union representative is later elected during the group’s term, the group ceases unless the union representative approves its continuation. In that case, the union representative becomes a member of the group.

The compensation for union representatives and occupational safety and health representatives  (called shop stewards and industrial safety delegates in the collective agreement) is increased as follows:

• From 1 August 2025 (or the next pay period): compensation increases by 5.4%
• From 1 July 2027 (or the next pay period): compensation increases by 2.4%