Helsinki benefit for employer

• The City of Helsinki can grant the Helsinki benefit to employers who hire unemployed Helsinki residents for the private sector or volunteer sector.
• The reference to the general guidelines for the City of Helsinki’s grants was specified by stating that the Helsinki benefit is granted and paid in accordance with the general guidelines for grants, which contain the terms and conditions for grants and general principles for awarding grants. Furthermore, the City of Helsinki’s ethical partnership principles for grant allocation and cooperation with organisations apply.
• The Helsinki benefit will not be granted if it would distort competition between suppliers of the same goods or services. 

• The person employed with the Helsinki benefit must not be the only salaried employee in the organisation. However, in companies, the business owner is counted as an employee.
• There must be evidence of the employer’s activities for at least one year in the form of records and/or financial statements, which must be presented upon request.
• The employer must not have incurred significant non-payments of wages.
• The employer’s financial management, accounting and other activities must be lawful and appropriately organised, considering the nature and scope of the activities.
• The employer agrees to check the background of the partners and suppliers it uses and to select responsible actors as its partners and suppliers.
• The employer must, without compensation, provide the City with the information that the City deems necessary for the processing of the application for the Helsinki benefit, the awarding of the benefit and the monitoring of the use of the benefit. The City of Helsinki is entitled to audit the accounting and administration of an employer applying for or receiving the Helsinki benefit and also carry out other audits on the employer’s activities if necessary.
• The City of Helsinki is entitled to inspect the conditions at the workplace and the implementation of the work supervision if necessary.
• The employer’s activities must be appropriate for the granting of the Helsinki benefit, and the activities of the employer or its representatives must not be unlawful and/or contrary to good practice.
• The reference to the general guidelines for the City of Helsinki’s grants in Annex 1 of the decision of the City Board’s Economic Development Sub-committee of 8 September 2025 to amend the terms and conditions of the Helsinki benefit is specified with a condition stating that the employer must also comply with the City of Helsinki's terms and conditions for grants and the City of Helsinki’s ethical partnership principles for grant allocation and cooperation with organisations. 

• The European Union (EU), the United Nations (UN) and the State of Finland have imposed sanctions on several states and certain specifically named groups affiliated with them (companies, individuals, institutions). In addition to the sanctions imposed as a result of Russia's invasion of Ukraine, the activities for which the Helsinki benefit is applied and granted must also comply with all other existing sanctions imposed by the EU, the UN and the authorities of the State of Finland on economic, financial and other activities.
• The employer or its representative must not be subject to sanctions. The activities of the employer or its representative must not violate the sanctions mentioned above. Neither may the employer cooperate, directly or indirectly, in business or otherwise, with any entities subject to the sanctions in force.
• The Helsinki benefit may not be used directly or indirectly in any way that would violate the abovementioned sanctions or involve the channelling of a grant or subsidy to entities identified in the abovementioned sanctions or result in such entities being involved in the implementation of the project.
• The Helsinki benefit may not be used to circumvent sanctions or for activities that may effectively benefit sanctioned entities.
• The employer must notify the City of Helsinki without delay if it or its representative later becomes the subject of sanctions or if its activities begin to violate the sanctions. The employer must also notify the City of Helsinki without delay if it begins to cooperate, directly or indirectly, in business or otherwise, with any entities covered by the existing sanctions.
• The employer must notify the City of Helsinki without delay if the Helsinki benefit has been used in violation of sanctions or prohibitions on circumventing them and the abovementioned conditions. 

• The employer must have appropriately arranged facilities and a supervisor to manage the hired person.
• The employment supported with the Helsinki benefit must fulfil the work requirement for employees in accordance with the Unemployment Security Act (1290/2002).
• In addition to fulfilling the conditions for the work requirement for employees in accordance with the Unemployment Security Act, the working time of the person hired must be at least 18 hours per calendar week.
• The person hired must be paid a salary in accordance with the applicable collective agreement. However, by way of derogation from chapter 5, section 4(2) of the Unemployment Security Act, if there is no binding collective agreement in the industry in question, the salary must be at a level regarded as normal and reasonable and based on factors other than just the results of the work.
• The tasks of the person employed must be appropriate for the granting of the Helsinki benefit and must not be unlawful or contrary to good practice. 

The Helsinki benefit must be applied for no later than within four (4) months of the start of the employment relationship. If the application is submitted after this deadline, the benefit can be granted retroactively for up to four (4) months from the arrival date of the application.

You are not eligible for the Helsinki benefit if a pay subsidy or an employment subsidy for ages 55 and above has been granted for the employment relationship. It is not possible to combine these subsidies for the same employment relationship.

Sign in with your online banking credentials or mobile certificate.

When you sign in for the first time, the service will automatically create a personal Helsinki profile for you, unless you already have a Helsinki profile. Add your own email address to ensure you receive the confirmation message.

To sign in to the online Helsinki benefit service as a representative of a company or community, you must have the authority to sign on behalf of the company or community or have been granted the authority to ‘Apply for pay subsidy’ or ‘Applying for grants’ in the Suomi.fi service.

Acting on behalf of an organisation, Suomi.fi(Link leads to external service)

The Helsinki benefit card can be issued to jobseekers whose service needs have been assessed by the City of Helsinki Employment Services.

The card supports jobseeking by letting potential employers know that the jobseeker meets the conditions of the Helsinki benefit.

You can send messages about your application via the online Helsinki benefit service if you notice a mistake in the information that you provided on your application, for example.  

Follow these steps:

• Sign in to the online Helsinki benefit service.(Link leads to external service)
• Open the application that you want to send a message about.
• Click on Open messages.
• Type your message and click on Send.
• The application contact person will be notified via email once the person processing the application has received the message. 

Messages sent via the online Helsinki benefit service are encrypted.

If the employment ends or is interrupted, you are required to report it immediately through the online service.

Follow these steps:

• Sign in to the online Helsinki benefit service(Link leads to external service)
• Go to the Archive.
• Open the decision of the employment that you want to report.
• Select Report a change in employment.
• Fill in the requested information on the form, such as the type of employment change you want to report and billing information. You are required to report early termination or temporary interruption of the employment.
• Send the form.

Please note that the Helsinki benefit may be reclaimed for the period exceeding the actual duration of the employment.