Remote work abroad – information for employers
Working remotely abroad is becoming increasingly popular. As an employer, you have a lot of things to remember if your employee works remotely abroad. You need to take care of your employee’s pension and social security also during remote work abroad.
When your employee goes abroad to work remotely
When your employee wishes to go abroad to work remotely, you need to agree on it together. While working remotely abroad, your employee is not automatically covered by the Finnish social security system. This is why you should find out beforehand to which country your employee’s insurance and social security contributions must be paid and which country’s social security system your employee is covered by. Check which country your employee is going to and read the relevant instructions below.
EU countries: Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus, the Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, the Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden and the UK*.
*For persons going to the UK, the same rules apply as if the UK were still a member of the EU.
EEA countries: Norway, Iceland and Liechtenstein.
Social security agreement countries: Australia, Canada, Chile, China, India, Israel, Japan, Korea, the Province of Quebec and the USA.
Information on remote work in different countries
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When your employee goes abroad to work remotely, you as an employer have many things to remember. Below is a four-point checklist for remote work.
1. Apply for an A1 certificate for your employee
Apply for an A1 certificate for your employee from the Finnish Centre for Pensions, regardless of how long your employee will be working remotely abroad. The A1 certificate shows that your employee is covered by Finnish social security. As an employer, you must apply for the A1 certificate for your employee, whereas an entrepreneur can apply for the certificate themselves. Apply for an A1 certificate on the Finnish Centre for Pensions’ website (etk.fi).
With the help of an A1 certificate, remote work abroad is insured in the same way as other work abroad. Thus, in order for them to be covered by Finnish social security, the same rules apply to remote workers as to posted workers:
- Remote work abroad must be temporary (no more than 2 years)
- Work abroad must be done for a Finnish employer
- The employee must be covered by Finnish social security when they go abroad.
If the employer does not apply for a certificate showing that the employee is covered by Finnish social security, the employee’s social security for this work must be arranged in the country where the work is performed.
If an A1 certificate is granted
After you have applied for an A1 certificate and it has been granted, the Finnish Centre for Pensions will send the A1 certificate to you and your employee. The Finnish Centre for Pensions will inform the employee’s pension insurance company and Kela that an A1 certificate has been granted. Based on the certificate, your employee can apply to Kela for a European Health Insurance Card. Read more about the European Health Insurance Card on Kela’s website (kela.fi).
If an A1 certificate is not granted
If an A1 certificate is not applied for or cannot be granted, the employee will be covered by the social security of the country in which they will work remotely. In that case, the employer pays the statutory social security contributions to the country in question.
2. Get to know the labour legislation, social security and culture of the country in question
Labour legislation, social security and even cultural aspects vary a lot from country to country. Therefore it is important that you and your employee together carefully get to know the country where your employee is going to work remotely. Read more about international social security (stm.fi).
3. Agree on everything beforehand in writing with your employee
Every aspect must be agreed on beforehand in writing with the employee, so that both parties can check the content of the agreement, if required. If remote work abroad results in additional costs, the party bearing the costs must be agreed on beforehand. The following are examples of expenses you should agree on with your employee:
- travel and accommodation expenses
- travel insurance
- taxation-related matters.
4. Plan and agree on, among other things, occupational health services, accident insurance and information security
When your employee goes abroad to work remotely, agree with them on how the following matters will be arranged
- occupational health services
- accident insurance
- information security and data protection
- HR-related matters.
The company’s occupational health services may include medical care in Finland, but in remote work abroad, medical expenses may be the employee’s responsibility. The employer’s occupational accident insurance also does not necessarily cover accidents occurring while working remotely. The employer may take out group leisure accident insurance for the employee, but the employee also needs personal travel insurance.
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Finland has a bilateral social security agreement with Australia, Canada, Chile, China, India, Israel, Japan, Quebec, South Korea and the USA.
Bilateral social security agreements do not cover the same benefits as the EU’s social security regulation. All agreements cover pensions, but all agreements do not cover statutory accident insurance or the majority of Kela’s benefits.
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If there is no social security agreement between the countries (e.g. Thailand), the national legislation of both the country of origin and the destination country may be applied to employees.
Salary for insurance purposes during remote work abroad
For remote work abroad, your employee’s salary for insurance purposes must be determined using the same conditions as for posted workers. Read more about the salary for insurance purposes and how it is determined.
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EU agreement on remote work 1.7.2023
Some EU Member States have signed a framework agreement on cross-border telework. According to the Agreement, an employee working and teleworking in two different EU countries can be insured, under certain conditions, in the country where the statutory seat of their employer is established (instead of in their own country of residence).
More information on the Framework Agreement and list of countries that have signed the Agreement
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Is your employee going for a work abroad?
If you send your emplyoee for example on a posting abroad, you as an employer have to take several things into consideration.
Read instructions when employee goes from Finland to work abroad -
Are you hiring a foreign employee to work in Finland?
When you hire a foreign employer from abroad to Finland, you have take into consideration the employee's pension and social security.
Read instructions when you hire a employee to Finland from abroad