Number of workers posted to Finland from abroad decreased in 2025

The number of workers posted to Finland decreased significantly in 2025. The number of posted workers decreased especially in Southwestern Finland and Northern Finland. However, the number increased in Southern, Western and Inland Finland, and Eastern Finland.

Many companies posting workers still neglected their obligation to notify the occupational safety and health authority of their posted workers. Many deficiencies were also observed in the pay and working hour records of posted workers. Slightly over a third of the inspections of posting companies led to the consideration of a negligence fee. In 2025, negligence fees amounted to approximately EUR 297,000.

The information can be found in the occupational safety and health authority’s recent report “Enforcement of the posting of workers and notifications of posting in 2025”.

According to notifications, workers were posted from 50 different countries 

When a foreign company posts workers to Finland, it has to submit a notification of the posting to the occupational safety and health authority. The notification must be submitted before the work begins and must be supplemented if the information provided changes substantially. In road transport subcontracting, the notification of posting must be submitted to the EU-wide information system.

In 2025, the occupational safety and health authority received more than 18,000 notifications from 50 different countries. The volume of reports was 15% smaller than in 2024. Most notifications came from Germany, Estonia and Lithuania. Most posted workers were working in Southern and Southwestern Finland.

The number of posted workers in Finland is best illustrated by the number of employees reported in companies’ first notifications. In 2025, this was approximately 28,000, which is almost 15% less than in 2024. 

Regionally, the number of workers was affected, among other things, by large construction projects and work in shipyards. More posted workers arrived to work in forest management than before. 

On the basis of notifications submitted for road traffic subcontracting, the average number of posted drivers in Finland during 2025 was approximately 217,000 per month. Notifications were submitted from 29 different countries, most of them from Poland and Lithuania. However, based on the notifications, it is not possible to know how many drivers will ultimately work in Finland, as a notification can be made for a period of six months at a time for all the countries where the driver may drive during that period.

Many shortcomings were still observed with regard to compliance with the law

Occupational safety and health authorities carried out a total of 214 inspections as part of the supervision of posted workers in 2025. Companies posting workers for road transport subcontracting were subject to more enforcement than previously. 

A key issue in enforcement was ensuring that companies posting workers to Finland from abroad comply with Finnish legislation on posted workers. Attention in the supervision was again paid to identifying genuine posting and assessing whether the question is of an employment relationship or entrepreneurship. 

Written advice was most often issued for non-conformance with the notification obligation. A large number of deficiencies were also observed in pay, working hour records and the availability of information on posting. 

About every third of the inspections of posting companies led to the consideration of a negligence fee. The most common reason for considering a negligence fee is failure to comply with the notification obligation. 

Read more in the report (in English): Enforcement of the posting of workers and notifications of posting in 2025(pdf).
The report is also available in Finnish: Työntekijöiden lähettämiseen liittyvä valvonta ja lähettämisilmoitukset vuonna 2025 (pfd). A Swedish version will be published later. 

Inquiries
Antero Seppänen, Senior Officer
tel. +358 295 254 683, [email protected]
Finnish Supervisory Agency, Occupational Safety and Health Department