Hourly employment in Sweden, for employers
Hourly employment in Sweden is not a form of employment of its own. Having hourly employees only means you pay them by the hour, verksamt.se writes, and the employment itself is either permanent or fixed-term under the Employment Protection Act (lagen om anställningsskydd, in Swedish).
Which employment it is
An employment contract runs until further notice. A fixed-term employment may only be agreed in the cases the Act lists (section 4): special fixed-term employment (särskild visstidsanställning), substitute employment (vikariat), seasonal work (section 5) and probationary employment of at most six months (section 6).
The terms behovsanställning (as-needed) and intermittent anställning are not in the Act. Whatever you call the contract, it is one of the forms above or a permanent job paid by the hour. A contract is for full time unless agreed otherwise (section 4 a).
What you must give in writing
You must give written information on all material terms of the employment (section 6 c).
Most of it is due by the seventh calendar day after the person starts work. For special fixed-term employment, the form and end date are stated when it is agreed. If a term changes, tell them in writing by the day the change takes effect (section 6 e).
Among other things, the information covers:
- names, addresses, start date and workplace;
- duties and job title;
- permanent or fixed-term, and if fixed-term, which form and when it ends;
- the pay and how often it is paid;
- the normal working day or week, or how working time is measured;
- what applies to overtime and additional hours and the pay for them;
- the minimum notice for working hours, and whether hours vary by day and time.
When it becomes permanent
A special fixed-term employment becomes permanent once the person has worked for you in it for more than twelve months in total within five years (section 5 a). The time is also added up over a period in which they had fixed-term employments with you that followed one another, meaning each began within six months of the last. A substitute employment becomes permanent after more than two years in total within five years.
With three or more special fixed-term employments in the same calendar month, the days between them count too (section 3). If each of Sara's October shifts is its own such employment, the whole stretch from first shift to last counts.
The employee may ask in writing about their employments and total time employed, and you answer within three weeks (section 6 g).
Pay, holiday, sick pay and overtime
- Pay: the hours times the hourly rate. To compare with a monthly salary, use hourly to monthly salary.
- Holiday: holiday pay follows the percentage rule, 12% of pay (Annual Leave Act, sections 16 and 16 b, in Swedish). Work it out with the holiday pay calculator.
- Sick pay: an hourly employee may be entitled to sick pay for the shifts they would have worked. Read sick pay for hourly employees.
- Overtime and additional hours: the same limits as for other employees, counted against the ordinary hours in the contract. Read overtime and additional hours.
Hours you both see
With hourly pay the hours are the pay, and most of the above is worked out from them. In Klokka you log hours per day with each person's rate, and the employee sees the same days and amounts on their phone. If something is off, they flag the day. More on hours tracking for hourly employees.