Get to Know Working Life and Earn Money – traineeship programmes

Understanding the importance of working life and how it works for young people is important. Giving primary and secondary school student’s first-hand experience and exposure to business in the form of a summer internship programme has proven to be a good way to improve young people’s knowledge, career orientation and perceptions of business and working life.

The Federation of Commerce and the Service Union United PAM want to support opportunities for primary and secondary school student’s to get to know the world of work through the “Get to Know Working Life and Earn Money ” summer traineeship programme. The aim is to give schoolchildren first-hand experience of how companies in the commercial sector operate, the different jobs they offer, their personnel structures, forms of cooperation and the opportunities they offer, and to provide them with suitable practical work.

Employers, join the programme

Companies that are not members of the Federation of Commerce should register for the programme using the registration form. No separate registration is required for members of the Commerce Federation.

Register as an employer

 

Find out more about the contract for the summer internship programme for school student’s

We would like to emphasise that:

  1. an elementary or secondary school student may only work for one internship period in the same company during the same summer, according to the summer internship programme, and
  2. a school pupil may only work in the same occupation for a total of one traineeship in different years. The different occupations in the commercial sector include salesperson, logistics worker, clerk, window dresser and cleaner.

In 2023 and 2024, the “Get to Know Working Life and Earn Money” traineeship programme pays an allowance of €395. The flat-rate allowance includes holiday pay for the traineeship period. In addition, accident insurance, unemployment insurance, social security contributions and the TyEl contribution are payable. The employer company is responsible for the payment of the trainee’s salary, not the Federation of Commerce or the Service Union United PAM, for example. The salary for the traineeship must be paid by the last day of the traineeship at the latest, i.e. when the traineeship ends.

If a school pupil has already worked for two weeks under the summer traineeship programme, for example as a salesperson, they must continue to be paid the school student’s salary in accordance with the Collective Agreement. This is 70% of the table salary for the first year of each occupation. In addition to the school student’s salary, evening and Saturday bonuses and double pay on Sundays are payable in accordance with the Collective Agreement. Holiday pay is also payable.

The terms and conditions of employment of young people who are employed by the city on a summer voucher are governed by the provisions of either the Get to Know Working Life and Earn Money contract or the Collective Agreement’s provisions on school student’s or trainees in commerce. The choice of the right contractual conditions depends on the duration of the employment relationship, the young person’s previous work experience and whether he or she is a pupil at a primary, secondary or vocational school.

The ” Get to Know Working Life and Earn Money ” summer traineeship does not restrict the company’s access to municipal summer work vouchers for other young people to be employed.

In the agreement between the Federation of Commerce and the Service Union United PAM on the “Get to Know Working Life and Earn Money” summer traineeship, it is stipulated that during the period, no other forms of support for the employment of young people, such as summer work vouchers from the cities and municipalities, may be used simultaneously. This provision limits the use of the ‘Get to Know Working Life and Earn Money’ traineeship and other forms of employment support to be used to support the same young person. Thus, a company cannot employ a young person on a ‘Get to Know Working Life and Earn Money’ summer traineeship and use, for example, a summer grant from a municipality to cover costs of employing the same young person.

The regulation does not, however, restrict the use of these forms of aid in the company simultaneously, if they are used regarding different employees. It is therefore possible to employ a young person on a “Get to Know Working Life and Earn Money” summer traineeship in the same company and to use other forms of employment support for other young people.

 

Employer, here you can download the employment contract form for the traineeship:

Get to Know Working Life and Earn Money traineeship contract form for 2024

Kuva: 123rf