Everyone asks the same question: which group will I be in? The honest answer is that nobody can tell you before your work has been looked at — but the rules are written down, and you can read them the same way your employer does.
Pay groups explained, without the jargon
The group follows the work, not the years
Both the electrical and the building-services agreements describe each group by what a person can do: which materials and methods they command, whether they work from drawings without step-by-step supervision, how many areas of competence they cover, and whether they carry responsibility for a team or for a whole installation. Years of experience appear nowhere in that description.
That is why our calculator asks you to pick the description that fits the work you actually do, rather than how long you have done it. Experience and a diploma still matter — they are how you show that you can do the work — but they do not set the group by themselves.
Who decides, and when
When the contract is signed
The employer sets a preliminary group together with you. This is the group your first payslips use.
Within three months
The exact group must be determined after your documents, references and demonstrated skills have been checked. It can be higher or lower than the preliminary one.
Later, when the work changes
A move to more demanding work is a reason to look at the group again. Ask for it in writing, with examples of what you now do independently.
Special rules worth knowing
Under the electrical agreement, if no pay-group determination has been made at all, the agreement requires pay according to group 2. This is not a general rule for the waiting period — it applies where the determination has simply not been done.
Under the building-services agreement, section 11.8 sets a floor for an installer who is posted to Finland or comes here temporarily while keeping a permanent home abroad: for the first three months the group is at least 2, and a higher group can be set from the start. A floor is not a ceiling and not a fixed range.
A Finnish further vocational qualification or specialist qualification also carries a supplement per hour under both agreements. A foreign qualification is not automatically equivalent; it has to be recognised.
Our scenarios compare your answers with the classification in the agreement. They are not an assigned pay group and not an offer. Pay-group classification must never be based on nationality, and a language requirement must be objectively related to the work or to site safety.
See which pair of groups your own work description lands in.
Electrician calculatorSources
| What | Where | Checked |
|---|---|---|
| Group criteria, three-month determination, group 2 without a determination | Collective agreement for the electrical contracting and installation sector 2025–2028 (Sähköliitto) | 26 September 2026 |
| Group criteria, entry rules, section 11.8 | Collective agreement for the building services sector (LVI) 2025–2028 (Rakennusliitto) | 26 September 2026 |
| Nationality and language are not criteria | Non-Discrimination Act 1325/2014, section 8 | 26 September 2026 |