The application rhythm for earnings-related allowance specified in legislation affects the arrival times of applications. Like previous summers, most of the applications arrived two weeks after the end of the spring term, that is on week 25, right before Midsummer (1,895) and during the first week in July (2,175). In all, we processed a total of 28,686 earnings-related allowance applications in June, July and August and paid full or adjusted earnings-related allowance to 9,900 members. In most cases, the reason for applying for earnings-related allowance was the termination of temporary employment.

The processing time guarantee obliges us to start the processing of an application within 30 days after receiving it at the unemployment fund. However, we want to offer a better service than required by the processing guarantee and succeeded in this throughout the summer. The longest time taken for processing was around 2.5 weeks. 

Receiving earnings-related allowance within a reasonable time is an important service for members. We therefore plan our summer service in such a way that we can focus our efforts on processing applications in particular. We invest in advance guidance: application instructions are available on our website and we inform customers about applying for the allowance in our bulletins. In addition, we restricted our telephone service this summer. The number of messages received through our Openetti service increased. You can send us questions and additional information using the Messages function, in a secure manner and regardless of the time of day. 

The operation of the unemployment fund is secured during the summer by adapting the services offered and hiring temporary employees to handle processing. We had 12 temporary employees this summer, half of whom were spending at least their second summer with the Teachers’ Unemployment Fund. Our workstations were in use throughout the summer. 

As the autumn began, most members unemployed over the summer were re-employed, although not all of them were employed full-time. If you work part-time or for short periods, you can apply for adjusted earnings-related allowance to support your income. More information on adjusted allowance is available at http://www.opetk.fi/en/working_part-time. In addition, we still pay full earnings-related allowance to some of our members. 

Autumn is the time for assessing and planning operations. A major project already in progress relates to the development of guidance. We have therefore implemented a survey of our members about our website and whether the Teachers’ Unemployment Fund should be on the social media; we are already on Facebook. We will report the results on our website this autumn. If you think the social media suits us, the plan is to implement our own advent calendar in Facebook. 

From all of us to all of you, have a happy autumn.

Marjaana Maisonlahti
Fund Manager
facebook.com/opettajientk