Newsletter April 7 2020
Dear member,
Greetings from a remote office! We are full of energy and luckily also healthy. We hope that you are, too!
YTK is currently operating as per normal, and we have done everything we can in this situation to prepare for what is coming. The first applications for daily allowance due to the coronavirus crisis arrived at the weekend, and we are expecting a high volume of applications during the next few weeks. The good news is that we have already processed some of the applications in the first lot!
For over a month, we have been preparing for what is coming e.g. by recruiting new employees and streamlining the applications processing to make it flow as smoothly as possible. We don’t know yet how many applications for daily allowance there will actually be, but the challenge is that the person-centred processing will cause delays even in an efficient fund. The delays may be a few months. We will nevertheless do everything we can to keep them as short as possible.
The impacts of the coronavirus have caused a lot of worry among our members, but we have also received a lot of encouragement for sorting out the upcoming workload. Thank you for all the messages and encouragement to everybody!
Let’s hope that we will all stay healthy! Return to normal will hopefully be soon at hand.
Keep working even while you are laid off
Much of Finland is closed in order to beat the coronavirus epidemic. That has caused major problems at many workplaces and as a result many people have been laid off or have lost their job completely.
During lay-off and unemployment, your livelihood is secured by unemployment benefit. However, you shouldn’t let the unemployment benefit bring you down or prevent you from using your own expertise. Unemployment benefit can be easily fitted together with short-term or part-time employment. Different forms of entrepreneurship are also within your reach.
What has the General unemployment fund YTK done to deal with the influx of applications?
The corona epidemic is leading to massive lay-offs. In one month, YTK is expecting the work load it would normally handle over two years. What have we done to ensure that our members will receive their benefits when they are laid off?
Last autumn, we had no idea that in four months, there would be an epidemic that will result in 20 times more applications in the Finnish unemployment benefit system. With the YTK figures, that means receiving around 100,000 applications in a short time.
Statistics on the number of applications, calls and messages
We will update the current data on the numbers of new applications, telephone calls and messages every weekday. You can check the status of your own application in OmaYTK.
Amendments to the Unemployment Security Act presented to Parliament
On 2 April 2020, amendments to the Unemployment Security Act were presented to Parliament, along with a solution for the organisation of unemployment security for entrepreneurs.
Temporary amendments to the Employment Contracts Act
On 1 April 2020, temporary amendments to the Employment Contracts Act entered into force. The aim of the changes is to create conditions that allow employers to adapt their activities more quickly during the corona epidemic.
Customer service
Our customer service is now busy. Please note that it is quite likely that there is already an answer to your question on our website, so we recommend you start there. Our chatbot (Iiris) can also help with a lot of questions. As a third option, we recommend you make contact via OmaYTK, and if you still need assistance after that, give us a call. Thank you for your co-operation!
We have sent this newsletter to all of our members, also those who have unsubscribed to the newsletter. During the exceptional circumstances we are now sending newsletters once a week to those who are on our mailing list. Make sure that you are in!
