Vantaa officials have decided to offer a relocation bonus of 1,500 euros to attract early childhood education educators to work in the municipality. The lump sum will be paid to nursery school teachers, special daycare teachers and directors who move there to work.
However there is one catch – the perk will only be paid after the new recruit completes six months in the position.
Officials hope to introduce the new benefit from August in a trial that will last one year.
“The pilot aims to ease the extended shortage of daycare teachers. We want to help workers coming from outside of the capital area to permanently settle and to work in Vantaa,” early childhood education director Sole Askola-Vahviläinen said in a statement.
However the gratuity will not be paid to professionals moving to Vantaa from Helsinki, Espoo, Kauniainen, Nurmijärvi, Tuusula, Kerava, Järvenpää, Sipoo or Kirkkonummi. Persons relocating within Vantaa itself will also be ineligible for the bonus.
Pay rise under new collective agreement
In addition to the relocation grant, Vantaa plans to increase salaries for kindergarten teachers and social workers in accordance with the collective bargaining agreement governing the local municipal public service. The municipality said that it would also pay more than stipulated in the collective bargaining agreement.
Starting next year, the new general task-specific salary for a daycare teacher will be 2,557 euros after the pay rise. The increase represents up to 145 euros per month and as much as 1,900 euros annually.
Some social workers will receive pay increases of between 70 and 150 euros.
Earlier this year, the teachers' union OAJ condemned reports of a gentleman's agreement involving Helsinki, Espoo and Vantaa not to offer competitive salaries to attract competent daycare teachers to fill open positions. At the time, the municipalities faced a combined 600 vacancies that had not been filled.