Typical working hours in Estonia are from 9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m., Monday to Friday, totaling eight hours a day and forty hours per week. Overtime is strictly regulated to prevent overwork. Employees are entitled to at least a thirty-minute break, and any overtime must be mutually agreed upon and compensated at 150% of the regular pay rate, or with equivalent time off.
However, total working hours, including overtime, cannot exceed an average of forty-eight hours per week over a four-month period. These policies contribute to Estonia’s low percentage (two percent) of employees regularly working very long hours, significantly below the OECD average of ten percent.
Rest time is equally regulated. An Estonian employee must receive at least eleven hours of rest between shifts and two days off weekly. Additionally, employees are entitled to a minimum of twenty-eight calendar days of annual leave and days off when public holidays (around eleven yearly) fall on workdays.
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