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.
What stands out most are Estonia's generous parental leave policies. To combat the low birth rate, the government has implemented highly attractive policies encouraging starting a family. Mothers receive one hundred calendar days of maternity leave, typically starting thirty to seventy days before childbirth, with benefits paid at about one hundred percent of the mother’s average salary. Fathers have thirty days of fully paid paternity leave, usable on a flexible basis from thirty days before birth until the child turns three.
Furthermore, after maternity leave, either parent can use parental leave, offering around eighteen months of paid benefits that can be shared or divided between parents. This leave can be taken in parts until the child reaches three years of age, and parents can even take up to sixty days simultaneously. Additionally, their employment positions are legally protected throughout the parental leave period.
In theory, anyone—for example, a junior employee—can access anyone else; for example a CXO, if desired, making it relatively easy to express opinions and participate in collective decision-making.
Now that we’ve covered Estonian employees’ rest and family-friendly conditions, let’s examine workplace culture. Workplace hierarchy varies between traditional and modern institutions. In more traditional workplaces, such as banks, hierarchy and formality remain prominent, for example, addressing managers by their titles and surnames. Conversely, in modern workplaces like tech companies, the organizational structure is typically flatter. In theory, anyone—for example, a junior employee—can access anyone else; for example a CXO, if desired, making it relatively easy to express opinions and participate in collective decision-making.
Modern institutions emphasize mutual trust, individual responsibility, and accountability, reducing the need for micromanagement. Unlike traditional organizations, where higher-ups bear decision-making responsibility, modern settings encourage employees at all levels to make decisions independently without constant consultation with senior staff.
However, flat hierarchies can pose some problems. In some companies, new employees may feel pressured to appear completely self-reliant and knowledgeable, avoiding asking for help to maintain an image of hyper-independence.
There are benefits to having some hierarchy. Logically, experienced and long-term employees should guide new hires or less experienced colleagues. Issues arise when hierarchy results in a parent-child dynamic. The purpose of hierarchy should be to clarify who possesses more experience or knowledge and ensure easy access for guidance and assistance. Beyond that, we’re all adults and should be treated as such.
The best outcome of trust-based management is the widespread adoption of remote work and flexible working hours, improving productivity and employee wellbeing. However, it is said that remote work has reduced social connections among colleagues, prompting companies to adopt hybrid working models or ensure regular in-person interactions.
I would argue here that most Estonians don’t mind low levels of personal interactions with their colleagues. A lot of us like to keep our work colleagues as work colleagues and have friends outside of work. So, it might be more of an excuse from employers than reality.
It’s unnatural for us to complain, and hard work is deeply ingrained in our culture. Employees often unofficially work overtime, handling tasks at home after office hours or in remote settings, blurring the lines even further.
And how good are Estonians at balancing their work and personal lives? Many Estonians manage to successfully separate the two, working hard during official hours and fully relaxing afterwards.
But Estonians also tend to be quiet sufferers. It’s unnatural for us to complain, and hard work is deeply ingrained in our culture. Employees often unofficially work overtime, handling tasks at home after office hours or in remote settings, blurring the lines even further.
Estonians also value efficiency and rapid progress, resulting in a fast-paced work environment. As a prideful nation, we try hard to keep up, which can lead to stress or even burnout.
Ultimately, there's only so much the government can do to ensure workers’ well-being if organizations still implicitly encourage overwork and employees themselves fail to establish clear boundaries. But overall, job satisfaction is high in Estonia.
If you’d like to learn how to get work in Estonia, I invite you to watch my video titled “Como conseguir um emprego na Estônia?” (“How to get work in Estonia?”) on my YouTube channel. You can turn on YouTube’s translated captions in English to follow along.
