Types of employment in Sweden

Swedish employment law starts from one rule: a job is permanent (tillsvidareanställning, often called "fast anställning") unless something else has been agreed on a legal basis. A permanent job has no end date. It ends when you resign, when the employer gives notice on lawful grounds, or when you retire.

A fixed-term contract (tidsbegränsad anställning) ends on a set date or when a task is done. The Employment Protection Act (LAS) only allows a few kinds, listed below.

Whatever the form, your employer has to give you the key terms of the job in writing no later than the seventh calendar day after you start. Check that the form of employment is stated clearly.

Many permanent jobs begin with a probationary period (provanställning) of up to six months. It lets both sides test the fit.

• If either you or the employer wants to stop, notice has to be given before the period ends.
• If nobody does, the job automatically continues as permanent employment.
• Unless your contract or collective agreement says otherwise, either side may also end the probation before the six months are up.

Probation is a paid job. Some employers ask applicants, often young ones, to "try out" a role for days or weeks without pay and call it probation. It is not. Any work you do should be paid.

These three are the only fixed-term forms the Employment Protection Act lists. SÄVA replaced the older "general fixed-term employment" (allmän visstidsanställning) in October 2022, so you may still see the old term in older contracts and job ads.

There is a second route to conversion for SÄVA. If you move between back-to-back fixed-term jobs with the same employer (SÄVA, substitute or seasonal), each starting within six months of the previous one ending, your SÄVA time across that chain also converts once it passes 12 months, even if the chain is longer than five years.

If you are hired on SÄVA, the employer has to tell you in writing that it is SÄVA when the contract is made, however short the job.

In many sectors, a substitute post is the usual stepping stone into a permanent job. Keep your own record of dates: the conversion rules count total time, not one contract.

Universities use fixed-term posts that rest on the Higher Education Ordinance or on central agreements, not on the LAS forms above.

• Doctoral student employment (doktorandanställning). Only people admitted to doctoral studies can hold one. The first contract runs for at most one year and each renewal for at most two, and the post cannot continue more than a year after you have earned the doctorate.
• How long it can last. As a rule, the employment may add up to at most eight years in calendar time and to no more than four years of full-time doctoral study (two years if you are aiming for a licentiate). Any time you studied without the employment is deducted from these limits.
• When the limits can be exceeded. Chapter 5, section 7 of the Higher Education Ordinance lets the university extend the total time for special reasons. The ordinance names sick leave, parental leave, service in Sweden's total defence, and elected positions in trade unions or student organisations. Ask your department to add the extra time if any of these applies to you.
• Postdoc. In the state sector a central agreement allows fixed-term postdoc employment. Under it, a postdoc post runs for at least two and at most three years. It can be extended if that is needed to reach the purpose of the post, or for special reasons such as sick leave, parental leave, military service or clinical duties, as Arbetsgivarverket sets out (in Swedish). A one-year postdoc contract under this form does not meet the agreement.
• Associate senior lecturer (biträdande lektor). A fixed term the university sets at four to six years before hiring. It can be extended by up to two years in total if sick leave, parental leave or other special reasons hold you back. When you apply and meet the requirements and the university's criteria, you are promoted to a permanent senior lecturer (lektor) post.

Because these posts are fixed-term by design, plan your next step early. You can browse open positions from employers and universities across Sweden on Hejobb.

• Staffing agencies. You are employed by the agency, which pays your monthly salary, but you do the work at a client company, often with the title of consultant. If you have been placed at the same unit of one client for more than 24 months within a 36-month period, the client must offer you a permanent job or pay you compensation equal to two months' salary. Only time from October 2022 counts, and collective agreements can replace this rule.
• Staffing at a state agency. For state employers a collective agreement replaces the statutory rule. Before the 24 months are reached, the agency must ask whether you want a permanent post. If you say yes, it opens a recruitment in which you count as an applicant, and you get the job only if you are the best qualified on merit. There is no two-month payment option. Arbetsgivarverket explains the state rule.
• Project employment. Hired for a defined project, ending when it does. The Employment Protection Act has no separate project form, so check which legal form your contract actually names.
• Commission-based pay. Earnings follow results, sometimes on top of a base salary.
• Apprenticeship (lärlingsanställning). A job in which you keep training in your trade, but at a workplace rather than in school, on an apprentice wage.
• Umbrella companies (egenanställning). You find the client; the umbrella company invoices, acts as your employer, pays employer contributions, withholds tax and pays you a salary.
• Freelancing. You run your own business and sell services, so you are not an employee at all.

Under the Working Hours Act, ordinary working time is at most 40 hours a week, which counts as 100 percent. Part-time pay is the same percentage of the full-time salary. You will also see jobs described as hourly (timanställning), meaning you are paid for the hours you actually work. That describes how pay is calculated, not a type of employment: as Arbetsgivarverket points out (in Swedish), the job is still either permanent or fixed-term under the Employment Protection Act, usually fixed-term. Ask which form your contract uses, because that decides your notice and when the job turns permanent.

General overtime is capped at 48 hours over four weeks or 50 hours in a calendar month, and 200 hours a year. Collective agreements can set different rules, so check yours.

At most workplaces pay is reviewed once a year, which is your chance to negotiate. The salary guide covers how that works and which benefits to look for.