Employee manual for snow shoveling

Updated 8.1.2024

Congratulations for getting your work permit verified with us! Here are a few things you should know in order to make everything run smoothly for your first work shifts.

What we do

We improve everyone’s safety and convenience on wintertime. We do it by shoveling snow on ground level, in the places where machines cannot reach. Especially we clear the snow from stairs, narrow pathways, and in front of doors and trash bins. We clear these areas of new snow so that the ground is even, and then spread gravel (small stones) if it would be slippery otherwise.

Getting your first work shift

We use a Telegram group to tell our employees when new work shifts are available, and how to get on them. If you don’t have it yet, you can install it already, so that a manager can directly add you to the group.

The manager who adds you to the group is your manager from this point onward – unless you end up working more with some other manager. Your manager means the manager you have worked with the most, or otherwise been in contact with the most. When there’s a new group message that new work shifts are available, inform your manager of your availability (if any) with a private message.

When we get called to work, it’s typically on a short notice. Most often one the previous day. You can expect to see a message like this in the group:

CLIENT ORDER: We go to work tomorrow as early as possible. Please let your manager know your availability (if any).

If you are available to work that day, send your manager a private message, telling two things: the earliest time you can start and the latest time you can work until. You can also tell your availability for the next few days, in case we get client orders for those. For example:

I’m available to work:
– Tomorrow 20.11. 06-20
– Tue 21.11. 06-15, 18-23
– Wed 22.11. 06-20

This way the manager can put you either into a morning team or into an evening team. If possible, that evening team could be one that’s working near Kallio, so you can get to your dentist more easily.

Based on the messages they get, managers will make teams. This will take some time, because managers need to make sure every team has a car and enough people, especially enough experienced people who can show the others how the work goes in general and in each target. Managers also can’t make teams before enough people have messaged them about their availability.

Managers typically make new groups in Telegram for each team for each day. For example, if there’s a team with Amanda, Bob and Carl, and Amanda is the driver, the manager may make a Telegram group called “Snow work 31.1.2024 Amanda’s team”. This way the all the instructions by the manager can be seen by all team members, and the team members can also communicate with each other and the manager.

Weather

Our work depends on the snowfall. We get client orders typically when it snows around 10cm or more. To have some idea when this might happen, you can follow e.g. https://www.foreca.fi/Finland/Helsinki. The dark blue vertical bars are expected snowfall. The light blue ones are rainfall. The number on the right side is the expected amount of snowfall in centimeters that period.

Forecasts change quickly, so we tend to get client orders on a one-day notice. Snowfall predictions can be off by a large amount even for the same day, and any prediction more than a few days ahead of time is unreliable.

Preparing for your first work shift

Arrive to the agreed place on time, preferably well in advance, and find the others in your team. Let the others know in the group when you will be arriving. This is especially important if there is any delay or surprise – otherwise they may leave the target before you arrive. Telegram has a feature to share your Live Location, which can also be very helpful.

Important things to take with you:

  • Suitable clothing
  • Drink (esp. water)
  • Food

Water is important, you should drink some every hour while working or you’ll get tired fast. You can drink and eat in the car when we move between targets, and on breaks.

Clothing

The main goal for clothing is to keep you warm and dry. If you get wet, you’ll get cold faster. It can be good to have extra clothing with you (hat, socks, shirt, inner gloves), so you can put on more clothing if needed, or change if something gets wet. It’s also common to get so warm while working that people take some clothes off, such as one shirt.

Clothing to consider: wool (villa in Finnish), especially merino wool, and sports/technical materials such as polyester that breathes well, letting moisture out but keeping heat in.

Clothing to avoid: cotton (puuvilla in Finnish), and anything else that does not let moisture through. With cotton you get sweaty and thus cold faster.

Layering: Many managers wear 4-6 sports shirts (not football jerseys, more like gym/jogging shirts). Each shirt can be quite thin, as long as all of them together create enough space for warm air to stay near your body, while letting moisture get away from your skin. Same goes for gloves, socks etc. We provide you with outer gloves, but you can bring a layer or two of thinner gloves to wear inside of them. One great option is half-gloves (kynsikkäät in Finnish), which have open fingertips. These are helpful if you want to manage your items or phone in the car between targets, and not have to take all your gloves off for that.

Some items that managers have been happy with:

An additional upside of these polyester shirts is that they’re great for multiple purposes all around the year. Same shirts work for summer and winter; in winter just wear more of them (four or more, depending on the weather, plus one slightly thicker one on top of them). They also dry fast after the wash.

If you are a driver

Take a photo of your car’s mileage (how many kilometers it has been driven) at the start and end of your work shift (at the first and last target). These will be required by the tax office so we can pay a tax free compensation based on kilometers driven between work targets.

Note: this does not mean the trip meter which you can reset, but the total kilometers driven with this car since it was new.

Breaks

Breaks are planned together with the team. The most experienced person is usually the best for coordinating this. Speak with them in advance to decide on the best times for taking breaks to go for toilet etc. Only have toilet breaks in appropriate places. Gas stations are good places for breaks, but the team can choose any place that is close to their driving route.

At the end of a work shift: Day report

Send your manager a day report in a one-line private Telegram message in the following format: Date, start time-end time, hours worked. Example:

31.12. 06-13.30 7.5h

Please use precisely this format but the real information of your working day. The above example would be correct for the last day of December (31.12.), starting time of 06 (6am), ending time of 13.30, for a total of 7.5 hours worked.

Send this one-line day report as soon as possible. Ideally on your way home from the work, but latest during the same day.

If you are a driver

For drivers, the day report format is the same, but has two extra pieces of information: the car’s mileage at the first and last target, and the number of kilometers driven. This will be used to calculate the tax-free kilometer compensation. The format to use is this:

31.12. 06-13.30 7.5h 123000-123050 50km

When sending your day report to your manager, remember to also send the photos of the car’s mileage at first and last target.

If you were working for a specific client

This is rare, but if you were told that you will be working for a specific client, add their name to the end of the day report. Here’s an example in case you were a driver for Client X:

31.12. 06-13.30 7.5h 123000-123050 50km Client X

Salary payments

Salary payments are sent within two weeks of each working day.

It typically takes 0-2 business days for the money to arrive to the recipient’s account (“the bank delay”). Business days are Monday to Friday, except holidays.

To get the salary on time, the employee needs to send their day report immediately after each working day.

For the first payment we’ll also need the bank account number, tax card, and contact details (address, email). At the start of a new year, we’ll need a new tax card for that year from the first of February onward. Until the end of January, the past year’s tax card can still be used.

Work contract

Every work day is agreed separately. Because the weather is unpredictable, the amount of work cannot be guaranteed (“a zero-hour contract”).

In Finland (and many other places), every agreement is binding, whether it’s verbal or in text, like in a chat app. For those who want an electronic or paper work contract, they can request it from the company’s toimisto email address. Electronic/paper contracts are generally written for people our managers have met in person to make sure we write contracts only for people who are seriously coming to work. Some people only try to get a job contract paper for other purposes, but are not seriously intending to come to work. Discuss with your manager if you want to meet in person before your first working day.

 
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