An offender sentenced to community service carries out non-profit work on his leisure time. The enforcement of each community service sentence is based on a service plan confirmed by the Probation Service. The service plan includes the details about the service place, the schedule of the service, and the service conditions applying to the offender. The Probation Service supervises community service.

A maximum of ten hours of the community service can be carried out by participating in programmes decreasing substance abuse problems or other risks of recidivism. Substance programmes are usually arranged in co-operation with local substance abuse service providers. A traffic safety programme organised in co-operation with the Central Organisation for Traffic Safety in Finland is aimed for offenders found repeatedly guilty of aggravated drunken driving.

The service is scheduled to last the term of the original prison sentence. The service place is determined by the Probation Service, which makes the contract with the place. The aim is to find tasks suitable for the offender.

The service places may be arranged by the public sector (state, municipality, joint municipal authority, parish), a public corporation or other non-profit corporation.. The sentence cannot be carried out in a commercial enterprise or at the service of a private person. The service place receives no compensation but only the work contribution of the offender serving the sentence.

Community service tasks are usually assistant work and they vary according to the branch of the service place. Most common tasks are real estate maintenance or kitchen work in municipal institutions (support or nursing homes, hospitals, health care centres). Recreational and sports activities of municipalities also provide many service places. In parishes, the service tasks are for example connected with graveyard maintenance.

A person sentenced to community service works according to a schedule from three to four hours at a time. The service is usually carried out twice a week. The offender is compensated for necessary travelling expenses caused by carrying out the service. Each service place has a designated contact person who takes care of the communication between the Probation Service and the service place. A probation officer calls by phone or visits the service place regularly. The offender is able to live at home and continue his studies or work during the sentence term. An unemployed community service client can be a job seeker and retain the right to unemployment benefit.