Fixed salary and independent work organisation
When you are on a fixed salary, the former provisions on additional work, hardship allowance, etc. are abolished. Instead, you are granted independent work organisation. If you are employed under an enterprise-level agreement, different rules may apply. You can read more about this and find answers to your questions here.
If, on the whole, you have a substantial degree of independent work organisation – for which no mathematical formula exists – the answer is: yes, the pay for machine and system-dependent additional work is included in the salary. This also means, however, that the machine and system-dependent additional work you have performed in the past 24 months must be included in the calculation of your transitional allowance. If the extent of your machine and system-dependent additional work is such that you cannot be considered to be subject to independent work organisation, fixed salary is not an option and you will continue on your current terms.
Yes, on-call duty, call-in and consultations are paid as they have been until now.
In principle, when you are employed on a fixed salary basis, you do your own work scheduling. This is essentially incompatible with being ordered to do additional work. But that does not mean you cannot be ordered to complete a task that may require you to spend additional hours for a period of time, for example to meet a deadline. The decisive factor is that you have a say in how and when you complete your tasks. You are expected to organise your overall assignments in a manner in which they may be carried out within the annual norm of your job of either 1,924 or 1,872 hours.
Yes, hardship allowance is included in your pay when you are employed on a fixed salary basis. The reason for this is that you are entitled to independent work organisation, which means you are generally planning your working hours in a manner which does not cause an inconvenience to you.
Yes, as an employee on a fixed monthly salary and subject to independent work organisation, you are in charge of planning your tasks, but the nature of the tasks and any deadlines may require you to work at odd hours.
If you are doing your job, you are in charge of organising the rest. But it is important to emphasise that you are not entitled to take time off hour by hour. Therefore, the term ‘time off in lieu’ is no longer relevant.
Yes, if the tasks allow it, and it is otherwise compatible with the activities of the business. Obviously, you need to discuss this with your immediate manager.
Yes, if the part-time monthly pay converted to full-time monthly pay exceeds the fixed salary cap, and you are entitled to independent work organisation.
The decisive factor is that you may participate in deciding how and when to carry out the work considering the tasks in question. Employees subject to independent work organisation may, inherently, have to meet deadlines and perform tasks which provide less flexibility during certain periods. It is a key element that the employee is deeply involved in the organisation of his/her own work.
In extraordinary circumstances, if the workload exceeds expectations, a local remuneration agreement must be entered into.
According to the collective agreement, employees with monthly pay below DKK 56,050 (as of 1 July 2024) are, in principle, not employed on a fixed salary basis, but it may be agreed locally to lower the threshold to DKK 47,600 (as of 1 July 2024).
Employees who are not subject to independent work organisation cannot be employed on a fixed salary basis. Such employees are hired under the general rules on working hours.
The annual norm remains 1,924/1,872 hours, and as most employees have taken time off in lieu instead of being paid for the additional work, they will not be entitled to a large transitional allowance.
In future, you are expected to keep your working hours within the annual norm. You and your manager should evaluate this on an ongoing basis. If it becomes clear that it is difficult to complete all previous tasks within the annual norm, the portfolio of tasks needs to be reduced.
Obviously, you also cannot expect to receive a substantial fixed allowance on top of your monthly pay without having to accept a certain amount of additional work, and you may be expected to carry out the same amount of work as previously. No formula exists for independent work organisation. It is a flexible system that enables a reasonable amount of work to be completed without the risk of either the employer or employee abusing the flexibility.
As the annual norm remains 1,924 or 1,872 hours, this should be addressed as part of an ongoing evaluation of whether the workload needs to be adjusted.
The rules on fixed salary and independent work organisation contain no minimum or maximum number of meetings to be held between managers and employees. It depends on the job tasks.
You may involve your union representative, and, ultimately, such matter is dealt with through industrial disputes procedures between Finansforbundet and FA.
According to the collective agreement, you and your manager must continuously monitor whether the right balance has been struck between your workload and your tasks. Research from Finansforbundet shows that self-management improves well-being and prevents stress. This is, to a considerable extent, due to a better work-life balance as a result of the individual employee organising his/her own work.
However, it is true that, in some periods, your work week will exceed 37 hours, but these will be equalised by other weeks in which it should be possible to work less than 37 hours. If your workload in, for example, two quarters does not allow for this, you must be relieved from certain tasks, and if it is difficult to achieve this, your union representative and your trade union will support you.