Employment regulations: CAO, IR and pension

Negotiations on new collective labor agreement for research institutions started Last 5 June 2024, negotiations started on a new collective agreement for research institutions. The current collective labor agreement expires on 1 July 2024. The negotiations started with the exchange and explanation of the so-called Letter of Intent from employee organisations and the Memorandum of Intent from employers. These initial consultations took place in a good atmosphere. Three meetings are scheduled in the month of June where the parties' aim is to reach an agreement on the new collective labor agreement by 1 July 2024. Once that agreement is in place, it must then still be submitted to the members of the workers' organisations and the boards of employers for approval. The final agreement is then expected later in July 2024.

CAO-OI

The Collective Labour Agreement Research Institutions (CAO-OI) contains agreements about employment conditions, including salary and leave days, which must be taken into consideration in the individual employment agreement. The CAO-OI 2022 - 2023 (English version) is available at the bottom of this webpage and on the WVOI website. The Dutch version of the CAO-OI 2023 - 2024 is available on the Dutch webpage. The English version of the CAO-OI 2023 - 2024 will be published as soon as possible. The new salary tables can be consulted on the WVOI-website (in Dutch).

Implementation Regulations

The most important changes to the implementation regulations since 1 January 2023 are as follows.

 IR 1 - Commuting expenses

Allowance for use of own transport

• From 1 March 2023, the 'low' kilometre allowance for travel using own transport increases from € 0.09 to € 0.10 per kilometre, up to a monthly maximum of € 90.00.
• The 'high' kilometre allowance increases from € 0.19 to € 0.21 per kilometre, up to a monthly maximum of € 188.00.
• From 1 January 2024, the 'high' kilometre allowance increases from € 0.21 to € 0.23 per kilometre, up to a monthly maximum of € 206.00.
• Employees with site-specific work are more likely to be eligible for this 'high' kilometre allowance.

Public transport allowance

• NWO continues to reimburse the commuting costs for public transport. In addition, from 1 March 2023, an employee using public transport for work in accordance with the conditions of the NS-Business Card can also make use of parking for own bicycle or car at the station en route from home to the departure point, and a public transport bicycle and/or e-scooter en route from the destination station to the workplace.

IR 2 – Domestic and foreign business trips

• Both the increase in the kilometre allowance from 1 March 2023 from € 0.09 to € 0.10 and the expansion of the allowance for parking and use of public transport bicycle and e-scooter in accordance with the conditions of the NS-Business Card also apply to business trips.
• In support of NWO's sustainability goals, it was also agreed that flights would only be taken when attendance abroad is deemed essential.

IR 6 - Homeworking facilities

The homeworking facilities scheme is included in the IR set. From 1 March 2023, the homeworking allowance increases from € 2.00 to € 3.05 per homeworking day.

IR 8 – Interns and holiday workers

The internship allowance will be equalized and is set at € 400.00 per month for all education levels. The prevailing regulation regarding the WO trainee remains the same: The WO trainee is not entitled to a traineeship fee unless the traineeship fits in with the policy of the organizational unit. In that case the allowance will be a maximum of € 400.00 per month.

IR 13 - Regulation of undesirable behaviour

The regulation of undesirable behaviour is tightened and expanded.

Bereavement protocol

Arising from the CLA arrangements for implementing a bereavement protocol, a guideline has been agreed and included in the IR.

IR 5 and IR 7

Other allowances that have been increased are the emergency response team allowances (IR 5) and the moving costs allowance (IR 7).

The term of the new IR runs from 1 January 2023 to 31 December 2025 inclusive, with a reassessment of the allowance amounts, amongst other things, in 2024.

ABP pension

All NWO-I employees are in principle insured with the General Civil Pension Fund (ABP in Dutch) for both old-age pension, survivor's pension, and disability. Some NWO-I employees who are funded by a European grant are not insured with the ABP if the ABP is excluded by the grantor. To be sure if you are insured by the ABP, please check your contract agreement.

You can find elaborate but clear information on the ABP website. This information is only available in Dutch.

Via MijnABP.nl you can arrange your pension matters online. For example, you can plan your pension or change your preferences. To help participants use MijnABP, a webpage is available with short instructional videos. These videos focus on the following subjects: retirement, survivor's pension, partner's pension, and digital post. The videos are only available in Dutch and can be found on the website of ABP. In the annex, you will also find a leaflet about building up your pension via the ABP.

Your personnel officer or employees from the P&O Department of NWO-I will be happy to inform you or answer your questions (also in English). You may not reproduce the employment conditions without prior written permission of NWO-I.