Three answers about January salary
The Dutch economy is doing well. Still, the first salary of 2018 is disappointing. There is hardly anything added for teaching staff either. Some will even earn a few euros less than in 2017.
The year had barely started when ADP, one of the largest salary processors in the Netherlands, announced that only a very small amount will be added in 2018. Someone with an average income would earn about 7 euros net per month more. For teaching staff, this small increase is offset by pension costs.
Why don't I earn more net than last year?
As always with salary, it's a complicated story. Wages in education have increased in 2017. Only the pension premium did not immediately increase. Last year this worked out well. Your salary went up, but the pension premium not yet. From 2018 you will pay a premium on that higher amount. In addition, the pension premium will increase slightly. From 21,1 percent in 2017 to 22,9 percent in 2018. Your employer pays 70 percent of that amount and you 30 percent.
New agreements will come into effect in 2022, where the AOb argued for. If wages increase from that year onwards, the pension contributions will immediately increase. Then you no longer get that you will 'suddenly' pay more at a later time.
Why is that strip so complicated?
This is mainly due to agreements about pensions (the AOb in the Pension Chamber with all government unions and employers), agreements in collective labor agreements and extras such as holiday pay. It is also complex because agreements are translated into terms and abbreviations that differ per salary processor. For example, the monthly amount that teaching staff receives, with the exception of higher professional education, as compensation for medical expenses is described in five ways, usually as income allowance, income allowance or 'wg contribution to medical costs'.
What also does not help is that employers are not eager to increase the gross salary for everyone. Certainly not in lean years. Instead, collective bargaining offers benefits for certain groups of people. Think of the monthly allowance because you are at the end of your scale (on your slip it is called extension allowance or extension scale). This group of employees also has an additional annual amount, provided you work in primary education, secondary education or secondary vocational education. This is called the binding allowance and you will receive it in August.
The salary processor calculates how these types of amounts work out for you personally and what taxes you pay on them. In education, Raet, ADP or Afas usually do that. They start from foundations. The basis (the wage) on which, for example, you pay contributions for collective social insurance (the social security wage) is a different amount than the basis on which your pension contribution is calculated.
What can I do myself?
It differs per salary processor to what extent you are confronted with the underlying, complicated calculations. Raet, for example, still works with an A4 that resembles an eighties stencil with no less than six blocks full of abbreviations, bases and cumulatives. Fred Asbroek van Raet says he wants to simplify the strip, but that is difficult because they then have to tinker with the basis of their software, which dates from the last century.
Afas has made a move. They have the option for a graphic, use far fewer terms and write them out in full. AObexperts do warn that on a summary strip, for example, it is less clear what you are entitled to when you become (partially) incapacitated for work. They advise you to check your payslip regularly anyway. Ron van der Hoek: "It is still human work to enter all those data."
Curious about the agreements in your collective labor agreement? Look here.
You can analyze your own payslip via this graphic.
Are you a member of the AOb and if you have any questions about your payslip, please contact the information and advice center.
