Salary and salary-setting dialogues
An open and continuous dialogue with your manager is essential if the individual salary setting process is to work satisfactorily. Every employee must know the criteria on which their salary is set and what they can do to influence their salary development. Your salary must be set on a relevant and factual basis and the employer must be able to justify it.
What are salary-setting dialogues?
The conditions for local pay negotiations are set out in the RALS 2010-T central collective agreement between the Swedish Agency for Government Employers and Saco-S on salaries and other working conditions for employees within the state sector. Under the central salary agreement, salary-setting dialogues are the primary method for agreeing local salaries.
Salary-setting dialogues
Salary-setting dialogues are where you agree with your manager on your new salary as part of the salary review process. The salary-setting dialogue must be linked to your annual professional development dialogue and the continuous communication that takes place between you and your manager regarding your work, professional development, results and performance.
The salary-setting dialogue has two parts:
1. A discussion about your responsibilities, your tasks, your performance and your results in relation to previously set goals.
2. Your manager's proposal for a new salary and a discussion about this.
If you are in agreement, you make a decision on your new salary. If you cannot agree on your new salary, the matter will be decided in a negotiation between the employer and your local Saco-S association.
You can read more about salary-setting dialogues here (in Swedish).
For more information about salary-setting dialogues at your workplace, contact your local Saco-S board.
Saco-S, of which SULF is a part, has produced a short film (in Swedish) that focuses on the importance of preparing for your salary-setting dialogue.
Salary dialogues and collective bargaining
If the local parties, i.e. the employer and the local Saco-S board, agree, salary setting can continue to take place through salary dialogues followed by collective bargaining.
This means that the employer and the local Saco-S association agree on principles for the salary review process. In some cases, they also agree on how much money should be allocated to salary increases in total for the department or unit. Salary negotiations are conducted with each employee by their immediate manager. Your work, professional development, results and performance are discussed during the salary dialogue. What is discussed in the dialogue is not binding. When the dialogue is over, the employer compiles its proposals and negotiates these with the local trade union representatives.
If you use this model at your higher education institution, SULF recommends that you submit your salary request both to your head of department (or equivalent) and to your local union representative so that this can be taken into account in the negotiations.
Help and support
No matter which model is used at your workplace, your local Saco-S association can provide you with help and support before, during and after your salary-setting/salary dialogue. Contact your local Saco-S association/committee for more information.