As a private employee, you can be encompassed by a collective agreement, where the salary - or part of it - is determined in advance. However, most members employed in the private sector will not be encompassed by a collective agreement. Here, the salary is up for negotiation.
As an employee in the private sector, you negotiate the salary yourself. Negotiations are generally negotiated upon employment and afterwards once a year. It will often be stated in the contract itself or in a personnel handbook when the yearly negotiations take place in your company.
Read more about your terms as an employee in the private sector
If you are employed at a pharmacy the basic salary is pre-determined in the collective agreement.
The basic salary is divided into 3 salary steps:
- Salary step 1 from 0-2 years of work experience
- Salary step 2 from 2-4 years of work experience
- Salary step 3 for more than 4 years of work experience.
In addition, the agreement stipulates a general supplement that is given after 6 years of pharmacy employment.
The salary is typically negotiated upon employment and once a year, and you, as a pharmacy pharmacist, negotiate your own salary. In salary negotiations, function and qualification supplements will typically be negotiated depending on your experience.
Read more about your terms as a pharmacy employee
When it comes to negotiating your salary, your preparation is crucial to the outcome. During the course of your employment, make sure to make your manager aware of your efforts, and prepare thoroughly before the negotiation.
Pharmadanmark recommends that you prepare 2-3 good arguments for a wage increase. It could, for example be your results during the year. If you are not so experienced in negotiating salary, it may be a good idea if you practice saying your arguments out loud, so that it becomes more natural for you to ‘sell yourself’ and your results in the actual situation of salary negotiation
From experience, passivity is a bad strategy, as the money is largely distributed to those who wish for a negotiation.
We recommend that you use Pharmadanmark's salary statistics and salary calculator (currently only available in Danish) to clarify which salary increase you would like to aim for.
You are always welcome to contact Pharmadanmark's Legal Department for good advice.
If you are a public employee, your salary is composed of fixed contractual salary components: Salary levels and centrally determined supplements.
In addition to this it is possible to negotiate qualifying supplement, function supplement and one-time negotiable supplement.
As a recent graduate, you will be placed on salary level 4, which is of 2 years duration.
This is followed by salary levels 5, 6 and 8, all of which are all of 1 year duration.
Part of your salary is thus determined by your seniority. When you need to find out how much seniority you have, you add together how many years and months you have had a job after you became a graduate. The part of your PhD education that has been approved also counts when you calculate your seniority.
Work done during your bachelor's and master's period does not count.
In addition, the collective agreements for the state and the regions include a number of centrally stipulated supplements, which you are entitled to if you are employed as cand. pharm. or employed by the state as a scientific assistant and other titles.
Although the general system is the same both in the state and the region, there are different economic levels for both pay levels and supplements.
As a public employee, you are entitled to a salary negotiation upon employment and once a year thereafter.
Your salary is negotiated through your union representative or Pharmadanmark according to the agreements. In the public sector, it varies greatly when the annual wage negotiations take place.
If you are in doubt about when the negotiation takes place, we recommend that you ask your colleagues, your immediate manager or HR.
Read more about your terms as a public employee
Bonus can be a great addition to your salary.
But bonus also gives a greater uncertainty because you do not know your total salary. Many bonus schemes are composed of both individual goals and overall results and goals for the company.
Pharmadanmark recommends that you familiarize yourself thoroughly with the criteria according to which bonuses are paid out on an individual level. The bonus scheme should motivate you as an employee and this only happens if you know the goals.
When you end your employment relationship within a bonus year, you are entitled to a proportionate share of your bonus.
Bonus is calculated based on how long of the bonus period you have been employed. If you e.g. have been employed for 4 months of a bonus year, you will be entitled to 4/12 of the usual bonus. You will still be entitled to a bonus, even if you have been released for a period (garden leave) before resignation.
Bonuses are typically paid out after the calculation of the financial year. If this time is after your resignation, you may find that it takes a while before your bonus is paid out. You are entitled to receive a bonus at the same time as the company's other employees covered by the bonus scheme.
Contact Pharmadanmark's legal department if you have any questions about the bonus.