Manager’s activities during the salary review

As part of the salary review, you are expected to invite each of your employees to a structured dialogue about their performance and results over the past year. 

Based on this, you should make a comprehensive assessment and propose a new salary. The proposal should be based on the university’s salary policy and the agreements made during development discussions. Coordinate with your unit’s HR function regarding salary levels and any special initiatives.

Salary survey

Each year, the university conducts a salary survey. The aim is to identify, address, and prevent unjustified pay differences that disadvantage women. Your unit’s HR function will contact you if your involvement in the survey is required.

Faculty dialogues with employee organisations

Each faculty participates annually in a faculty dialogue involving representatives from university management, faculty leadership, the HR Division, and the unit’s HR function. These dialogues take place early in the salary review process, and if you are a dean or equivalent, you may be involved. Contact your unit’s HR function for more information.

Salary setting in the salary review is based on the performance and results demonstrated by the employee during the operational year. It is therefore important that the employee knows from the outset what is expected in terms of performance and achievements, and what they can do to influence their salary.

To enable you as a manager to make an overall assessment and propose a new salary, it is important that you maintain a continuous dialogue with your employees and follow up on what was agreed during the staff appraisal.

You are to assess your employees’ skills and performance and must be able to provide well-reasoned explanations for your evaluations. It is therefore important to make well-founded and objective assessments of employees’ work contributions and ability to deliver results.

Every evaluation contains a subjective element, but the more systematically you base your assessment on the shared salary-related factors, the easier it will be for the employee to understand your reasoning.

Follow up on what was agreed during the staff appraisal and gather concrete evidence of the employee’s contributions. Review documentation from the staff appraisal. Have you been clear about what the employee needed to do to improve their salary?

Consider:

• What were the goals for the previous period?
• What agreements were made? Have the goals and agreements been achieved? If not – why?
• What has worked well? What has worked less well?
• How do the university’s overall goals affect the employee?
• What individual goals must be met for the upcoming planning period?

It’s helpful to provide the employee with a list of relevant questions ahead of the meeting.

What you and your employee should have access to during the dialogue

• The university’s pay policy programme
• Salary-related factors
• The documentation completed jointly during the development discussion, outlining the employee’s individual goals. If there are any uncertainties, it’s good to clarify these before the meeting.

Prepare information on salary, salary range and job requirements for the position. Statistical information can be found in Kuben, the university’s tool for follow-up and analysis. Use your LU ID to log in to Kuben. Your unit’s HR function can assist with additional statistics and comparisons, both internally and externally.

The purpose of the follow-up dialogue ahead of the salary review is to discuss the employee’s work performance and other relevant salary-related factors in a dialogue format. The dialogue is not a salary negotiation regarding a new salary. 

As a manager, your goal should be for the employee to perceive the meeting as objective and constructive, even if they are not entirely satisfied with the evaluation.

The whole salary matters – not just the increase

In the dialogue, the focus should be on the entire salary, not just the increase. The salary should be based on the salary policy programme, salary-related factors, and salary statistics. If the employee is performing well and already has a good salary, a large increase is not necessarily warranted. No employee is guaranteed a specific increase. As a manager, you assess job content and performance.

Daily work is where the employee has the greatest opportunity to influence their salary

It is through daily work that the employee has the greatest opportunity to influence their salary, based on performance. During the follow-up meeting ahead of the salary review, the employee has the chance to demonstrate their achievements and how they have carried out their duties.

Your unit’s HR function will inform you when it is time to enter proposed new salaries for each of your employees (regardless of employee organisation membership). Your salary proposals must be made within the financial framework communicated by university management for the current salary review. Coordinate with your unit’s HR function regarding this.

Your unit’s HR function may contact you if they need to clarify anything during the checks carried out in the salary review module before the new salaries are paid. 

These checks are conducted:

• After salary-setting appraisals with Saco-S members and non-unionised employees.
• Following collective negotiations with OFR/S and Seko for employees who are members of these organisations.

During the salary-setting appraisal, you as manager determine, communicate, and justify the employee’s new salary.

Participation in the salary-setting appraisal is mandatory. If an employee fails to attend a scheduled meeting, this must be documented via email to the employee and reported to the nearest HR function for further handling.

Determining and justifying the new salary

In the salary setting appraisal, you engage in dialogue with the employee about their performance, results, and salary. You must justify the new salary in relation to job content, work performance, and the goals of the organisation.

Depending on how the dialogue is conducted, the salary-setting process may involve one or several meetings. For example, you may choose to separate the discussion into one meeting about job content, performance, and results, and another where you present and justify the new salary.

The staff appraisal as a prerequisite

The staff appraisal sets the goals the employee is expected to achieve during the year, which are then evaluated in the salary-setting appraisal. It is therefore important that the outcomes of the staff appraisal are documented. This documentation helps you justify the new salary by linking performance and results to agreed goals, and reduces the risk of misunderstandings.

Assessing competence and performance – and justifying your evaluation

As a manager, you must assess the employee’s competence and performance and provide a clear rationale for your evaluation. It is important to make well-founded and objective assessments of the employee’s contributions and ability to deliver results.

Systematic assessment based on salary-related factors

While every evaluation contains subjective elements, the more systematically you base your assessment on shared salary-related factors, the more likely it is that the employee will understand your reasoning.

Follow up on previous agreements

This applies to development appraisals and other ongoing dialogues. Gather concrete evidence of the employee’s contributions and documentation from previous meetings. Have you been clear about what the employee needed to do to improve their salary? Review the staff appraisal documentation.

Consider:

• What were the goals for the previous period?
• What agreements were made? Have the goals and agreements been achieved? If not – why?
• What has worked well? What has worked less well?
• How do the university’s overall goals affect the employee?
• What individual goals must be met for the upcoming planning period?

It’s helpful to provide the employee with a list of relevant questions ahead of the meeting.

Pay policy programme, salary-related factors, and development documentation

Ensure that both you and the employee have access to the pay policy programme, salary-related factors, and the documentation from the staff appraisal outlining the employee’s individual goals. If there are any uncertainties, it’s best to clarify them before the meeting.

• Pay policy
• Salary-related factors

Salary details, salary range, and job requirements

Prepare information on salary, salary range, and job requirements. Statistical data is available in Kuben, and your HR function can assist with additional internal and external statistics and comparisons.

Salary structure and salary levels

Check with your HR function whether the university intends to adjust the salary structure in the current review. Notify HR if you identify any discrepancies in salary levels relative to job content for individual employees or groups.

The salary-setting appraisal is not a salary negotiation. It is a dialogue-based meeting aimed at discussing and evaluating the employee’s job content and performance, serving as a follow-up to the development discussion.

Avoid discussing salary increases in terms of specific amounts or percentages. The focus should be on the salary in relation to job responsibilities, performance, and salary level. If the employee is performing well and already has a good salary, a significant increase may not be warranted.

The appraisal should preferably be held in person, but may be conducted remotely if necessary.

The employee’s opportunity to influence their salary

The employee’s ability to influence their salary is based on their performance in daily work. It is through ongoing dialogue with you as manager that they can demonstrate how they have carried out the tasks agreed upon in the development discussion. Your goal as manager should be for the employee to feel satisfied with the salary-setting appraisal, even if they are not entirely satisfied with the new salary or salary level.

Salary level for the new salary

The salary level should be based on the pay policy programme, salary-related factors, and the desired salary structure at Lund University. No employee is guaranteed a specific increase.

To ensure a strong link between performance and salary development, it is important to clearly justify the reasoning behind the salary level. Both positive and limited salary development must be explainable. As manager, you are responsible for evaluating job content and performance.

After the salary-setting appraisal has been completed, you as manager must send the salary agreement for the new salary to the employee via Primula’s salary-setting module. The employee can view their salary agreement in Primula under “My Page” and the heading “Salary Agreement”. The agreement includes information about the new full-time salary and its effective date.

Employees who are members of Saco-S 

Employees who are members of Saco-S must respond to their salary agreement by clicking  “Accept” or “Disagree”. If the employee disagrees with the proposed salary, a comment or explanation must be provided before the agreement can be submitted. 

If the employee is unable to respond via Primula for any reason, the manager or an administrator may respond on their behalf, following mutual agreement. The system logs who has submitted the response.

Non-unionised employees

Non-unionised employees do not have the option to respond to the salary agreement, as it serves solely as information regarding the manager’s salary decision.

Enhanced dialogue may only be offered to members of Saco-S, not to non-unionised employees.

An enhanced dialogue involves a follow-up meeting between the manager and the employee, together with a representative from Saco-S and HR.

The purpose is to reach a shared understanding of the process and, if needed, support both parties – manager and employee – in improving their dialogue. The aim is not to change the salary communicated by the salary-setting manager. Therefore, an enhanced discussion is guided by the parties’ desire for better communication and should not be used as an attempt to influence the salary decision.

For every employee who is a member of OFR/S or Seko, new salaries are determined through collective negotiations with the relevant employee organisation (trade union). 

Before the collective negotiations take place, consultations are held between the relevant employee organisation and the faculty/equivalent regarding the employer’s salary proposal.

Collective negotiation is handled centrally by the HR Division, whilst consultations take place at the faculty or equivalent level. 

Discuss with your HR department how you have approached and justified your salary proposals.

Managers are expected to participate in consultations alongside a designated representative from the unit’s HR function. Contact your HR function to discuss who will represent the employer during the negotiations.

During the consultation, the employer’s salary proposals are discussed, and employee organisations have the opportunity to present demands to the employer regarding changes to individual salary proposals.

Once the consultations have been completed, the local parties – Lund University and the respective employee organisations – will address any remaining issues. 

Following the conclusion of the negotiations, individual salaries are set out in a collective agreement for the respective employee organisation.

Once the salary review is complete, you, as a manager, must inform the employee of their new salary. 

You need to be able to explain both a positive and a less positive salary development. This is important so that the link between work performance and salary development has an impact and is clear to the employee. It is the total salary that matters, not the pay rise itself. If the employee is doing a good job and already has a good salary, a large pay rise is not necessarily warranted. As a manager, you assess the nature of the work and performance.

For employed doctoral students who commenced their doctoral studies before 1 August 2023, the following agreement applies:

Local agreement on the remuneration of doctoral students (in Swedish, PDF 41 kB, new tab)

For employed doctoral students who commenced their doctoral studies on 1 August 2023 or later, the following agreement applies:

• Local collective agreement on salary setting for doctoral students (in Swedish, PDF 257 kB, new tab)
• Local collective agreement on salary setting for doctoral students (in English, PDF 291 kB, new tab)

Your HR function will keep you informed about the progress of the salary review and when it is time for you to take action.

You can access support and information for the activities you need to carry out via the matrix further up the page.

University-wide information on the salary review process

The HR Division provides university-wide updates on the progress of the salary review to all employees. This information is shared through the following channels:

• Facts page on salary review on the Staff Pages
• Newsletter LU-nytt / LU News (emailed to all employees at Lund University)

Your faculty’s or equivalent unit’s representative in the LU RALS working group is familiar with what university-wide information is being shared, when, and through which channels.

Information at faculty and department level

As a manager, you are responsible for keeping your employees informed about the progress of the salary review process within your unit. Your HR function will guide you on what information needs to be communicated to your employees, and when.

Information from employee organisations 

The employee organisations often provide their members with ongoing updates during the salary review process.