Salary calculation as research staff (WP) from Ghent University

Your contract includes a monthly salary payment, which may vary depending on your personal situation.

Factors that influence your net amount

The net salary amount depends on these elements:

  1. The applicable salary scale
  2. Seniority – previous relevant experience can increase your amount (to be proven with official attestations and approved by your supervisor).
    • Seniority is determined based on the following guidelines:
      1. The work experience must be in a paid position (via salary or scholarship).
      2. Only experience gained after obtaining a master's degree is eligible.
      3. Only full calendar months are counted.
      4. Employment at 50% FTE or more counts as 100%; employment below 50% counts as 50%.
      5. All attestations are submitted with your promotor for their approval to relevancy
  3. Family situation – whether you have children.
  4. Partner’s employment – whether your partner is working or not.
  5. The percentage of the contract: fulltime or partial contract.

If you have seniority or dependent family members your net salary amount will increase. Your partner and children must live in Belgium and hold a valid Belgian residence permit to be taken into account for the calculation as dependent.

In case of family changes, please make sure to update your personal details and provide the required documents to HR:

  • When your child is born → a birth certificate.
  • When your partner or children move to Belgium → Belgian residence documents

Adding seniority to your salary payment

You may be able to increase your salary amount if you can prove relevant previous work experience. Follow the steps below to have your seniority officially recognized.

Step 1 – Request attestations

If you have previous work experiences that might be relevant, contact your former employer or institution to obtain the necessary attestations.

Step 2 – Verify the information

Check that your attestations contain all required details (see list below).

Step 3 – Send attestations to your HR contact

Send your attestations to your supervisor for review and approval. Your HR contact will check whether your previous work experience is relevant for your employment to add seniority. If your attestations are incomplete or not compliant, seniority will not be added.

Step 4 – Check with your supervisor

Your HR contact will request an approval by e-mail to the supervisor.

Step 5 – Supervisor approval

Your supervisor sends an approval e-mail to the HR contact and file administrator. If seniority is not approved, a short motivation is added. It might also be possible that the funding source is not big enough to cover all seniority, and therefore the years added is limited.

Step 6 – HR validation

The HR file administrator verifies the approval from the supervisor and adds the seniority to your HR file.

The required information on attestations

Your attestations must include the following details:

  • Your full name
  • Function and job description
  • Exact period of employment (start and end dates: day/month/year)

Contracts or dismissal documents are not accepted as proof.

  • Whether the activities were remunerated
  • The employment percentage (full-time or part-time, with % indicated)

Additional payments and benefits

In addition to your monthly fellowship, you are entitled to several benefits:

  • Holiday payment – paid in June.
  • End-of-year bonus – paid in December.
  • Connectivity fee – €20/month (for fellows with an employment percentage of 20% or higher).
  • Eco vouchers – up to max. €240 per year, to buy ecological products.

Bike allowance or commuting coverage by train and/or bus.