Postdoc/researchers contracts and salaries at SLU - Things to know before accepting a position at SLU

It is often difficult to have an idea of what type of contract or salary you should accept as a postdoc in a foreign country. We have found that postdocs arriving at SLU are not always aware of the salary they will be receiving, or the type of contract they are accepting, before starting their position. This is mostly due to the fact that in Sweden the employee does not actually sign their contract. A verbal agreement is made, and the employee is provided with a proof of employment signed by the employer (in this case, SLU) on arrival.

Here we have gathered some important information you should be aware of before you accept, or even apply for, a postdoc position at SLU. Please note that we have gathered this information to the best of our knowledge, and we recommend that you confirm things with your future employer or SLU.

There are three main types of contracts offered to postdocs/researchers when starting a position at SLU (same applies to other Swedish universities)

Postdoctor contract

The “postdoctor contract”, called postdoktoravtal in Swedish, is the most common salaried contract offered to postdocs. To be eligible for this type of contract, the applicant must not have reached more than 3 years post PhD. This is a fixed term contract of 2 years, non-extendible and non-renewable. The conditions for this type of contract have been negotiated on a national level. This contract includes the following benefits: pension, unemployment, paid vacation leave (28 to 31 days, depending on age) and paid parental and sick leave. If the postdoc goes on either parental or sick leave, the contract is “paused” until they resume their work. For example, a postdoc that goes on parental leave one year into their contract, will have one year left on their contract when they resume work.

If the postdoc chooses to extend their postdoc, start a new postdoc in another lab or at another Swedish university, they will have to accept another type of contract, as a postdoktoravtal cannot be offered more than once.

General fixed term (ALVA) contract

An ALVA is a fixed term salaried contract and can be offered to any individual for a maximum of 2 years within a 5-year period. If you have reached more than 3 years post PhD, or if you are extending your postdoc after 2 years on a postdoktoravtal, you will most likely be offered this type of contract and will often, but not always, be referred to as a researcher instead of a postdoc. The contract includes the same benefits as a postdoktoravtal. The main difference is that during parental or sick leave, the contract will not be paused. Therefore, if a postdoc/researcher goes on a 6-month parental leave one year into their contract, they will only have 6 months left when they resume work. However, paid vacation leave is similar to the postdoktoravtal (28 to 31 days depending on age).

If the postdoc/researcher continues their position beyond the 2 years, they are automatically transferred to an open-ended contract with no end date.

Stipends

In Sweden, it is relatively common for postdocs to be offered a stipend instead of a salaried position, such as the postdoktoravtal or ALVA mentioned above. A stipend contract is usually 1+1 years (1 year fixed term, renewable once), or 2 years fixed term. By Swedish law, stipends of less than 6 months are no longer allowed. The most important thing to know about stipends is that stipend-holders do not receive a salary, but a tax-free living allowance. They are therefore not considered employees of the university and do not receive any of the benefits mentioned for the postdoktoravtal or ALVA contracts (paid vacation leave, paid parental or sick leave, pension or unemployment benefits).

There are many different types and sources of stipends that we will not describe here. However, the source of the stipend will often dictate the amount of allowance paid out to the postdoc. At SLU, stipend holders are often paid ~24,000 SEK per month (with 23,000 SEK being the lowest we know of). This is often less than a postdoc/researcher on a salary will be receiving after paying taxes and does not include any benefits, so per year, it amounts to much less. Also, since a stipend-holder is not paying any taxes, they will not be able to take advantage of the many tax cuts available in Sweden. If you have been awarded a fellowship, such as Marie Curie, EMBO, Human Frontiers, etc… you will also be considered a stipend holder and will not pay taxes. However, the living allowance in those cases are significantly higher, in order to compensate for this loss of benefits.

Here we have put together a summary table comparing the three types of postdoc/researcher contracts. Although these are the most common, a few others exist as well.

Postdoc salary range

In Sweden, it is common to negotiate one’s salary. However, this is difficult without knowing what a “normal” postdoc salary is. Luckily, the Swedish union SACO-S has gathered data regarding salaries for all SLU staff. As of 18^th January 2019, the monthly postdoc salary at SLU ranged from 32,000 to 39,500 SEK. It seems that it varies quite a bit from department to department, but we do not currently have the numbers for this. However, we have yet to meet any postdoc receiving the higher end of the spectrum. The average postdoc salary at SLU is around 34,300 SEK (http://www.saco.slu.se/statistik/lonestatistik/lonestatistik_SLU-19.htm).

Researcher salaries vary even more, as the researcher (“forskare” in Swedish) position includes early career researchers (still working like postdocs), permanent researchers and independent researchers. Therefore, the monthly salary ranges from 32,200 to 74,100 SEK with an average around 40,000 SEK. An early career researcher should expect a salary similar to that of postdocs.