WU has an operational agreement on performance bonuses (in German only), which entitles employees to various bonuses for research and supervision activities as well as examination fees for teaching. In recent months, intensive negotiations have taken place between the Academic Staff Council and representatives of the employer regarding the content of this operational agreement. The most important changes agreed upon, which generally came into effect on March 1, 2026, are addressed below.

Increase in research bonuses and examination fees

The amount of the bonuses and examination fees included in the operational agreement had not been increased for many years. One of the core demands of the wissBR was therefore to achieve an appropriate valorization of these activities. Due to the encouraging results of WU’s current performance agreement, the wissBR entered the negotiations with corresponding expectations. Unfortunately, it was not possible to negotiate the upper limit for this valorization, that was set by the employer. As a result, all that could be achieved was a 10% increase in the total budget for department-specific research bonuses (i.e., excluding the bonus for Star Journal contributions) as well as the bonuses for theses supervision and examination fees. Fortunately, however, it was agreed that the increased bonuses for supervision services and examination fees would be applied retroactively from October 1, 2025, and thus already for the 2025/26 winter semester. The increase in the budget for research bonuses is also retroactive from January 1, 2026. One of the aims of this retroactive increase was to at least partially compensate for this years’ disappointingly low valorization of the wages in the collective bargaining agreement.

Dissertation bonus

The amount of the so-called dissertation bonus, which Predoc employees at WU receive if they submit a dissertation during their employment at WU that is graded “Very Good (1)” or “Good (2)”, was determined until February 28, 2026, on the one hand by the operational agreement on performance bonuses, which provided for a bonus of € 600, and on the other hand by a WUPol research bonus for Predocs (issued unilaterally by the employer and therefore also subject to unilateral change at any time). This WUPol provided for a bonus of € 400 supplementing the bonus under the operational agreement and an original bonus entitlement of € 1,000 for those Predocs who did not fall under the operational agreement regulations. For all Predocs (i.e., university assistants, PhD students, scientific project staff, and third-party-funded scientists) who submit their dissertation with a grade of “Very Good (1)” or “Good (2)”, the operational agreement now provides for entitlement to a bonus of € 1,000. This means that the bonus entitlement itself and its amount, which was last increased to a total of € 1,000 in 2021, are now bindingly regulated in the operational agreement. For eligible Predocs who submit their dissertation at another university than WU, the operational agreement now also contains clear steps for applying for the bonus.

Cap on per person bonus for attracting third-party funding

The performance bonus for attracting third-party funding, which amounts to 2% of the total amount attracted, will in future be capped at € 10,000 per year when paid to a single person. The wissBR sees this approach, which was requested by the employer, as an overall advantage for employees, as it creates an incentive, particularly in the case of large amounts of third-party funding raised, to divide the bonus among several people who were involved in raising the funds or submitting the application. This was also a demand from employees.

At the latest at the end of WU’s current performance agreement period, the wissBR will, in accordance with the agreement contained in the operational agreement, again demand negotiations on an adjustment of the research bonuses and examination fees contained in the operational agreement. We will report in detail on the results of these negotiations. If you already have any ideas or suggestions for these future negotiations, we would be happy to hear from you at wiss.betriebsrat@wu.ac.at.

^05.03.2026

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