Pay boost and flexible benefits in new agreement for staff

Everyone seemed pleased when a new three-year collective agreement for 200,000 state employees was presented at the Danish Ministry of Finance on 11 February.

The agreement secures general pay increases of 6.37 per cent for all state employees, which in Denmark includes staff at universities.

»Together we have reached a really good agreement. It is one that is financially responsible, and that also delivers solid terms for our employees. We have a shared interest in this,« the Minister for Finance Nicolai Wammen (Social Democrats) said when the agreement was presented.

The collective agreement includes a new flexible benefits scheme, similar to that which is already in place in the private sector: Employees can choose whether part of their pay rise is to be paid out as pension contributions, extra days off, or as salary into their bank account.

Janne Gleerup is chair of the trade union DM that represents a large proportion of researchers and other university staff. She is satisfied with the new agreement.

It is rife with stress-related sick leave at UCPH, especially after the administration reform. We now have better tools to start addressing this

Ingrid Kryhlmand, HK union representative at UCPH

»We have succeeded in achieving some excellent results, primarily by securing the general pay rises for our members. At the same time, we have introduced improvements that make for a more sustainable working life, with greater flexibility and more opportunities for individuals to influence their own working conditions,« Janne Gleerup says to the University Post.

On top of the flexible benefits scheme, she points to improved rights for parental leave and the option of taking leave on a child’s third day of illness. This third day leave is not an automatic entitlement, but an option.

Alongside the general pay increases, DKK 250 million has been put aside for local pay setting at state workplaces. This proposal did not originate with DM.

»We pushed for as much as possible to go towards the general pay rises, but there has also been an increased allocation to local pay setting. We did succeed, however, in getting more transparency in local wage-setting processes,« says Janne Gleerup.

More money for soldiers

At the presentation, Nicolai Wammen emphasised that a special pay boost for soldiers was important for the government negotiators.

This pay boost allocates DKK 275 million on top of the general pay rises, to be distributed among employees in the Danish Armed Forces.

The money has been taken from the remaining pool for state employees, who otherwise would have received better pay conditions had the soldiers not been given priority.

Janne Gleerup considers this prioritisation fair.

»Due to the current circumstances we were prepared to find a joint solution that accommodated armed forces personnel. So it was a shared decision. It meant a great deal to the employer — the state — that soldiers get something extra. As to our side, we insisted that this was not the only thing that was secured in this collective agreement. This has also been acknowledged by the employer with the many improvements that we achieved,« says Janne Gleerup.

Focus on stress

The new collective agreement also brings increased focus on preventing and reducing work-related stress.

A 2024 analysis by the Economic Council of the Labour Movement showed that work-related stress reduces labour supply by 55,600 full-time employee equivalents a year. This corresponds to an annual DKK 54.6 billion loss in economic output.

It was important for DM, for this reason, that the new agreement also contained solutions on this front.

»We have negotiated new initiatives where the employer, together with us, must find new ways of creating a working life that we can actually sustain over the long term,« says Janne Gleerup.

At the University of Copenhagen (UCPH), Ingrid Kryhlmand is representative for the union HK and deputy chair of the staff-management cooperation committee (HSU). She is also pleased with the increased focus on reducing stress among university employees.

»It is rife with stress-related sick leave at UCPH, especially after the administration reform. We now have better tools to start addressing this,« Ingrid Kryhlmand says to the University Post.

The new tools include the strengthening of local cooperation committees on healthy workplace culture and increased training for managers in psychosocial working environment issues.

Better supplement to associate professors

In the university sector, Janne Gleerup notes that agreement has been reached on an improvement of a supplement to associate professors. This is not just about the money, she says.

»It is important that we signal the importance of upholding strong research and higher education in our society. And that we secure recognition of the value of academic work and the contribution of researchers and teaching staff, many of whom are employed in associate professor positions,« the DM chair says.

The new collective agreement will now be put to a vote among members of the trade unions. If they approve, the agreement will take effect after 1 April.

This article was first written in Danish and published on 11 February 2026. It has been translated into English and post-edited by Mike Young.