Legal advice and security

If you want to work less: part-time employment

How does it affect your salary, parental leave, holidays and work tasks if you want to reduce your working hours? Get answers to the most important questions if you want to go part-time or just want to work less for a while.

As a salaried employee, you can either make a full switch to working part-time, or just choose to work less for a period. Here are the answers to the most important questions regarding part-time work.

Can you choose to work less and be paid less?

You are not as such entitled to switch to working part-time. Instead, you must make an agreement with your employer if you wish to work fewer hours or days.

If you wish to work part-time for a limited period, it is typically enough to make an amendment to your contract rather than drawing up a new one.

Before reaching out to your manager, check if the possibility of part-time work is described in your collective agreement or the staff handbook at your workplace.

Does your employer want you to reduce your hours and pay?

How does it affect your position if you switch to part-time?

Regardless of whether it is you or your employer who proposes the cut in hours and pay, you should agree that you give up part of your tasks.

If you have to solve the same number of tasks in less time, you stand a risk of being overloaded. 

Plus, if you choose to reduce your hours, there's a risk that you'll fall behind when it comes to promotions or getting those exciting assignments.

Log in and book a career consultation if you're considering going part-time

For how long should you work part-time?

This depends on which part-time scheme you prefer.

If you only want to reduce your hours for a limited period of time, it should be stated in your contract that you may return to full-time work after a previously agreed period of time - for instance a year - unless you and your employer agree that the period of reduced hours will be extended. 

Note that if you take a permanent reduction in hours, there is no guarantee that you can return to a full-time position at your workplace.

How will reducing my hours affect my salary?

Your new salary will often be reduced in accordance with your new working hours.

If you make DKK 37,000 each month and start working 30 hours per week, your salary would be DKK 30,000. This should be stated in your agreement. 

However, in some special cases, you may be able to work less but retain the same salary level.

How will my salary change if I reduce my working hours and salary?

If you want to get an idea of how much it will cost you to reduce your working hours, you can make a calculation by visiting Skat's salary calculator.

Use Skat's salary calculator (in Danish)

How changes in your working hours affect your holidays

As a part-time employee, you accrue 2.08 days of paid holiday each month - just as you would if you worked full time. However, the structure of your part-time agreement affects the way you have to use your holiday.

Fewer hours each day: If you work fewer hours spread across all days of the week, there is no difference between part-time and full-time employees.

Weekly days off: If you have one or more weekly full days off, you need to use more holiday days for each day off. They days you don't work are thus included in your holiday with a proportional number of days.

You can calculate how many days of holiday you need by dividing the number of normal working days in the relevant period by the number of days you worked.

  • If you have a weekly day off, you need 1.25 holiday days per day off (5 normal working days/4 days worked = 1.25)
  • If you have a fortnightly day off, you need 1.11 days of holiday per day off (10 normal working days/9 days you work =1.11)

 

Salary during your holiday: If your situation changes so that you go from full-time to part-time within the holiday accrual year, which runs from 1 September to 31 August, you need to look at when you accrued the holiday.

You will continue to receive full pay for the holidays you earned when you worked full-time and you can take them without having to use more than one holiday day per day off.

What does it mean for your bonus to decrease in time and salary?

If you have a bonus scheme, you must consider the consequences of reducing time and salary. 

If your bonus goal depends on your own performance, it should be adjusted as you go down in time so that you still have the opportunity to reach it.

Bonus and performance pay: What you need to know

How does part-time affect your working hours?

The new agreement should include provisions regarding your new working hours, including when and for how long you should work every day.

For example, with one or more fixed weekly days off, or by reducing the daily working hours from 7.5 hours to, for example, 6 hours.

If you agree on one or more weekly days off, you need to decide whether you have the same weekly days off every week or whether you are free to choose from week to week whether you take Monday or Friday off, for example.

The flexibility to choose which days you take off from week to week can be nice, but it can also create challenges in case of illness.

For example, if you call in sick, you risk a disagreement between you and your employer on whether the day is a working day or one off your days off - and thus whether you will receive pay for the sick day or not. 

Can I keep my health insurance that I have through my employment?

Yes, you are still covered by your health insurance if you go part-time.

Will it affect my unemployment insurance?

You should always contact your unemployment insurance fund (A-kassen) because an agreement to work fewer hours for less pay will often affect your entitlement to unemployment benefits.

Most unemployment insurances, however, allow you to choose between full time or part time schemes.

If you are insured part-time, your fee will be lowered, but your payout will also be lower if you become unemployed.

Read more at Akademikernes A-kasse

How does working part-time affect your pension?

Your pension contribution is a percentage of your salary, so if you work part-time for a longer period of time, it may cost you a significant amount in pension savings. 

It is also worth considering in which stage of your working life you wish to work part time.

The later you decide to cut your working hours and the more you have already saved, the less impact it will have on your pension.

It's a good idea to contact your pension fund or pension company for specific advice on your pension savings if you want to reduce your working hours.

Learn more about pension

How does taking time off affect my parental leave?

Parental benefit is calculated based on how many hours you work per week.

If you reduce your working hours and go on parental benefit, you will get paid less. However, you may have insurance that ensures you receive parental benefits as if you were employed full-time.

Therefore, you should always contact your unemployment insurance fund to find out more about the rules.

What is my position if I am dismissed while working part-time?

The only difference if you go part-time and are made redundant is that your salary during the notice period and any severance pay will be lower.

If you go part-time, you can try to negotiate the same terms as if you were dismissed during the period before you went part-time.

What happens when my temporary part-time contract ends?

When your temporary part-time contract expires, you will automatically return to the salary and employment conditions you had before you went part-time.

Can I use my free choice scheme to work less?

If you have a free-choice scheme (fritvalgskonto) through your collective agreement, your employer pays an extra amount, equivalent to a fixed percentage of your holiday pay, into an account at your disposal.

Depending on the terms of the free choice scheme, you can choose to use the money to take more time off in the following ways:

  • You can take senior days per holiday year
  • You can take two care days per holiday year
  • You can take time off to take your child to the doctor
  • You can take your child's second sick day

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