1. Hiring of staff
If you want to hire externally-funded staff, you must first submit a suitable request to Human Resources. The following requests forms are available from HR:
- For employees: Request for staff (Notes).
- For student assistants: Request for student assistants
Please make sure to include information about the correct account and/or project ID for these staff expenses with your request. If the new employee(s) will work on several projects, please indicate how much time they will spend on each project respectively.
The request must be submitted in time, i.e. at least three weeks prior to the planned start of the employment. If your project was approved last minute and you need to commence work straight away, we recommend that you ask HR to prioritise your request. They will also be happy to answer your other HR-related questions.
2. Financing
Human Resources informs Project Administration of the planned recruitment of new staff members. Project Administration then proceeds to calculate the estimated costs and orders the required funds to be set aside in the project account.
The calculation is typically based on the DFG guidelines or on the actual staff expenses of the previous months.
Student assistants must not work longer than 85 hours per month. The following calculations apply:
- Undergraduate student assistants: € 11.63 (until 31.03.2014: € 9.52)
- Graduate student assistants with a bachelor’s degree: € 13.67 (as of 01.04.2014)
- Graduate student assistants with a university degree: € 17.96 (until 31.03.2014: € 15.83)
(see Human Resources)
You can review the estimated costs in the account information system QISFSV as soon as the Research Funding Administration has released the funds for the new employment relationship. After the first monthly wage has been paid out (after the first month), the estimate will be reviewed and adjusted, if necessary. This estimate does not include increases in pay rates and, in part, special payments. We recommend that you factor in potential excess costs and set aside a suitable amount as reserve. For projects that require annual approval, we only calculate an estimate of the sum required in the current calendar year.
3. Alternative use of funds
The hiring request can also be used to request an alternative use of funds (please tick the relevant box in the upper portion of the request form). The request must include information about the correct account as well as to what extent (time, volume of employment) the account should be debited and/or credited. The individual project duration must not be exceeded. Employees cannot be transferred to other projects in retrospect!
4. Rededication and/or project extension
If you need staff although your funding body does not provide sufficient or any funds for this, you should contact them or Project Administration as soon as possible to discuss the rededication of other funds. This also applies if you are planning to keep an employee longer than the current project and would need a project extension to do so. You need to obtain written permission from your funding body in both cases. Depending on the funding body/matter, the decision process may take some time.