Company pension plans

At WU - as at all Austrian universities - there is an occupational pension scheme in addition to the statutory pension insurance.

Accordingly, WU has to pay employer contributions to the Valida pension fund for all employees who have been already employed at WU for two years (with the exception of civil servant employees who fall under the occupational pension scheme of the state pension fund).). More detailed regulations can be found in the corresponding operational agreement.

Employees have three choices at enrolment (i.e. at the end of the 2nd year of employment): A model without increased risk protection, a model with increased risk protection, and a Life Cycle Model. In this Life Cycle Model, all employees can decide themselves in which investment model (dynamic, balanced or defensive) their pension fund contributions should be invested. This is particularly important for short-term investment periods, as the investment risk and the associated fluctuations on the capital market can have a greater impact on riskier investment groups ("The Life Cycle Model - choices and investment").

The following regulations must be considered with regard to the choice of model:

• All employees who were enrolled in the pension scheme after 1 September 2014 can exercise their right of choice immediately upon enrolment (usually 2 years after the beginning of the employment relationship). If no choice is made, the assets are invested in the defensive investment group (this aims to achieve the lowest possible performance volatility).

• The assets of all those employees who were enrolled in the pension scheme before 1 September 2014 are invested in the balanced investment model. (In this model, the average proportion of shares is higher than in the defensive investment model, but lower than in the dynamic investment model; the investment risk is therefore lower on average than in the dynamic investment model, but somewhat higher than in the defensive investment model.)

• All employees already enrolled in the pension fund system can change their investment model, with this switch taking effect at the start of the next calendar year. Due to the lead times, this change request should be reported to Valida by 31 August. However, a change of investment group is only possible a maximum of three times until the pension fund benefit is  drawn (i.e. until retirement).

Employee contributions to the pension plan

At employee's express request, contributions by the employee up to a certain amount as part of the company pension plan are also possible. It is possible to either make personal contributions of 25%, 50%, 75% or 100% of the employer's contributions or to make contributions of up to € 1,000 per calendar year as part of the premium model in accordance with § 108a para. 2 EStG. Further information can be found here (in German only).

Employees who are already included in the pension fund can find all relevant information on their own pension fund account in the personal portal at vorsorgeportal.valida.at/public/login. This portal can also be used to contact Valida directly regarding personal contributions. If a corresponding application is submitted, it must also be sent to WU's payroll office (pensionskasse@wu.ac.at).

Further information on the company pension plan at WU

The intranet pages of payroll office also contain further information on WU's pension fund model (e.g. Blicktarife). If you have any questions, you can contact pensionskasse@wu.ac.at directly.

In order to support you in your choice of model,but also to give all employees who are already included in the pension fund the opportunity to obtain information, the two Staff Council groups organize an information event with the Valida pension fund once a year for all employees at WU.

The last such information event took place in March 2025. You can find more information here.

*** Current Information sheet (as of January 2024) ***

IMPORTANT - Availability of the pension fund assets

As long as WU makes contributions to the pension fund for an employee, the pension fund balance cannot be accessed. If the employment relationship ends and the pension fund balance is below the so-called vesting amount, the existing pension fund balance can be paid out as a lump sum. However, the individual employee must apply to the Valida pension fund for this payout or any other possible disposal of the pension fund balance (e.g. entitlements from a pension fund can also be transferred to the pension fund of a new employer). If no such application is made, the entitlements remain in the pension fund and continue to be invested. In order to be able to dispose of the pension fund balance at the latest when starting a retirement pension, it must be possible for Valida to contact the employee, which is why care should be taken to ensure that the contact address provided to Valida - after leaving the employment relationship at WU - is always up to date.

So if an employment relationship with WU that has lasted longer than two years comes to an end, it is important to take a look at the personal pension portal. It is then also possible to contact Valida directly at the end of the employment relationship in order to clarify the further procedure regarding the existing pension fund assets. 

If you have any questions about the company pension scheme, please contact Valida Pensionskasse:

Tel: +43 1 316 48-7777, Email: kundenservice@valida.at

Occupational employee provision / severance pay “new version”

All employees who started working at WU after 1 January 2003, or who have been employed as freelance employees according to § 4 para. 4 ASVG (e.g. external lecturers) since January 1, 2008, have a statutory right to receive severance pay upon termination of their contract (also retirement) based on an occupational employee provision scheme. WU pays 1.53% of your gross salary each month (with the exception of the first month of employment) as a severance payment contribution to the APK Vorsorgekasse (provision fund).

The APK Vorsorgekasse invests your money for you on the capital markets. This continues until the end of your employment at WU.

At this point, if you have been employed for at least three years - and if the way in which your contract meets certain criteria (e.g. if a fixed-term employment contract expires) you have two choices. You can either ask for the full sum of those contributions (including any accumulated interest) to be paid out to you, or you can carry the payment amount over to the next employment contract and thus to a new provision fund (according to the "rucksack principle"). Even if the conditions for either option are not (yet) met, the capital saved will not be lost, but will continue to be invested with the APK provision fund until a later date (at the latest until retirement).

IMPORTANT

In order for the APK to be able to provide the necessary information, especially in the event of a payout claim, it is necessary that the contact address provided to the APK is up to date. This is particularly important if you move abroad.

• APK-Infofolder

• Info-sheet

APK Vorsorgekasse AG, Stahlstraße 2-5, 4020 Linz

Sabine Haslehner

Tel.: 0 50 275 5602