Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft
Fraunhofer has a good reputation, but the same cannot always be said of the collective wage agreement for public service employees (TVöD). Salaries are often lower than in industry, at least as far as basic pay is concerned. However, Fraunhofer additionally offers a variable compensation plan to help make its salaries more attractive.
As well as being paid the salary fixed by the collective wage agreement, employees additionally receive a variable, performance-related payment. The amount of this payment depends partly on the individual employee’s performance and partly on the operating results of the Fraunhofer Institute they work for. It is calculated on the basis of the annual employee performance review and the Institute’s annual performance rating.
In this respect, Fraunhofer’s compensation system shares much in common with that of an industrial company – even if we are unable to attain the summits of the very top industrial salaries.