Welcome at VU Amsterdam - for external employees

General information

• Digital workplace

  As a university employee, you have access to a digital workplace. For more information on how to access this workplace, visit this IT-page.

• How does VU.nl work?

  You will find all the information you need on VU.nl. As an employee, the best place to start on VU.nl is your personal dashboard. Having trouble finding your way around your dashboard? The explanation on this page might help.

• Hybrid working

  VU Amsterdam facilitates hybrid working for all employees who are able to carry out part of their work at home or another location. You make arrangements about this with your manager. 

• Social safety and code of conduct at VU Amsterdam

  In line with the university’s core values, a safe social setting for work and study, where we treat each other with respect, is essential. The VU Code of Conduct and all of the regulations associated with this document offer guidance in this area. At VU Amsterdam we want you to be able to find the right person or department if you unexpectedly encounter problems at work. Visit the Help, Support and Advice page to find out which department is best placed to help you.

  Other safety measures taken by VU Amsterdam include those related to the secure and careful handling of personal data. The provisions for this are laid down in the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR). If you work with confidential and/or personal data, you must also comply with these provisions. Please read this information carefully.

  VU Amsterdam gives its employees access to its ICT facilities, including computers, the internet, email and other applications. For security reasons, the rules of conduct described in the ICT Facilities Regulations for Staff of VU Amsterdam apply. Again, we urge you to read this information carefully.

• Knowledge exploitation regulations VU

  Should you find yourself, as an external party, navigating the exploitation of the results of teaching, research and patient care, a legal framework exists to address this. These regulations can be found in the Knowledge exploitation regulations VU. They govern the procedures related to potential claims on:

  •  intellectual property rights
  • the exploitation of research results, income distribution from those rights
  • handling the publication of protectable inventions
  • and participation in new (spin-off) companies.

  For questions, you can contact Innovation Exchange Amsterdam (IXA).

Important self-service options for external employees

• Ancillary employment (only for professors occupying endowed chairs)

  The sector-wide Ancillary Employment Regulations also apply to professors occupying endowed chairs. They are registered at the university as external employees, as they do not have a regular employment position at VU Amsterdam.

  Professors occupying an endowed chair generally have their main place of employment elsewhere. This ‘main place of employment elsewhere’ comes under the sector-wide Ancillary Employment Regulations. It is for this reason that the ‘main place of employment elsewhere’ of professors occupying an endowed chair must be registered as ancillary employment using the self-service option, regardless of whether this ‘main place of employment elsewhere’ is regarded as their primary job.

  Also, it is possible for professors occupying an endowed chair to have other ancillary employment activities. The same thing applies here: the sector-wide regulations state that these activities should also be reported and, after the agreement of the manager at VU Amsterdam has been obtained, they should be registered by the professor in question using the self-service option.

• Time recording

  You may be asked to register in VU Amsterdam’s system the hours you have worked. All the information, including which self-service option to use, is described on the Time Recording page.

• Claiming expenses

  In certain cases, external employees may claim expenses from VU Amsterdam. A special form is available for this purpose.

• Extensions and viewing of work order

  Two months before your agreement is due to expire, you will be notified to that effect in your VU Amsterdam email. If you are a non-Dutch national, you will be notified three months in advance. Your manager or client will also receive this notification.

  Contact your manager or client to see whether or not your agreement is to be extended. If not, it will expire automatically. If your agreement is to be extended, then you should enter the extension yourself using the External Employee Agreement self-service option. You will be taken to the ‘Edit Work Order’ page, where you should alter only the end date.

  Please note that if you do not enter your extension on time, your VUnetID will be blocked on the first day after your end date. The same applies to all access rights to systems and applications. If you enter the extension at this stage, all the authorisations previously granted to you must be reapplied for. This takes several working days. You can prevent this by entering your extension on time.

• Reporting sick and reporting your recovery

  If you fall ill, you should report the fact by telephone by 09.30 to your manager or client, or their deputy.

  Mention the following:

  • the reason for your absence (you do not have to provide any medical details)
  • how long you expect your illness to last
  • the telephone number where you can be reached
  • any tasks that will require a replacement employee
  • any appointments that will have to be cancelled

  If you cannot call by phone, you should report sick by Teams, WhatsApp, SMS, or email.

  As soon as you have recovered, you should notify your manager or client using the same method.

• Change personal details

  Only very few personal details of external employees are registered in the personnel information system. If any of your personal details change, you can edit your details using the Personal Information self-service option.

• Personnel file

  A personnel file is created for each external employee at the start of their agreement. As a rule, these files remain empty, but sometimes agreements or other documents are stored in them. You can access your personnel file using the View Personnel File self-service option.

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