How employees in temporary employment benefit from industry surcharges

What are industry surcharges?

Companies that provide temporary staffing services usually belong to collective bargaining associations. Collective bargaining associations - such as the GVP (General Association of Personnel Service Providers) - negotiate a collective agreement for the temporary employment industry. This collective agreement regulates the basic working conditions for all employees in temporary employment, including, for example, regulations on notice periods, remuneration components or vacation and Christmas bonuses.

In addition, there are sectoral collective agreements that regulate special conditions for the various sectors. In total, the GVP has eleven sectoral collective agreements, for example for the metal and electrical industry, the chemical industry or the rubber industry. Among other things, industry surcharges are set out in these sectoral collective agreements. If temporary workers are employed in a company for a certain period of time without interruption, they receive gradually increasing surcharges (in percent) on their original hourly wage. The surcharges vary in amount depending on the industry.

What are the benefits of industry surcharges and when do I receive them?

Employees in temporary employment who are subject to an industry collective agreement benefit from industry surcharges from their first day on the job. From the third month in the company, higher hourly wages are paid once again without this increase being linked to the performance of the individual employee. This means that no individual conditions have to be met in order to receive the industry surcharges. They are based only on the duration of uninterrupted employment in a company in the respective industry. An exemplary overview can be found further down this page.

The big advantage of this? Fixed deadlines and fixed percentages apply to the gradual increase in hourly wages. Temporary employees can therefore count on very specific bonuses in advance - without having to renegotiate the hourly wage. With increasing experience on the job, they therefore automatically come closer to the hourly wage of permanent employees and can dispense with wage negotiations.

How high are the surcharges?

From the first day in the company, temporary employees already receive an initial industry supplement - the amount depends on the respective industry. Example: If a temporary employee receives an hourly wage of 16.10 euros at the beginning of his employment in a metal or electrical company (pay group 01 / unskilled work), he will receive 16.80 euros per hour from the third month. After three months of employment, the industry supplement increases to 15 percent.

Overview of GVP industry surcharges as of 01.10.2024 (example: metal and electrical industry for EG01 / unskilled work)

Overview of GVP industry surcharges as of 01.10.2024 (example: metal and electrical industry for EG04 / skilled worker)

Note: If the employee reaches 90 or 100 percent of the salary of a regular employee, the salary does not increase further until the 15th month is reached. Companies have the option here to cap the wage.  

Status September 2024