Conditions of employment for professional staff

Salary and Post Adjustment

Salaries are determined within the framework of the United Nations Common System and are paid in the currency of the duty station.

Post adjustment is an amount paid in addition to the net base salary, which varies according to the cost of living at each duty station in comparison to New York (the base of the UN remuneration system). It is designed to ensure that no matter where the United Nations Common System staff work, their take-home pay has a purchasing power equivalent to that at the base of the system. Together, base salary and post adjustment form the net remuneration.

Relocation

The IAEA usually meets the costs of travel from the place of recruitment to the duty station in the case of new, internationally recruited staff members and their eligible dependants. It also usually assists with arranging for the shipping or storing and insuring household effects. Assistance with visa formalities may be provided. Upon arrival, staff members recruited from outside the duty station and appointed for at least one year receive a settling-in grant for covering initial expenses.

Health insurance

Medical insurance coverage is a scheme covering medical and hospital expenses. Normally staff members and their eligible dependants will be enrolled on a cost-sharing basis either in the Agency's health insurance scheme, which provides reasonable coverage for medical and hospital costs and some coverage for dental treatment. As an alternative in some cases, staff can enroll in the Austrian national health insurance scheme, with an optional supplementary insurance plan.

In special cases, approval may be granted to continue participation in health insurance schemes other than the Agency's.

Life insurance

Staff members have the possibility of enrolling, at their own expense, in a group life insurance scheme with several levels of coverage.

Pension plan

The United Nations Joint Staff Pension Fund (UNJSPF) is a fund established by the General Assembly of the United Nations to provide retirement, death, disability, and related benefits for the staff of the United Nations and other member organizations admitted to membership in the fund.

Staff members are required to participate in the UNJSPF, for which they contribute 7.9% and the Agency contributes 15.8% of their pensionable remuneration. Staff members leaving the Agency before completion of five years of contributory service will be reimbursed the amount of their own contributions plus 3.25% interest.

After the completion of 5 years, staff members would be eligible for a deferred retirement benefit, early retirement benefit or normal retirement benefit depending on their age upon separation.

Staff members may exceptionally be authorized to continue to participate in a national pension insurance scheme or the pension scheme of their former employer.

Rental subsidy

The rental subsidy scheme aims at ensuring a greater degree of equity and alleviating hardship by subsidizing housing for newcomers whose rental costs significantly exceed the average for the duty station. Newly appointed staff members in the Professional and above categories, or staff members with international benefits transferred from one duty station to another, may be eligible for rental subsidy as a newcomer, for a maximum period of seven years from the date of arrival to the duty station. The rental subsidy shall not exceed 40 per cent of the actual rent paid by the staff member.

Dependency allowance

Dependency benefits are payable to Professional staff members for both dependent spouses whose annual gross earnings are under a certain threshold, and for children under the age of 21 for whom the staff member provides main and continuing financial support. Staff members will only receive the allowance for dependent children between the ages of 18 and 21 if they are in full-time attendance at a school, university or similar educational institution. Staff members who do not have a dependent spouse may be eligible to receive a secondary dependant allowance for a parent or sibling under certain conditions.

Education grant

An education grant is payable, if supported by documentary evidence, in respect of each child who is in full-time attendance at a recognized school or university.

The grant is payable from the scholastic year following the child's fifth birthday, or in which he/she completed his/her fifth year, provided this age is attained during the first term of that scholastic year. The grant shall be payable until the end of the fourth year of post-secondary studies or the award of the first recognized degree, whichever is earlier. The grant will not be paid beyond the scholastic year in which the child reaches the age of 25.

Repatriation grant

Upon separation from service, a staff member who has completed at least five years of service outside his/her home country and whom the Agency is liable to repatriate is paid a repatriation grant. Payment of the repatriation grant shall be subject to evidence of relocation. The amount is linked to the staff member's dependency status and the length of service with the IAEA.

Home leave

Travel expenses of an eligible staff member and his/her eligible primary dependants are paid to and from his/her home country to enable him/her to take leave there once every two years of qualifying service. The first home leave will fall due in the second year of a staff member's service.

Family visit

Travel expenses of an eligible staff member may be paid for the purpose of visiting his/her spouse and dependency child or children who are residing at the place of recruitment, the place of home leave or the previous duty station when during the preceding twelve months neither the spouse nor a dependent child has been present at the duty station after travel at the Agency's expense, except on education grant travel. Family visit travel may be granted only once every two years of qualifying service and the staff member must have completed at least one year of continuous service at the duty station after initial appointment.

Additional benefits and entitlements

In addition to the benefits detailed above, the IAEA offers its staff annual leave at a rate of 2.5 days per month, sick leave entitlement and parental leave entitlement (26 weeks paid leave for birth parents and 16 weeks paid leave for non-birth parents), among others.