Performing Wage Value Measurement

Municipality of Amsterdam

Application supports the process of determining wage value. The aim of the application is to determine wage value in a uniform manner; a national methodology for this has been available since 2021.

Last change on 27th of November 2024, at 16:57 (CET) | Publication Standard 1.0

• Publication category: Impactful algorithms
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• Status: In development

General information

Theme

Social Security

Begin date

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Contact information

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Responsible use

Goal and impact

Application supports the process of determining wage value. The aim of the application is to determine the wage value in a uniform manner; a national methodology for this has been available since 2021.

Under the Participation Act, those entitled to benefits can apply for guidance and the instruments of the Directorate for Work and Participation. If a person has a suspected work limitation, a wage-value determination can be used to measure reduced labour productivity. The moment an employee's productivity is lower than an average employee, you as an employer can receive compensation for this in the form of a labour cost subsidy. The amount of the wage subsidy is determined by a wage-value expert in the form of a wage-value measurement.

Due to a work limitation, the employee is unable to offer full productivity. At that point, the municipality subsidises part of the wage and guidance costs. The productivity not provided is measured and compensated with a wage subsidy to the employer that supplements the established wage value to the level of the legal minimum wage.

The uniform wage value methodology calculates the (reduced) labour productivity of an employee on of the three variables: pace, quality and net working time.

Considerations

The percentage of reduced wage value is calculated with the algorithm entirely according to the legal rules. A manual calculation will give the same outcome. The mere fact that this is now automated does not in itself have any consequences for the employee's employment contract and income.

The wage value percentage can be seen as special personal data, because it says something about the employability of the person in question. When determining the wage value, it concerns only the degree of limitation, not the nature of the limitation.

Human intervention

The percentage of wage-value reduction is calculated by the application, but is always checked by the wage-value expert. A change in the percentage is possible if it appears that there is new information regarding one of the three variables (pace, quality and net working time).

If there are changes in the employee's circumstances that may affect the wage value, the employer is obliged to cooperate in a new wage value survey. The report and the result of the measurement are always discussed with the person in question. This person must always agree to further use of the wage-value measurement. There is also the possibility of objecting to the measurement.

Level of human control:

human-in-the-loop

Risk management

The employees who perform the wage-value determination are certified specialists for this purpose. The register wage-value experts carry out uniform wage-value measurements for benefit recipients according to a national procedure.

There is little or no impact on the individual, in this case the employee, when carrying out the wage-value measurement. The employee receives the same salary regardless of the outcome of the wage value measurement. A lower percentage of wage value means more wage subsidy for the employer, a higher percentage of wage value results in a lower wage subsidy. For this reason, the risk for the individual is low.

Personal data and sensitive data play a role when performing the wage-value measurement. Given these risk factors, the data is handled very carefully and there are secure connections between the application for determining wage value and the municipality of Amsterdam. The number of employees with access to the application and the associated personal data of the employee is also limited as much as possible.

Mitigation

The user information stored in the application is the data entered by the users. This data can only be viewed by the user himself and the supervisors linked to him.

Operations

Data

The wage-value measurement consists of an observation of the workplace and a conversation between the wage-value expert, the employee and the employer. Prior to the workplace visit, input is requested from the employer and the employee through two questionnaires (see appendix A Employer Questionnaire and B Employee Questionnaire). The questions and data relate to the employee's range of tasks and make a comparison with the norm function of regular employees. The norm function is a comparable function performed by a person without a work limitation. The norm function and/or the main tasks are always grafted onto a regular function 'common' within the industry or sector.

The data used in the report is structured according to the steps of the uniform wage-value determination:

• purpose of the wage-value measurement;
• employee and employer data, such as name, address, place of residence/location, employer contact name;
• task and hour analysis: an analysis of the tasks the employee has and the number of hours he can work in the job concerned;
• norm function;
• determination of work performance and wage value;

advice on reassessment of wage value.

Technical design

Data processing begins the moment a professional from the Amsterdam municipality places an application to perform a wage-value measurement. The application starts the process of conducting the wage-value measurement and a wage-value expert is linked to it. The wage value expert makes an appointment with the employer for the wage value measurement. After confirming the appointment, both the employee and the employer receive information about the wage-value measurement and a questionnaire.

The wage value measurement is carried out in accordance with the uniform wage value methodology based on an interview with the employee and the employer and an observation in practice. The wage value expert explicitly states during the introduction that the wage value measurement is carried out objectively based on actual observations and sources. The wage value expert tests the statements and assumptions of employee and employer by actual observations during the performance of work and by consulting sources. This prevents the process or advice from being influenced by the employee, employer or personal insights.

After performing the wage-value measurement, the data are entered into the application by the wage-value expert. A wage value expert enters data on the three variables pace, quality and net working time of the employee into the application (substantiation and calculation of variables compared to a regular employee) to calculate the percentage (reduced) wage value.

Calculating the percentage (reduced) wage value is seen as an algorithm. The algorithm uses the following formula (in accordance with national practice): % pace x % quality x % net working time = % labour productivity.

The application assists in going through the steps of the uniform wage value determination, checks whether information has been entered and checks whether data have been entered correctly. The wage value expert will provide an explanation in the advice, which also describes the development perspective and any interventions.

Both the employee and the employer are given access to the report. The views of the employee and the employer are stated separately in the report. Only after approval of the report by the employee and the employer is it given final status. After the wage-value measurement has been carried out, the client is informed.

Performance

The application generates a percentage of reduced labour productivity compared to a regular employee in accordance with national practice. In addition, it is possible to determine the duration of the wage-value measurement and, if necessary, to give advice on support.

To determine the wage values, an independent party, Blik op Werk, periodically checks whether the national method is being complied with. If in doubt about the measurement, independent advice can be requested from a client support organisation (in accordance with the national working method).