Ancillary activities (nevenwerkzaamheden)

The definition of ancillary activities used by the University of Twente is all paid and unpaid work that you perform that is not part of your job at the University. Examples include an employment contract with another employer, supervisory board membership or an advisory role for an external organization, activities for start-ups or as an entrepreneur or other type of independent professional.

Non-business ancillary activities that in no way affect the University of Twente’s interests and for which no income is received (except expense or volunteer allowances),  do not need to be reported. Examples include a board position at your child’s school or amateur sports club.

Management positions and advisory positions that are directly linked to your University of Twente position are not ancillary activities. This also applies to activities in the context of contract research or contract education in which the University of Twente is a partner, and that are subject to your employment with the UT. These activities are part of your job at the University of Twente. Activities such as participation in a scientific committee or consultative body, editorial work and reviewing articles are generally not considered ancillary activities. Writing articles for a newspaper/newspaper/magazine or giving an expert opinion in a TV programme, if this is done (partly) on behalf of the UT, does not fall under ancillary activities either. It is sufficient if you make working arrangements about these activities with your manager. For more information on what are ancillary activities and what are not, see the FAQ.

If you would like to start to perform reportable ancillary activities, you should always ask permission. The scope of your employment with the University of Twente and the scope of your ancillary activities are irrelevant. You must also always report changes in ancillary activities.

You can request permission by registering your ancillary activities via MyHR - ancillary activities. If you are unsure whether an activity falls under ancillary activities that you need to report, it is wise to report it anyway.

You will usually receive permission for ancillary activities that do not adversely affect the performance of your job and cannot harm the interests of the UT. This permission can be applied for up to four years. If you wish to continue the ancillary activities after this period has expired, you must apply for permission again. Only if your main employment is elsewhere can you give up ancillary activities for an indefinite period.

If you intend to set up a spin-off company and/or you want to participate in an existing spin-off company, then you must always report this through MyHR - ancillary activities. In order to assess how the spin-off activities relate to your position at the University of Twente, clear agreements need to be made for spin-off activities. These agreements vary depending on the spin-off company’s development stage. This is why you should always review 'The explanatory notes' before reporting your activities for a spin-off company.

Society demands transparency and integrity from organisations in the public domain regarding ancillary activities. The Sectoral Scheme on Ancillary Activities therefore stipulates that external parties have insight into the ancillary activities of professors. This concerns information about the nature of the ancillary activities and the body for which it is performed. Ancillary activities for which permission has been granted are automatically displayed on the UT's People Pages. In addition, an overview is displayed on the UT website of both professors who have ancillary activities (with the ancillary activities listed) and professors who have no ancillary activities.

In addition to the obligation for professors to disclose ancillary activities, the ancillary activities of directors are also shown on their public profile page in People Pages. This concerns directors with the following UFO profiles: director service department or managing director, policy director and education or research institute director. It is possible that in time the group of employees for whom ancillary activities are public will be expanded.

Review and discussion of ancillary activities

Because of the great importance of integrity and transparency, we ask you to annually check the current situation of your ancillary activities registrations and to adjust them where necessary. If you have no ancillary activities registered, we ask you to declare annually that you actually have no ancillary activities. For this, you will receive a task in MyHR in February each year.

UPON COMMENCEMENT OF EMPLOYMENT

When you have just joined the University of Twente, you will receive a task via MyHR. Through this task, you will be asked to register your ancillary activities if you have any, or to declare that you have no ancillary activities.

annual review

In your annual review, you will also discuss with your manager whether the agreements you have made regarding your ancillary activities are still up to date and sufficient, or whether they require adjustment.

You can read the rules for ancillary activities in the Sectoral scheme covering ancillary activities. These regulations apply to all Dutch universities. 

All work and other activities that do not fall under “the position of and/or duties assigned to” an employee at the university are ancillary activities. These activities are not performed under the responsibility of the university. In addition, the activities of a self-employed professional, for example, or those of a director and major shareholder (DGA) of a private limited company (BV), a partner in a general partnership (VOF) or a director of a foundation, public limited company (NV) or BV may qualify as ancillary activities.

Within the university, the duties assigned to you are based on your job profile under the University Job Classification System (UFO), your duties as laid down by the university and/or other agreements made. The duties and activities you are required to perform are based on what you can be reasonably be instructed to do by the university. If you have questions about the duties that have been assigned to you or your UFO profile, you can turn to your supervisor. Examples of activities that may be part of your job include:

• participating in an academic committee or consultative body;
• internally or externally serving as an editor or chief editor;
• reviewing articles;
• a professor who writes for a newspaper/magazine/journal, or who gives their expert opinion on a TV programme, including when they do so on behalf of the university and not in a private capacity.

Such activities are examples of duties arising from the UFO profile for the position of professor (“disseminating scientific knowledge and insights”). This also applies to the UFO profiles for the positions of assistant professor (UD) and associate professor (UHD), and partly also to lecturers in higher job levels. However, there can sometimes be ‘grey areas’. Therefore, in case of doubt, you should report the activity, so that the Dean (if you are part of academic staff) or Director (if you are part of support and administrative staff) and/or the HR department can help identify any potential risks with respect to conflicts of interest or academic integrity. If you have been instructed to perform an activity, it is part of your job and thus not an ancillary activity.

The activities you perform outside the university qualify as your ancillary activities under the Sectoral Scheme on Ancillary Activities. Examples including working as a lawyer or accountant. Therefore, you must report the activities you perform outside the university as ancillary activities and request permission to perform them via MyHR. If you are a professor with a main function elsewhere, then publication on your publicly accessible web page (People Pages) of your function elsewhere is in order. This may sound illogical, as a position elsewhere may be your main activity and therefore main job. This occurs at least in the case of a(n) (endowed) professor whose main position is elsewhere. However, in order to safeguard the (scientific) integrity of the university and the person concerned, consent and publication are essential. For these work, follow the provisions of the regulations.

If at least 5% of the shares in a company are owned by you yourself, or jointly by you and a life partner who qualifies as a tax partner (fiscale partner), you have a substantial interest. Even if you and your tax partner own less than 5% of the shares, you may nonetheless have a substantial interest. This is the case, for example, if any of your or your tax partner’s parents, children or grandchildren (or any of their tax partners) own at least 5% of the shares in the company.

As a rule, you should report all ancillary activities. Only ancillary activities that meet all the conditions set out in Article 4.1 or 4.2 of this Sectoral Scheme on Ancillary Activities are exempt from the reporting obligation. One of the conditions set out in Article 4.1 is that you do not receive any earnings from your ancillary activities. If you do receive earnings from your ancillary activities, you must report this to the university (Article 6.2). Such earnings are understood to also include any deferred income, such as income from financial stakes or interests. It is not necessary to disclose financial stakes and interests that concern investments, shares or share portfolios held through a publicly traded fund. Reimbursements of expenses incurred and the maximum tax-exempt volunteering allowances do not qualify as earnings from ancillary activities. Examples of ancillary activities that do not have to be reported include: sitting on the board of an amateur sport club or on a school board. If you are unsure whether certain ancillary activities must be reported, you should ask your supervisor.

That depends on which category the earnings fall into. Depending on this categorisation, the university is entitled to the earnings, you as an employee are entitled to them, or the earnings are divided between the university and you. The categorisation of earnings from ancillary activities is based on whether the activities relate to and/or arise from your position at the university. This is provided for in Article 5.4. The university is also be entitled to any earnings that relate to activities that do not fall under the position of and/or duties assigned to an employee in question (see the answer to question 2 above), but which are received from an entity other than the university.

As a rule, you should report all ancillary activities, even if you receive no earnings from such activities. Only ancillary activities that are exempt from the reporting obligation do not have to be reported. This exemption applies to ancillary activities that meet all the conditions set out in Article 4.1 or 4.2 of this Sectoral Scheme on Ancillary Activities. The mere fact that you receive no earnings from ancillary activities does not exempt you from the obligation to report such activities. This is because regardless of whether you receive earnings from ancillary activities, there may be other factors affecting the university’s academic or other interests or affecting an effective performance of you job, such as the fact that the ancillary activities take up too much of your time, that require the reporting of such activities. In addition, when you establish a legal entity or are involved in another organisation as a Management Board or Supervisory Board member or shareholder, you may be obliged to report these ancillary activities, as they may involve deferred income or a possible conflict of interests.

You request permission to perform ancillary activities and report them in MyHR/ ancillary activities. You should first discuss with your manager the ancillary activities you are going to perform or changes in (aspects of) the ancillary activities you already have. You do this before you start the ancillary activities or before the changes occur. You can then officially report the ancillary activities (or changes) via MyHR/annexed activities. You give your supervisor permission to view your report. Your supervisor will then advise the competent authority whether or not to grant permission (subject to conditions). Your report will then go to the competent authority. For employees in the faculty, this is the dean and for the dean this is the chairman of the Executive Board. For employees in service departments, the service department director is the competent authority. The competent authority grants or refuses permission for your reported ancillary activities. This decision is confirmed electronically via MyHR and is recorded your electronic personnel file.

In the final stage of the selection or appointment procedure, when also is determined whether the parties can agree on the terms and conditions, the supervisor or other responsible person is expected to of ask whether there are any ancillary activities.

Prior to their appointment, candidate (endowed) professors themselves are also obliged to provide insight into their ancillary activities and financial participations or interests (Article 3.4). The report of the (employment) conditions interview with a professor always contains a section indicating whether the candidate has ancillary activities and, if so, whether these are approved or disapproved (subject to conditions and if so, which ones) by the Dean.

When offering the employment contract, appointment or other agreements on work, it will be pointed out that the new person concerned must request permission for any ancillary activities in accordance with the procedure of the university and that registration must be done in MyHR. Immediately after starting employment, the person concerned to whom the Sectoral Scheme on Ancillary Activities applies receives a task in MyHR for this purpose. Through this task, they are called upon to register the ancillary activities or to declare that there are no ancillary activities. Any changes thereafter must always be reported by the through MyHR.

In the interest of safeguarding the university’s academic integrity, it is essential that you report any ancillary activities you perform as transparently as possible. For this reason, it is essential that you request permission for all ancillary activities, including minor jobs. If you regularly do such small jobs that are not part of your regular duties at the university, you may in consultation with the university opt for requesting general permission once for all such jobs, so that you are not required to report each activity. In that case, you should ensure that your public disclosure of these ancillary activities makes sufficiently clear whether there are any possible conflicts of interest with external clients. When your ancillary activities are discussed in the annual performance interview or another assessment interview, you should then retrospectively disclose the ancillary activities you performed. However, as a general rule, you should report ancillary activities in advance whenever possible and you should always keep your publicly accessible profile page on the university website up to date.

As a rule (based on the principles of good employership and good employeeship), everyone should adhere to the obligations under the Scheme. In exceptional situations where the rules are deliberately not complied with, sanctions can be imposed. Whether a sanction is imposed depends on the nature and seriousness of the violation of the Scheme and the circumstances that played a role in this. The principles of good employership and good employeeship are also relevant in this respect. Examples of possible sanctions include:

• warning or reprimand;
• suspension or disciplinary leave of absence;
• deducting holiday entitlement in excess of the statutory entitlement (if
• prohibited activities were performed during working hours);
• demotion;
• transfer;
• dismissal.

The examples above are not intended as an exhaustive list of the sanctions that can be imposed, and it is up to the university to determine the seriousness of the violation and whether a sanction is justified and proportionate in the situation concerned.

There will usually be sufficient time to request permission before you start with the ancillary activities. If that is not the case, no blame will be attached to the employee in question if they start with the ancillary activities pending the permission, except if it was already evident to the employee from a discussion or emails, etc. that permission was not going to be granted. When an employee in question is informed of the decision to refuse permission, they must immediately cease the ancillary activities.