Information for new employees

Digital Welcome to Aarhus University

All new employees are encouraged to watch Aarhus University's digital welcome presentation as soon as possible during their employment.

The welcome presentation consists of videos that provide relevant information and tools for daily work life at Aarhus University.

You can read more about the presentation and how to get access to it here. 

We also recommend that you participate in the Employment at AU Intro Webinar and the AU Workplace in Focus event.

Getting Started in Denmark

Getting Started in Denmark is an event held at the International Citizen Service (ICS). The event provides you with important on-arrival information as well as the opportunity to be registered with the public authorities for your EU residence certificate, CPR number and tax card - all in one visit. The goal of the event is to aid you in making a smoother transition to Denmark.

The event is for new staff members who have just arrived in Denmark and still have not applied for their CPR number with the Citizen Service. You need to live in or around Aarhus to participate.

You will find all relevant information on our Getting Started in the Denmark webpage.

The event is organised twice a month, usually on the first and third Friday of the month. We encourage all new employees who live in the Aarhus area to take advantage of this unique opportunity.

If you have questions about the event, feel free to contact Talent Development and International Staff Office at internationalstaff@au.dk.

AU Workplace in Focus

The AU Workplace in Focus is a seminar for new international staff at Aarhus University. During a two-hour session you will learn more about the AU workplace, get answers to typical questions about your professional life at the university, including everyday working practices, occupational health, terms of employment, salary negotiations and workplace assessments.

You can register here https://medarbejdere.au.dk/en/administration/hr/recruitmentandonboarding/onboarding/the-au-workplace-in-focus

Learning Danish

The engineering area at Aarhus University arranges Danish lessons for foreign employees in cooperation with the language school A2B. New classes start twice a year, in January and September. For new citizens in Denmark, the classes are free, but you have to pay a small deposit which will be returned after the end of each module or when all modules are passed. 

The department urges all foreign employees to follow the Danish classes to learn Danish, meet colleagues, and be part of the department's culture.

You will be contacted when a new class is about to start, but you can already now show your interest by contacting karina@mpe.au.dk.

If you are new in Denmark the municipality of Aarhus also contacts you and offers you Danish lessons. We encourage you to participate in the Danish lessons arranged by the Department.

You can kickstart your Danish skills with this self-study Danish language and culture lessons. Future AU international staff and accompanying spouses can access the portal for 1 month free of charge.

Visit the A2B Pre-arrival portal

You will receive an email on how to set up your AU email and password. Remember to read the email in its entirety and follow the instructions on how to select your email address.

Remember to read and respond to your emails and always keep your calendar up to date.

You can download a template for setting up your email signature on the department's staff portal.

At AU and thus at MPE we have a open calendar policy that means that everyone should be able to see titles and locations in your calendar.

If you need an appointment to be confidential or private, use the private option when making the calendar invitation.

The setting in your calendar sharing should be called Can view titles and locations. See the picture below if you have trouble setting up your calendar.

On your first day of work, you will be provided with a key and access card that grants entry to the department's buildings. Along with your key, you will receive a key receipt form that you are kindly requested to fill out and return to the secretariat.

You will receive an email containing the code for your access card. If you have forgotten your code or have not received one, you can generate a new code for your access card here.

If you receive a mobile phone as part of your employment, you must decide whether you:

1. Will exclusively use your phone for work purposes. If you choose this option, you will be asked to complete a solemn declaration.
2. Will use the mobile phone for both work and personal purposes. If you choose this option, please be aware that you will be subject to multimedia taxation.

The general policy at the Department of Mechanics and Production is to minimize roaming abroad and connect to a wireless network whenever possible. Additionally, employees are encouraged to use Skype or other internet-based telephony services for international calls. Personal international calls should not be made using your work phone, regardless of whether you have chosen to be taxed or not.

You can find more information about work telephony on the department's staff portal.

As an employee at the Department of Mechanical and Production Engineering, you are responsible for registering your holiday and absence in AU's digital HR solution, mitHR.

At the department, we operate with standard holiday periods, which means that your holiday will be registered based on the department's standard holiday periods. If you wish to change your holiday from the standard planning, you need to modify your vacation registration in mitHR. You are only allowed to change your vacation if it does not conflict with teaching or other work obligations. If there is a conflict, you must discuss your vacation with your supervisor/advisor.

Before going on vacation, you must inform your supervisor/advisor, update your Outlook calendar, and set an auto-reply on your email.

You can read about the department's guidelines for holiday and absence registration on the department's staff portal and find instructions for absence registration in mitHR here.

On Aarhus University's overall staff portal, you can learn about the general holiday and absence rules at AU.

In addition to your earned holidays, as an employee at Aarhus University, you also receive some days off with pay. You can find an overview of these days here.

The department has a staff portal (which is actually the page you are currently on), where you have access to various information about the department, including procedures, guidelines, and practical information. We recommend bookmarking the staff portal on your work computer and familiarizing yourself with its contents.

In addition to practical information, news and events are also posted on the department's staff portal, which we encourage you to keep an eye on regularly.

By searching for your name on Aarhus University’s staff portal you will find your personal PURE profile. It is your responsibility to keep your profile up to date. Therefore, please send the following information to mpe@au.dk as soon as possible, and your updates will be added to the system:

• Brief description of your personal, academic profile
• Your resume (Word format)

All of the articles, reports, conference papers, etc. you write as well as the activities you participate in during your employment at Aarhus University must be registered in Aarhus University's PURE database. This is done by sending your activities and publications to mpe@au.dk.

Read more about registration of activities and publications in PURE here.

To have a photo on your profile, we also kindly request you to book an appointment with AU Photo, which handles personnel photography for PURE profiles and business cards. When you receive your photo, please send it to mpe@au.dk, and it will be added to your PURE profile once received.

Information security
As an employee, you must follow the general framework for information security at Aarhus University. On AU's staff portal  you can find AU's information security policy and keep up-to-date on Aarhus University's policy and rules regarding information security.

Data protection (GDPR)
If you handle sensitive personal or confidential information in connection with your work, it is important that you comply with the legislation in this area. On the following page, you can find out more about the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) and what you need to do to make sure you protect personal data.

Protection of sensitive personal information and confidential data.

Aarhus University has a number of purchasing agreements with suppliers, which you as an employee must comply with. You find the purchasing agreements here.

You must also familiarise yourself with the department's procedure for operating expenses, which you can find information about here.

As a newly hired employee, it can be overwhelming to be presented with a multitude of abbreviations and acronyms that we use in our daily work. To help you familiarise yourself with the terminology, we have prepared a diagram of the abbreviations you may come across as an employee at the institute:

If you have forgotten your username or password, you can have it sent to you via email here.

If you have forgotten your password for your access card, you can generate a new one here.

If you have forgotten your AU-ID, you can find it in the bottom right corner of your access card.