2. Personnel expenses

(in millions of euros)	2018	2017*
Wages and salaries	1,629	1,488
Social security contributions	205	209
Contributions to defined contributions plans	107	97
Contributions to defined benefit plans	32	24
Other staff costs	82	69
Staff hired	111	146
Total	2,166	2,033

* adjusted for change in accounting principle regarding the United Kingdom railway pension schemes, as explained in Section 1

The average workforce was as follows.

(in fte)	2018	2017
Netherlands	18,734	19,897
UK	12,936	10,402
Germany	1,657	1,105
Total	33,327	31,404

For the Netherlands, the average number of Qbuzz employees for 2017 is included at 1,139 FTEs.

The workforce as at the financial year-end was as follows.

(in fte)	2018	2017
Netherlands	18,381	18,805
UK	13,162	12,785
Germany	2,028	1,447
Total	33,571	33,037

Remuneration of the Executive Board

(in euro's)	Fixed salary	Alternative for the gap on pension accrual	Payment lease amounts	Compensation fiscal treatment executive car	Various allowances	Pension expenses	Total 2017
Mr. R.H.L.M. van Boxtel	449,944	41,524	-	13,662	4,368	14,431	523,929
Mr. H.L.L. Groenewegen	352,898	29,878	15,720	3,540	4,584	14,431	421,051
Mrs. M.E.F. Rintel	352,898	32,368	2,784	3,540	4,368	14,431	410,389
Mrs. S.M. Zijderveld	352,898	29,878	15,720	3,540	4,368	14,431	420,835
Mr. T.B. Smit	265,178	22,523	-	2,655	3,276	10,823	304,455
Total	1,773,815	156,172	34,224	26,937	20,963	68,547	2,080,658


(in euro's)	Fixed salary	Alternative for the gap on pension accrual	Payment lease amounts	Compensation fiscal treatment executive car	Various allowances	Pension expenses	Total 2018
Mr. R.H.L.M. van Boxtel	460,294	42,626	-	11,093	4,368	14,677	533,058
Mr. H.L.L. Groenewegen	361,014	30,713	16,920	2,738	4,368	14,677	430,430
Mrs. M.E.F. Rintel	361,014	33,272	2,784	2,738	4,368	14,677	418,852
Mrs. S.M. Zijderveld	361,014	30,713	16,920	2,738	4,368	14,677	430,430
Mr. T.B. Smit	361,014	30,713	-	2,738	4,368	14,677	413,510
Total	1,904,350	168,036	36,624	22,045	21,840	73,385	2,226,280

Please refer to the chapter ‘Remunerations of the Executive Board’ in the annual report for more details on the remuneration policy for the Executive Board.

Remuneration of key management personnel (excluding the Executive Board)

(in euro’s)	Fixed and variabel remuneration	Pension expenses	Termination benefits (excluding compensation legal expenses)	Total
2017	2,558,381	98,835	-	2,657,216
2018	2,346,038	125,964	-	2,472,002

Remuneration of the Supervisory Board

The remuneration of members of the Supervisory Board for 2018 paid by the company totalled €226,053 (2017: €205,371). The remuneration consists of a fixed fee and an allowance for participating in one or more committees. The specification of the amounts for each member of the Supervisory Board is as follows.

(in euro’s)	2018	2017
G.J.A. van de Aast	45,624	44,344
Chairman Supervisory Board , member risk and auditcommittee, member remuneration and nomination committee
J.J.M. Kremers	37,734	36,673
Chairman risk and audit committee
P. Rosenmöller	44,778	42,189
Chairman remuneration and nomination committees, member risk and audit committee (from 1. July 2018) and vice chairman Supervisory Board
M.E. van Lier Lels	32,327	31,420
member risk and audit committee
J.L. Stuijt	34,146	31,420
member remuneration and nomination committee and member risk and auditcommittee (from 1. May 2018)
W.J. van der Feltz	31,444	19,325
(from 1. May 2017), member risk- en auditcommissie (from 1. May 2018)
Totaal	226,053	205,371

The 2018 allowances for the various functions (excluding expenses) are as follows:

(in euro's)	2018
Voorzitter RvC	37.840
Vice voorzitter RvC	33.516
Lid RvC	28.110
Voorzitter risk- en auditcommissie	8.108
Lid risk- en auditcommissie	2.703
Voorzitter remuneratie- en nominatiecommissie	8.108
Lid remuneratie- en nominatiecommissie	2.703

The company has not extended any loans, advances or guarantees to members of the Executive Board or the Supervisory Board.

All the shares of NV Nederlandse Spoorwegen are held by the State of the Netherlands. Members of the Executive and Supervisory Boards and staff members have not been granted rights to hold or acquire shares in the company.