•• EMPLOYMENT ••
Contracts and employment law The laws covering employment in the Netherlands are many and various. Your personal contract will determine your pay and specific conditions. Dutch legislation covers key areas such as trial periods, holidays, notice and dismissal, minimum wages, health and safety and equal treatment. The system for dismissal is particularly unusual in being so protective of the employee: in most cases the employer needs permission from the UWV WERKbedrijf or the court to fire you. Useful information regarding working practices, employment law and the minimum wage can be found on the Ministry of Social Affairs and Employment website (www.internationalezaken. szw.nl) or the UWV WERKbedrijf website (www.werk.nl). If you want to check the market rate for your salary or calculate bruto/netto rates (before/after tax and social security deductions), then try website www.loonwijzer.nl. It is standard practice in the Netherlands to get extra wages (usually eight percent of your salary) for holidays (normally paid in May) and four weeks of paid leave. Sanne van Ruitenbeek of Pallas Advocaten provides the following important information: • If you work in the Netherlands, Dutch law is partly and often fully applicable to your employment, even if the law of another country is declared applicable i n your contract. • The number of succeeding employment contracts for a fixed term is limited to three. The total duration of fixed term contracts is limited to three years. If the duration of the contracts or the number of fixed contracts exceeds the legal limit, the employment contract will automatically become a contract for an unlimited term. • If the contract is for less than two years, the trial period cannot be longer than one month. The maximum duration of a trial period is two months. During the trial period both employer and employee are allowed to terminate the employment contract with immediate effect. • The notice period for the employee is usually one month. If the notice period for the employee is extended, the notice period for the employer should be double the notice period of the employee.
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Collective Labour Agreement (CAO) This is a written agreement covering working conditions and benefits that is drawn up by employers, employers’ organisations and employee organisations (such as unions). A CAO operates at company or industry sector level and the provisions (number of holidays, for example) are often more generous than statutory requirements. It should state in your contract whether a CAO is applicable; you don’t have to be a member of a union to benefit. If no CAO applies—they all have to be registered— you will need to negotiate your own terms and conditions. The largest trade union federation in the Netherlands is the FNV (www.fnv.nl). Working culture Work life and home life are kept separate and office hours will be strictly observed. Newcomers working at Dutch companies are often surprised by the informal working relationships, horizontal management structures and (lots of) meetings (overleggen) at which every point of view must be discussed to reach a consensus. There’s a punctilious approach to these meetings, indeed social engagements of any kind: always carry your diary (agenda). Despite this approach, a common complaint on expat forums is that meetings often start late apart from in the larger international organisations. Colleagues often lunch together (all part of working as an egalitarian team) or there may be a canteen. The working environment in an international company can be very different. Flexible working is common, particularly for families with children. In terms of gender diversity at the top level, things are looking up. According to the EuropeanPWN BoardWomen Monitor 2010, the Netherlands grew by 28.6 percent in two years ranking it as the 4th best European country for female board representation, up from the 10th place in 2006. This impressive growth is due to the commitment of a number of CEOs to improve gender diversity as a result of pressure from various private initiatives and continued press attention.
THE NETHERLANDS EXPAT SURVIVAL GUIDE | WWW.EXPATICA.COM