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 practises, 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 in 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 exceed 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.
• Employment contracts for an unlimited term can only be terminated by the employer with consent of the employee or the labour office (UWV WERKbedrijf) or the Court. The court and labour office assess whether there are grounds for a valid termination. If an employer gives notice of termination without obtaining prior approval, the employee could nullify the termination. This rule is not applicable in the case of summary dismissal (such as fraud or theft by the employee). Courts are however very reluctant about accepting summary dismissals. It is therefore very important to contact an employment lawyer immediately if you are fired on the spot.
• The legal minimum number of holidays per year is four times the weekly working time. This means 20 holidays in the case of a fulltime employee working a five-day week. However, it is common practice in the Netherlands for a fulltime employee to be entitled to approximately 25 holiday days per year, in addition to Dutch public holidays. A new law on holidays recently introduced an expiration date of six months for the legal minimum number of holidays. Employees should therefore take all their holidays within six months after the year the holidays were accrued. Should the employee not take the holidays on time, the holidays will lapse without any compensation or payment. The expiration date of six months is not applicable to the holidays which the employee is entitled to on top of the legal minimum number of holidays. These extra holidays will not lapse until after a period of five years.

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). 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, however senior executive women are still some distance from the boardroom. In terms of gender diversity at the top level, “the Netherlands lags sorely behind other countries,” says Mary van der Boon of Netherlands-based cultural consultancy firm Global tmc. However, 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 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.

Cultural competency

Many international companies have headquarters in the Netherlands. For senior executives, ‘cross-cultural competency' tests may be part of the selection procedure for international assignments. Following on from standard personality analysis programmes like the Meyers Briggs Type Indicators, these tests analyse personality preferences and prejudices that could affect performance in a new cultural environment; technical competence to do the job is already assumed. Top firms are looking for executives who are open-minded, flexible, mature, who show respect for, and interest in different cultures.

Culturally correct CVs 

Concise, direct and professional communication is the style for job applications in the Netherlands.   "Remember that a Dutch CV only states facts and figures," urges the former Centre for Work and Employment (www.werk.nl) UWV WERKbedrijf. One or two pages maximum in this order: Personal details (address etc);

• Education (courses, not results).
• Work experience (the most recent first is popular with recruiters but some like to see career progression). Include job responsibilities.
• ‘Leisure activities' are valued "very much" by Dutch companies, according to the UWV WERKbedrijf. In your cover letter (which should be in Dutch if possible) include more about your motivation for the job, but keep the tone professional. If you've done your research, you should know what the company is looking for and how you fit in.

Updated January 2012 by Sanne van Ruitenbeek, Pallas Attorneys-at-law.