More security for employees: government tackles endless temporary contracts

On-call workers, agency workers and temporary employees will soon have more rights. The government wants to get rid of the 'excessive' flex work in the Netherlands. Zero-hour contracts are prohibited and temporary contracts may not be stacked endlessly.

The goal? More certainty and a faster prospect of a permanent contract .

"The Netherlands is the champion of flexible work," Minister Eddy van Hijum (Social Affairs and Employment) told Het Parool . But according to him, that is not necessarily something to be proud of. "43 percent of workers do not have a permanent contract. They work as on-call workers, agency workers, or via a temporary or self-employed contract . This often involves low-paid and insecure work, which makes people vulnerable. They can hardly save, cannot buy a house and cannot start a family."

One of the biggest changes is tackling the so-called revolving door construction: employees who receive a temporary contract three times, have to wait six months and then return to a new temporary contract. That waiting period is now being extended considerably: an employer may only give someone a temporary contract again after five years. In this way, the government hopes that companies will offer a permanent contract more quickly. "Now you see that people sometimes move from one temporary contract to another for ten years. That really has to change."

From now on, temporary workers will receive employment conditions that are equal to those of permanent staff within the same company. At the moment, they earn an average of 13 percent less for the same work. That difference is even greater for migrant workers. "For some companies, cheap labor has become a revenue model," says Van Hijum. "We are tackling that now."

Zero-hour contracts for employees will also disappear. Instead, the government is introducing a 'bandwidth contract'. It sounds more complicated than it is, but in principle it means a contract in which it is agreed how many hours someone works at least and at most per week. Are you called up for extra hours outside those agreements? Then you can refuse without consequences. This gives temporary workers more income security. The government does make an exception for young people with part-time jobs, because they often consciously opt for flexible working hours.

With the new legislation, the government wants to increase the number of employees with a permanent job. According to Van Hijum, this is necessary to restore security of existence. "Work must provide security again. That is too often not the case now."

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