Growing regulatory pressure on the labour market reduces freedom of choice for workers and employers
Labour market measures keep piling up: the Act on More Security for Flexible Workers, a proposed presumption of an employment contract at a low hourly rate, and the European rules on pay transparency and platform work. In an opinion piece on CHRO (25 August), Joost van Ladesteijn describes the effect of this accumulation.
A more complex and costly system
Each measure has its own purpose, but together they produce an increasingly complex and costly system. This limits the freedom of choice of workers who deliberately opt for flexible or self-employed work, and of organisations that want to remain agile.
Making a distinction
Protection is necessary, but it should distinguish between genuine vulnerability and a deliberate choice for self-employment. Generic measures that affect everyone overshoot their goal.
Guidance for HR
Joost offers HR leaders a different way to look at flexibility: not as a “flexible layer” to be kept as small as possible, but as access to talent. That calls for a workforce architecture in which security and agility go together, with a deliberate choice of contract type for each role.
What can you do now?
Map which new rules affect your organisation and when they take effect.
Choose the appropriate contract type for each role and substantiate that choice.
Involve HR, Legal and Finance jointly in strategic workforce planning.
Read the opinion piece (in Dutch): CHRO.
This blog provides general information and is not legal advice. For advice on a specific situation, please contact us.
