The Fabled Dutch Contract

Congratulations to Beth! She has taken a new job at a huge software application provider founded in Germany. Living as we do in Holland, Beth has joined as a Dutch employee … and Dutch employees are entitled to a “classic” Dutch contract. While all of the EU country contracts have their own special touches, I thought that you might enjoy some of the highlights from a Dutch perspective. These items probably seem both trivial and bizarre to us Americans. We tend to go into a job with the attitude that we are sooooo lucky that the company has granted us the privilege to work for them and any bits and scraps that they happen to throw to us are all icing on the cake. Some will say that these little items are perfect illustrations of the socialistic attitudes of Europe and how their labor practices undermine their capitalist way of life. I would ask that you step back and take a look from a different perspective. I propose that these niceties are more reflective of a balanced life culture – including big business culture. And in the case of Holland they are a perfect example of the striving for “gezellig” in all aspects of society (see discussion under blog posting of Feb. 25).

Basic employment provisions – all employees

• 30 days of vacation (goes up based upon age…not tenure or position…i.e. the secretary and CEO get the same # of days if they are the same age)
• 8% vacation salary allowance (effectively a 13th month of pay to enjoy her holidays with)
• Annual allowance for bicycle
• Annual allowance for bicycle accessories
• Free lunch or lunch allowance if working off site (this is a German thing that is carried over…lunches are a BIG deal to German companies)
• Monthly allowance for fresh flowers
• Monthly allowance for fruit baskets
• Full reimbursement for use of public transportation to/from work
• Use of company properties (chalets) across Europe
• All employees – 1st two airline trips in coach….any company trips above 2 are automatically in business class
  
  Special provisions outlined in the contract – all employees:
• Employee Marriage – flowers + 1 month extra gross salary
• Employee Birthday – flowers + fruit basket
• Birth in family – flowers
• New house – plant + fruit basket
• Illness – hospital admission – flowers, sick at home (after 2 weeks flowers)
• Leaving employment – flowers + vvv vouchers
  

All other discussions aside, this is a big deal for Beth. At only 39, she is now a member of the executive team in a fortune 100 global company. Please send her a congratulations!