Choosing holidays for your staff

Days off in the Netherlands

Days off can be divided into vacations and public holidays. According to Dutch law, your employees are entitled to vacation days. Nowhere in the law does it say that an official holiday (in Dutch) is also a day off. The collective labour agreement (CAO) or employment contract states whether you give time off on a holiday. And whether or not you pay wages on those days, or a surcharge if your employee works on an official holiday.

Holiday surcharge

The law does not state that you have to pay a holiday surcharge. Whether you have to pay a surcharge or not, and how much, can be found in the CAO. If it is not in there, then record the arrangements in the employment contract or company regulations. 

Swapping holidays

But are the official holidays actually days that your staff wants to take off? Take Sinterklaas or the end of Ramadan: these are not official holidays in the Netherlands. But many people do want to be off then. Or think more broadly, about a non-public holiday such as a birthday, wedding anniversary, or commemoration of the death anniversary of a loved one. An employee may want an (extra) day off then.

To make sure everyone is off on the holidays they really celebrate, you can let your staff choose their own holidays. This is becoming more common (in Dutch). It fits the trend of giving staff more freedom of choice and a more inclusive society. If you choose this option, you include in the secondary terms of employment which public holidays are standard in your company as well as the possibility for staff to exchange a public holiday.

Differrent approach: unlimited days off

"We believe that dealing well with staff involves a lot of freedom. Our employees do not request vacations from management. They are responsible for their own planning and assignments, in consultation with their team." Speaking is co-owner Tim Klein Robbenhaar of Enschede-based digital agency Nerds & Company. They offer employees an unlimited number of paid days off.

Really unlimited? "No, of course not because then we would be bankrupt within a year. Our staff takes vacations when they want and when they can. This is done in consultation with their team so that projects keep going and our customers remain satisfied," Klein Robbenhaar adds.

To make this work, he offers three tips:

• Do a comprehensive recruitment and selection process. Ask about sense of responsibility and self-direction. Our personnel are highly educated and look beyond their daily tasks. They understand what customers find important. They also know their role in a project and when they are indispensable.
• You are required as an employer to keep vacation records. If we see an employee not taking enough vacation time, we raise the alarm. Similarly, if we see structural outliers, we engage in the conversation.
• Prevent (unintentional) abuse. With us, the team solves this itself. If that fails, the secondary terms of employment offer a solution. These state, for example, that a 3- to 4-week trip is a long time and should be well discussed. Vacations lasting more than 7 days must be arranged at least 1 month in advance. And that 24 vacation days are counted when leaving employment.

The number of vacation days taken by staff increased from 26 to 30 vacation days on full-time employment. "While it is not quite unlimited, it sends a different kind of message," Klein Robbenhaar looks back with satisfaction. "It gives a sense of freedom to be able to take a day off on short notice. And it gives you room to take a longer vacation one year. And then as an employee you understand that the following year you take a little less."