| Benelux (Holland) Employment Legislation The important aspect of Employment Legislation in Holland is that up until a period of three months of employment there is a minimum notice period required of 2 days. The effect of this law is to only allow 3 months for you to be satisfied with your employee, after which it can be extremely difficult to dismiss him/her, unless it is for a serious matter. It should be noted that the unions control all of the employment legislation in Holland, and union representation is mandatory for companies that employ over 50 people. Companies that employ less than 50 staff have less restrictive Employment legislation and many fixed term, renewable contracts are negotiated between employees and employer to avoid the protection issues. After the period of 3 months the employee has substantial job protection The way some companies handle this is to employ all staff on a fixed 1 year contract to be renewed each year. Also the commission is set up in such a way so that 50% of sales = only 20% of commission. In other words if sales people/managers are not successful, they will want out! Availability of Qualified Staff Holland is one of the most difficult places in Europe to hire and retain qualified staff, it has some of the severest shortages of experienced and trained individuals. This shortage of staff generates such a wide choice to employees, that loyalty and longevity is affected and is generally lower than in the rest of Europe. It is generally understood that a Bachelors degree in Holland is more easily attainable than in Germany and France and is therefore not as valuable. We cannot verify this. Cost of employment For budgetary purposes the figure one should expect to have to add to the employers salary is 35% to substantiate the overall employment cost. This is mostly made up of a contribution to the state of up to 17% + Private health is mandatory on all employees over c. $30,000 pa. Dutch executives will be used to and will expect a fully expensed company car. There is little or no benefit for the employee in having a car allowance. Language and cultural factors The Netherlands can boast at a business and executive level, nearly every citizen having an excellent understanding and command of English and German. The linguistic skills of the Dutch (in particular the working knowledge of English) as a language is highly attractive for Pan European employment. Travel and Communication Realistically the 4 potential Locations for any IT Business In
Holland, are; Amsterdam - The capital Rotterdam, The Hague and Eindhoven.
Holland is comparatively inexpensive for commercial property and
has very good links to all major towns and cities. It borders Belgium,
Germany and the Nordic region. Holland is well geographically located
for a European Headquarters. The major IT players in Holland tend
not to stick to one particular region and are quite well spread
out . Here is an example list of major software companies and there
relative locations in Holland: Misc One of the key advantages of having a HQ in Holland is that the taxation system allows you to offset losses from other European Offices. This is often the single most important reason why US Technology companies with large expansion plans select Holland as an administrative HQ. |