What Flexible Work in the Netherlands Will Look Like From 2028
The Dutch Senate has passed a law ending zero-hour contracts and limiting temporary work, aiming to give flexible workers more certainty over their hours and pay; most rules take effect in 2028.
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The Dutch Senate has passed a law that will abolish zero-hour contracts and tighten the rules on flexible employment, in one of the biggest changes to the country’s labour market in years. The bill, aimed at giving flexible workers more certainty over their hours and income, was approved on Tuesday with a broad majority, and most of its measures will take effect in 2028.
The Netherlands has the highest share of flexible work in the European Union: around 2.7 million people, roughly three in ten workers, are on some form of flexible contract.
The end of zero-hour contracts
The most visible change is the end of the zero-hour contract (in Dutch, the nulurencontract), an arrangement under which a worker has no guaranteed hours and is called in only when needed. These will be replaced by what are called bandwidth contracts (bandbreedtecontracten), which set out a minimum and a maximum number of hours in advance. The maximum can be no more than 30 percent above the minimum, so a contract with a minimum of 10 hours a week could have a maximum of 13.
Workers are guaranteed pay and shifts for at least the minimum number of hours, and can refuse work above the maximum. If someone structurally works more than agreed, the employer must offer a contract with a higher number of hours. There are exceptions: schoolchildren, students and people who have reached the state pension age can continue to work on a call basis under certain conditions.
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Limiting temporary and agency work
The law also narrows when temporary contracts can be used. In future, they will generally be reserved for genuinely temporary work, such as covering for a sick employee, seasonal jobs, or as a “stepping stone” for young people entering the labour market.
It also closes a loophole known as the revolving-door arrangement, which has allowed employers to keep people on a string of insecure contracts. At the moment, an employee can be rehired on a new temporary contract just six months after their third fixed-term contract ends. Under the new rules, an employer will have to wait three years before offering another temporary contract to the same person.
Workers hired through temp agencies will also gain ground. They will be entitled to at least the same working conditions as staff employed directly, and the most insecure early phase of agency work will be shortened. This part of the law takes effect earlier than the rest, at the end of 2026.
Why the change
Social Affairs Minister Hans Vijlbrief said work should give people a stable footing. “People deserve security about how many hours they will work and how much they will earn,” he said, describing the law as a way to “tackle the worst excesses of the flexible labour market” and to “restore the balance of power between employers and employees.” He stressed that flexible work would still be possible where it genuinely fits.
The reform is part of a wider overhaul of the labour market that began in 2023 under agreements between the government, employers and trade unions. It builds on a 2020 report by a committee led by former senior civil servant Hans Borstlap, which warned that the gap between permanent and flexible work had grown too wide. The government also had an added incentive to get the law through: it is part of the Netherlands’ post-pandemic recovery plan agreed with the European Commission, and approval is a condition for receiving 600 million euros from an EU recovery fund.
Broad support, and some pushback
The bill passed with support from across most of the political spectrum, from left-wing to centre-right parties. Several mostly right-leaning parties voted against, raising concerns about the growing regulatory burden on employers, and the Senate adopted a motion calling for measures to support employers to be worked out as well.
The FNV, the country’s largest trade union, welcomed the vote as a significant step towards more job security, but said it did not go far enough on its own. The union warned that insecure work could simply shift into other forms, such as bogus self-employment, if the rest of the reform package is not carried through, and stressed that enforcement will be crucial. “Today there is reason for optimism, but we are not there yet,” it said. Some employers and labour lawyers have raised a related concern, that making agency work more expensive could push companies towards hiring self-employed contractors instead.
What happens next
Most of the new rules will apply from 1 January 2028, giving employers and workers time to prepare, while the measures on agency work start at the end of 2026. The law is the second of several bills in the government’s labour-market package to be approved, with more still to come.