Dutch freelancers need more job security: council for govt. policy

The Netherlands needs to give more job security to freelancers and workers with temporary contracts, the Dutch scientific council for government policy WWR wrote in advice to the government. More job security will result in employees being more willing to take risks and innovate, the council WWR writes, according to RTL Nieuws.

Currently about a third of workers in the Netherlands are self-employed freelancers or work on temporary contracts, according to the WWR. And there are more and more so-called "hybrid workers" - people who have a part time job and work as a freelancer in their spare time for example.

According to the WWR, this type of flexibility entails a number of risks. Flexible employees receive less training and are less concerned about innovation in companies. And that can be bad for the Dutch economy. And on the other hand, new vulnerable groups can emerge consisting of large groups of people who are uncertain about their income and social security. They often get less recognition at work and stress more, according to WWR. More worrying is that this often involves young people, who sometimes decide to delay starting a family due to uncertainty in their work life.

The board believes that going back to the pre-crisis model of most everyone having a permanent job is impossible and undesirable. However, there are ways to give freelancers and temporary workers more security. This includes companies adjusting the type of contract based on the job and giving flexible workers more work. Employers organizations and trade unions could adapt collective bargaining agreements for these types of workers. And employers could make sure that permanent and flexible workers are treated equally when it comes to social security, such as with pensions and other benefits.