Employers, unions agree to let people work from home if reasonable: report

The right to work from home is a big step closer in the Netherlands. Employers and trade unions have agreed in the Social and Economic Council (SER) to allow employees to work from home if their request is "reasonable and fair," sources told RTL Nieuws.

The right to work from home will not apply to professions in which it is difficult or impossible to work from home, nor to companies with fewer than ten employees, the unions and employers agreed.

Last year, the Cabinet asked the SER for advice on hybrid working - working from home some days and at the office on others. The SER now said that it is preferable that employers and employees make mutual agreements about hybrid working in the world council or the collective bargaining agreement. If such agreements don't exist, work from home requests must be assessed using the criterion of reasonableness and fairness.

Political reporter Roel Schreinemachers called this agreement a breakthrough in the labor market. "It gives employees more control over where and when they do their work. Experience in recent years has shown that this sometimes even gives a better result than if the employee is obliged to be in the office all the time," he said to the broadcaster.