🇳🇱 Hiring in the Netherlands

💡 Everything you need to know to hire and manage employees in the Netherlands through Toku. Toku handles payroll processing, tax withholding, social contributions, and statutory compliance. This guide covers what you need to plan costs and manage your team.

At a Glance

Onboarding a New Hire

Plan for 5-7 business days between submitting a new hire and their start date. The employee needs a BSN (citizen service number), which Dutch residents already hold and international hires obtain on registration; Toku completes the tax authority registration before day one and assesses 30% ruling eligibility for qualifying international hires.

Submit the new hire through the Toku platform for the employment agreement, statutory registrations and payroll setup. See Onboard Contributors as a Client Admin in Toku for the steps. Toku will confirm the expected onboarding timing for your hire.

Employer Costs

On top of gross salary, you pay the following employer contributions in the Netherlands (all levied on wages up to EUR 79,409 per year in 2026):

As a rule of thumb, total cost of employment is roughly 126-133% of gross salary once the mandatory 8% holiday allowance is included. Toku's mandatory pension adds a further 14.7% of the pension base (pensionable salary minus the statutory offset) on top of this.

Employees pay national insurance contributions of 27.65% (state pension, survivor benefits, and long-term care), which are integrated into income tax withholding: combined rates run from 35.70% in the first bracket to 49.50% on income above EUR 79,137. These are withheld from gross salary, not charged on top. Toku calculates and remits all of the above.

Compensation & Payroll

Payroll in the Netherlands is monthly. Toku runs one payroll per month, and employees receive a detailed payslip each cycle. Salaries are paid in euros by bank transfer.

The statutory gross minimum wage is EUR 14.99 per hour from 1 July 2026 (about EUR 2,598 per month for a 40-hour week), adjusted every January and July. The 8% holiday allowance is paid as a lump sum in May or June. There is no statutory 13th month salary, though some contracts provide one.

Employment Contracts & Probation

• Toku issues a compliant local employment agreement for every hire, covering salary, hours, notice, pension, and probation terms.
• Indefinite-term contracts are the default. Fixed-term contracts follow the chain rule: a maximum of three consecutive contracts within 36 months, after which the contract automatically becomes indefinite.
• Probation is 3 months per Toku's employment agreement (article 7:652 Dutch Civil Code). During probation, either party may end the contract immediately without notice or cause.

Working Hours

The standard working week is 36-40 hours depending on the contract. Statutory caps are 12 hours per shift, 60 hours in any week, and an average of 48 hours per week over 16 weeks. There is no statutory overtime premium: overtime compensation follows the contract. Employees have a legal right to request changes to their hours, schedule, and place of work, and employers must weigh remote work requests seriously and refuse only with written reasons.

Leave Entitlements

Statutory leave days expire six months after the end of the year they were earned in, so encourage your team to use them. The two-year paid sick leave obligation is one of the most protective in Europe and comes with formal reintegration duties, which Toku manages.

Public Holidays (2026)

The Netherlands recognizes 11 national holidays in 2026. Paid time off on public holidays is not a statutory right but is granted by virtually all employers under the contract; Liberation Day (May 5) is a general paid holiday only once every five years (next in 2030). Holidays falling on a weekend are not moved.

Benefits

Statutory employer social charges (the state pension (AOW), unemployment insurance (WW), long-term disability cover (WIA), and the employer healthcare contribution) run through payroll as shown in Employer Costs above. Dutch employees arrange and pay for their own mandatory basic health insurance, so there is no employer health premium. On top of this, Toku provides a mandatory occupational pension with Centraal Beheer, with a 14.7% employer contribution billed to you.

Benefits at a Glance

Statutory Health Insurance (Employee-Arranged)

Under the Zorgverzekeringswet, everyone living or working in the Netherlands must hold Dutch basic health insurance (basisverzekering) from a Dutch-licensed insurer. This is the employee's personal responsibility, paid directly to their insurer; there is no employer premium. Employees must enroll within 4 months of starting work (premiums backdate), and international/expat plans don't qualify. If an employee stays uninsured, the state (CAK) can fine them and ultimately assign an insurer, with premiums (€172.70/month in 2026) withheld from salary. Toku guides employees through this at onboarding.

Occupational Pension: Centraal Beheer PPI

All employees aged 18+ (full-time and part-time) are automatically enrolled from their date of hire in a defined contribution plan with Centraal Beheer, invested in LifeCycle funds managed by Achmea Investment Management.

⚠️ Participation cannot be waived. Neither you nor an employee can opt an individual out of the scheme, and the employer contribution percentage cannot be reduced for a single employee. A waiver declaration (afstandsverklaring) is only available for net pension arrangements, which this scheme is not, as confirmed by Centraal Beheer PPI in August 2026 (pensioenreglement s. 4.2). The voluntary employee contribution is the only individually variable element.

The plan includes survivor protections: partner pension before retirement (30% of pensionable salary), orphan's pension (6%, to age 25), partner pension after retirement (70% of the chosen old-age pension), an optional employee-paid ANW-gap insurance, and waiver of premium on long-term disability (contributions continue at no cost to the employee).

What You Need to Know About Benefits

• The 14.7% employer pension contribution is the main benefit cost on a Netherlands hire, billed to you. Health insurance is employee-paid.
• The pension is mandatory for every employee and cannot be waived or reduced individually, so build it into every Netherlands offer.
• Extra perks (allowances, equipment, etc.) fall under the Dutch WKR (work-related costs scheme). Exceeding the tax-free space triggers an 80% employer levy, so scope any custom Netherlands perks with Toku first. For the full employee-facing detail, Toku's Netherlands Overview explains the health insurance your employee arranges within 4 months of starting and the Centraal Beheer pension plan they are automatically enrolled in.

Common Extras

Other common extras in the Netherlands include supplementary health insurance, travel allowances (tax-free up to EUR 0.23 per kilometer in 2026), bicycle schemes, training budgets, and flexible benefit budgets. Toku can advise on how each of these affects your total cost.

Ending Employment

Dutch dismissal law is strongly protective: outside mutual consent, terminations require either a UWV permit (economic reasons or long-term illness) or dissolution by the court, and dismissal is prohibited during the first two years of illness. Involve Toku early whenever you are considering a termination. For the process, see How to Terminate an Employee or Contractor.

Notice runs from the first of the month after it is given. On employer-initiated termination, the employee is entitled to a statutory transition payment of one-third of a month's gross salary per year of service, accruing from day one and capped at EUR 102,000 gross in 2026 (or one year's salary if higher). Courts can add uncapped fair compensation where the employer acted seriously culpably.

Annual Leave at Termination

This section describes statutory annual leave. Any additional contractual or company-provided leave above the statutory minimum may follow different carryover, expiry, or payout rules under the employee's agreement or applicable policy, subject to local law.

Statutory leave termination payout: Required for unused vacation that remains legally valid. Outstanding statutory and contractual vacation hours are generally settled when employment ends.

Statutory carryover / look-back: Statutory vacation generally expires six months after the end of the calendar year in which it accrued, unless the employee was reasonably unable to take it. Above-statutory leave generally has a longer limitation period.

Admin responsibility: Separate statutory from above-statutory leave, remind employees of remaining statutory leave before the July expiry point, and give them a genuine opportunity to take it.

Important exceptions: If the employee was reasonably unable to take statutory leave, normal expiry may not apply. Toku should review any protected or historic balance before it is removed or excluded from final pay.

See the Annual Leave / PTO Carryover & Termination Payout Guide for the cross-country framework.

Hiring Someone from Overseas?

The highly skilled migrant scheme is the main route for non-EU hires, with 2026 salary thresholds of EUR 5,942 per month for candidates aged 30 and over and EUR 4,357 for under-30s (excluding holiday allowance), and processing of typically 2-4 weeks; the EU Blue Card is an alternative for highly qualified roles. EU, EEA, and Swiss nationals can work without a permit and simply register with their municipality. Eligible international hires may also qualify for the 30% ruling, which lets part of their salary be paid tax-free. Talk to Toku before extending an offer to a candidate who needs sponsorship.

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Last updated November 5, 2026 (onboarding link only). Last verified October 2026. This guide is for general information and doesn't constitute legal or tax advice. Your Toku account manager can confirm specifics for your situation.