The Spring 2007 Issue contains a.o. the following articles:

 
LEGAL AFFAIRS

Better Safe Than Sorry
The war on talent, as described in Martin Glick’s contribution Talent, Come Out Come Out Wherever You Are , presents companies with difficult choices. On the one hand, companies will do almost anything to get – and hold onto – the talent they have. Expensive cars, exclusive holidays and the like are offered to attract high-quality employees. On the other hand, competition is fierce and the gross margin often rather slim.
Many Dutch companies that suffered during the economic downfall after 9/11 were faced with mass lay-offs and even bankruptcy, and are now looking for as much flexibility in their workforce as possible, at a minimal cost. In addition, the talent itself, conscious of its scarcity, is out to negotiate attractive remuneration packages, over which they want to pay as little tax and premiums as possible. Many of them have therefore decided to become self-employed and to offer their services and talent to the highest bidder. At first sight, the concept of self-employment appears to be the ultimate solution to all the problems, but is it really? In this article, Liane van de Vrugt looks at this issue from a Dutch legal and social security point of view.
www.vedeve.com
Liane van de Vrugt, e-mail: lvdvrugt@vedeve.com

Employee in Sight! - About Knowledge Migrants and Poles
Two issues have been dominating the field of labor migration recently: the Knowledge Migrant Scheme, and the influx of workers from the new EU Member states, typically from Poland. Do the available permit schemes satisfy the growing demands on the labor market, or is there a job to do for the new government?
This article takes a look at the current state of affairs as regards knowledge migrants and new EU citizens.
www.everaert.nl
Jelle Kroes, e-mail: kroes@everaert.nl

TAX

The 30%-Ruling
In the ‘war on talent’ (see page 8) not only companies are looking for possibilities to get talent on board. Also the Dutch government is aware that it is of great importance that knowledgeable and experienced expatriates come to work in the Netherlands. However, being an expat more often than not entails extra costs (called extraterritorial costs). In order to make the option of living in the Netherlands as an expat a more attractive one, the Dutch government has created a net allowance to help cover these extra costs: the famous 30%-ruling. In this article we explain what the requirements are for this ruling and what the benefits are for expatriates and employers alike.
www.expatax.nl
Bart van Meijl and Arjan Enneman, e-mail: info@expatax.nl

CAREER

Talent - Come Out Come Out Wherever You Are
“There is intense competition at the moment to hire the most talented and most intellectually able people... We have a shortage of talent both within countries and between countries, and there is an intense battle between companies trying to hire the most talented workers and also between countries which are looking to recruit talented young immigrants.” So says Adrian Wooldridge, Washington Bureau Chief of The Economist.
In this article, Martin Glick takes a look at a number of factors that play a role in this development; such as the fact that the industrial economy has been replaced by an information, service and high-tech economy, the ageing of the population, while he also takes a look at the role that migration rules and education play in this, as well as opportunities that arise, such as for women and for those who are looking for more mobile and flexible jobs.
www.thealbanygroup.com
Martin Glick, e-mail: martin.glick@thealbanygroup.com 



Working in the Netherlands - An Overview
Many of you have come to the Netherlands as an expatriate – placed or transferred here by your employer – so that a lot of the important things have been taken care of. On the other hand, many of you have not come here with a full company support system behind you. If this is the case, there are a number of things you need to know before entering the job market, such as: the make-up of the Dutch employment market, finding a job here as an expatriate, the Dutch social security system, the possibilities of continuing the social insurance legislation of your country of origin in the Netherlands and how to go about setting up your own business. In this article, we provide with an overview of the basics of these matters – and more – to provide you with an understanding of how the system works.

EXPATRIATE MANAGEMENT

Dutch Labour Conditions: Smart or Luxurious?
Over the last few decades, most Western European nations have developed quite an elaborate legal system for managing the relations between workers and management. To people from such countries, phenomena such as the Works Council and collectively negotiated job contracts are not particularly unknown.
To people from other continents, however, and quite often also for Britons and for people from the emerging markets of Central and Eastern Europe, such arrangements are not so common – certainly not in the far-fetched way they have taken shape in the Netherlands. 
Foreign managers posted here often notice with considerable dismay how their individual decisions are hampered by legal obstructions. While trying to streamline their department or organisation into a smoothly running, efficient and optimally profitable machine, they find Dutch legal obstacles on their way, and several ‘rights’ that Dutch workers are quite attached to.
Is this how it really is? And, true or not, where do these obviously extensive rights originate from? Which cultural, political or historical circumstances have created this system, and how can Dutch society – or more correctly: the Dutch economy – live with it? Do unwilling managers (like you, perhaps …) stand a chance of implementing change, or is complying all they can do?
For more information on Jacob see: www.jacobvossestein.nl
Jacob Vossestein

COLUMNS

Employee 1 Employer 0
Having never been an employee in the Netherlands, I feel I missed out. In America I had many jobs ‘at will’; the U.S. system where an employer only agrees to hire you until he doesn’t want to anymore. With as little as two weeks’ notice, it’s adios. Don’t let the door hit you on your way out. Strangely, even with all this worker abuse, I enjoyed all my jobs and I liked all my employers. I even felt well-treated as a minimum-wage usher in a movie theater. The first words my boss said after hiring me was “You’re working Christmas and New Year’s, and it’s no overtime.” It was March.
Never have I had the supreme pleasure of being in dienst in the Netherlands. I’ve never signed a contract for one year where the ‘contract’ meant my employer promises to pay my salary for that whole year. I, however, would not have to actually work there for a year, or at all. A conflict at work? Maybe things got too much? I could stay home for weeks at a time and still get paid. If I went skiing on one of my many vacations and got hurt, the insurance my employer bought would pay my doctor bills while my employer paid my salary for up to a year. Let’s jump out of planes and swim with sharks.
Andrew Moskos is the owner of Boom Chicago Comedy Show in Amsterdam. 
For more on the show, visit www.boomchicago.nl
Andrew Moskos

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