How to Hire Employees in the Netherlands: Costs, Contracts and EOR Options
This guide shows what it costs to employ someone in the Netherlands in 2026, which contract, leave and dismissal rules apply, and how an employer of record compares with a Dutch entity, a contractor or a staffing agency.
By How hiring in the Netherlands works
Most foreign companies make their first Dutch hire through an employer of record. The EOR’s Dutch entity signs the contract, runs payroll with the Belastingdienst and carries the dismissal risk, while you direct the work. Dutch law treats this as payrolling, so the employee is owed the same terms your own staff would get. A BV needs no share capital but brings payroll registration, an occupational health contract and pension checks. For a first team of under ten people, an EOR is usually the right route.
Employer cost has three parts. The 8% holiday allowance applies to every salary. The Aof, WW and Whk premiums and the Zvw health levy add 17.99% on pay up to €79,409 a year, holiday allowance included, and nothing above it. That ceiling is why the rate falls from 27.4% on a €5,000 salary to 17.5% at €12,500. Pension is not statutory, but a mandatory sector fund or collective agreement often makes it compulsory, and it is the cost quotes most often leave out.
Employment terms and working conditions
Start with these six: some changed in 2026 or change in January 2027, and the rest are where Dutch contracts most often go wrong.
Cost of employing someone in the Netherlands
Below the €79,409 premium ceiling the statutory cost is a flat 27.4% of salary, and above it the percentage falls quickly.
At €3,500 the employee earns about 35% above the full-time minimum wage, and every premium applies to salary plus holiday allowance. A fixed-term contract moves WW from 2.74% to 7.74%, adding about €189 a month.
The same 27.4% as the junior point, because no ceiling applies until salary reaches about €6,127 a month, or €79,409 a year with holiday allowance. A mandatory sector pension fund, where one covers the role, comes on top.
Premiums and the Zvw levy stop at €79,409 a year, so they cost the same as on a €6,127 salary and only holiday allowance keeps rising. Above 3 times the minimum wage, the contract can fold holiday allowance into salary, which cuts this cost further.
Rates for 2026 from the Regeling premiepercentages werknemers- en volksverzekeringen 2026 and the Belastingdienst. Aof is 7.63% for medium and large employers and 6.27% for small employers. WW-Awf is 2.74% for written permanent contracts and 7.74% for other contracts. Whk is 1.52%, the 2026 average, and each employer pays its own sector or individual rate. The Zvw employer levy is 6.10%. All four apply to annual pay including holiday allowance up to €79,409 (€6,617 a month). Holiday allowance of 8% is set by the Minimum Wage and Minimum Holiday Allowance Act (WML) art. 15. The cards assume a permanent contract and a medium or large employer, which matches most EORs. There is no payroll tax threshold to apply. Pension, collective agreement extras and employee contributions are excluded.
Price your hire, line by line
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Costs most calculators leave out
Private health cover, equipment stipend, meal or transport allowance.
Typically $0 to $2,000 depending on provider and country.
Refundable, but it ties up cash. Most providers hold one to two months.
Example. Change any field to make it yours.
Total employer cost, per employee per month
Monthly breakdown
Upfront and one-time costs
EOR or your own entity
Statutory rates current as of . Exchange rates indicative as of . Contribution ceilings, regional variation, employee age and collective agreements all shift the real figure. Use this to build a budget, then validate against a written quote.
Four ways to hire in the Netherlands
The route decides who the legal employer is and who carries the dismissal and back-tax risk.
Misclassification risk. The Belastingdienst resumed enforcement of the Deregulation of Assessment of Employment Relationships Act (Wet DBA) on 1 January 2025, using the Supreme Court’s Deliveroo test of March 2023: embedment in your organisation, duration, who directs the work and whether the person acts as an entrepreneur. If the relationship is found to be employment, you owe back payroll tax and premiums with fines, and the worker can claim minimum wage, holiday allowance and dismissal protection.
Statutory leave and benefits
Dutch law sets leave in multiples of weekly hours, so part-timers get the same number of weeks as full-timers. Public holidays are not a statutory paid day off: the collective agreement or contract decides.
Civil Code (BW) art. 7:634 (annual leave), 7:640a (expiry), 7:641 (payout on exit) and 7:629 (sick pay). The Work and Care Act (Wazo) covers maternity, birth, additional birth, parental and care leave, and UWV benefits are capped at the maximum daily wage. The General Extension of Time Limits Act lists the recognised public holidays. Holiday allowance: WML art. 15. Occupational health: Working Conditions Act (Arbowet). Pension: Wet Bpf 2000. For costs by salary, see the Netherlands employer costs guide.
Termination and offboarding
There is no at-will dismissal: the employer needs UWV permission, a court ruling or the employee’s signed agreement, and in most cases owes a transition payment of one third of a month’s pay per year of service.
Notice: Civil Code (BW) art. 7:672. Employee notice is 1 month unless the contract says otherwise, and the UWV deduction never brings employer notice below 1 month. Dismissal grounds: art. 7:669, with UWV deciding economic and long-term sickness cases and the subdistrict court deciding all others. Transition payment: art. 7:673, one third of monthly pay per year of service from day one, capped at €102,000 in 2026 or one year’s salary if higher. Fixed-term notice duty: art. 7:668, with a penalty of up to one month’s pay. Chain rule: art. 7:668a. Dismissing 20 or more employees in one work area within 3 months requires notice to UWV and the unions under the Collective Redundancy Notification Act (WMCO). A settlement agreement gives the employee a 14-day cooling-off period. Final salary and the payout of unused leave (art. 7:641) are due with the last regular salary payment.
Work permits and foreign hires
EU, EEA and Swiss nationals need no permit. Everyone else needs a permit sponsored by the legal employer, so an EOR can sponsor only if its own Dutch entity is an IND recognised sponsor.
From decision to first payroll in 4 weeks
Through an EOR, an EU or Dutch hire can be on payroll about four weeks after you choose a provider, and a skilled migrant adds the IND permit time.
Pick the EOR
Confirm which Dutch entity will employ your hire, that it is registered as a labour lender and with the NAU for 2027, and whether a sector collective agreement or pension fund covers the role.
Set the offer
Fix the gross monthly salary, the holiday allowance basis, weekly hours and contract type. A permanent contract keeps WW at 2.74%. Check the pay clears €14.99 an hour and any CAO scale.
Sign the contract
The EOR issues a Dutch employment contract with core terms in writing within 1 week of the start. Probation counts only if written, and is at most 2 months on a permanent contract.
Onboard the employee
The EOR checks and copies the passport or ID, records the BSN and payroll tax choices, and enrols the employee with its occupational health service and any pension fund. Non-EU hires need the IND permit first.
Run first payroll
Salary is paid at least monthly with a payslip. The EOR files the monthly payroll tax return with the Belastingdienst and reserves holiday allowance each month for the May or June payout.
Best EOR providers in the Netherlands
Four providers we have reviewed that employ in the Netherlands. Full scoring and the ranked list sit on the Netherlands EOR page.
Flat published rate, EOR in 130+ countries and the widest integration library here. Ask which Dutch entity employs your hire and whether it is registered as a lender.
Formerly Velocity Global, with 65+ owned entities across 185+ countries. The $399 rate carries unpublished terms, so get the Dutch price and employing entity in writing.
Publishes a full rate card: $459 billed annually, $499 monthly. Requires a refundable salary deposit before the start date. Stronger in Asia Pacific than in Europe.
The lowest published rate here, with no setup or termination fees. Employs through local partner firms, so a third party holds the Dutch contract and lender registration.
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All guides for hiring in the Netherlands
Hiring guides for other countries
Compare employer costs, dismissal rules and EOR options in 14 more countries. Each guide is checked against official sources.
FranceHiring guide, 41.5% employer cost
GermanyHiring guide, 22.5% employer cost
SpainHiring guide, 54.2% employer cost
United KingdomHiring guide, 15.9% employer cost
AustraliaHiring guide, 20.3% employer cost
IndiaHiring guide, 5.7% employer cost
PhilippinesHiring guide, 17.1% employer cost
SingaporeHiring guide, 17.2% employer cost
TaiwanHiring guide, 17.1% employer cost
Questions employers ask about hiring in the Netherlands
These are the points where published guidance on the Netherlands is most often out of date.
What is the minimum wage in the Netherlands in 2026?
€14.99 an hour for employees aged 21 and over, from 1 July 2026. It was €14.71 from January to June. Since 2024 there is only an hourly minimum, so the monthly amount depends on contract hours: a 40-hour week gives about €2,598 a month and a 36-hour week about €2,338. The rate is indexed every 1 January and 1 July. The January 2027 adult rate had not been published when we checked, but the youth percentages for ages 16 to 20 rise from that date.
Is the 8% holiday allowance included in the salary?
Usually not. Holiday allowance is 8% of gross annual pay on top of the monthly salary, paid at least once a year, normally in May or June. A €60,000 salary that excludes it costs €64,800 before premiums, and the premiums apply to the allowance too. Candidates sometimes quote an annual figure that already includes it, so confirm the basis before you agree a number. For employees earning more than 3 times the minimum wage, the contract may set a different arrangement, such as spreading it across monthly pay.
How much does it cost to employ someone in the Netherlands?
Statutory employer cost is 27.4% of gross salary up to about €6,127 a month, falling to 17.5% at €12,500. That covers the 8% holiday allowance, the Aof, WW and Whk premiums and the 6.10% Zvw levy. It assumes a permanent contract: a fixed-term contract pays WW at 7.74% instead of 2.74%. It leaves out pension, which is not statutory but is compulsory in sectors with a mandatory fund, and anything a collective agreement adds, such as a 13th month or travel allowance.
Can an employer of record legally employ people in the Netherlands?
Yes, but Dutch law treats it as payrolling under the Allocation of Workers by Intermediaries Act (Waadi). Because you recruited the employee, they are owed the same employment terms as your own employees in a comparable role, and an adequate pension. The EOR must be registered as a labour lender. From 1 January 2027 the Wtta adds an admission system run by the NAU, and from 2028 hirers that use a lender without admission can be fined. Ask your EOR for its NAU registration before you sign.
What is the maximum transition payment in 2026?
€102,000, or one year’s gross salary if that is higher. Many pages still show €98,000, which was the 2025 cap. The payment is one third of a month’s pay, including holiday allowance and fixed allowances, per year of service, counted from day one. It is due whenever the employer ends the contract or does not renew a fixed-term contract. Settlement agreements usually start from this figure, and a court can add fair compensation when the employer is seriously at fault.
Can we hire Dutch freelancers instead of employees?
For genuinely independent work, yes. The risk lies in how the work is organised, not in the contract label. The Belastingdienst resumed enforcement of the Wet DBA on 1 January 2025 and applies the Supreme Court’s Deliveroo test: whether the work is embedded in your organisation, how long it lasts, who directs it and whether the person acts as an entrepreneur. If the relationship is employment, you owe back payroll tax and premiums with fines, and the worker can claim minimum wage, holiday allowance and dismissal protection.
Does the 30% ruling still exist?
Yes. In 2026 an employer can pay up to 30% of salary tax-free to an eligible employee recruited from abroad, if taxable salary exceeds €48,013, or €36,497 for under-30s with a master’s degree. The ruling applies to pay up to €262,000. From 1 January 2027 the rate drops to 27% for rulings that started in 2024 or later, and a higher salary norm applies, while rulings that started before 2024 keep 30%. The employer applies to the Belastingdienst within 4 months of the start date.
How long does a highly skilled migrant permit take?
The IND aims to decide within 2 weeks when a recognised sponsor applies, and only a recognised sponsor can apply. An EOR can therefore sponsor your hire only if its own Dutch entity holds that status, which partner-model EORs often do not. The 2026 salary threshold is €5,942 a month at 30 and over and €4,357 under 30, excluding holiday allowance. Add time for an entry visa where the nationality needs one, and for municipal registration after arrival.
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